First West India Regiment

Background

By the early 1900s there were eight West Indian regiments in the British army who were paid and employed as regular troops. These units were made up of black men led by white officers and some NCOs, although there were some black NCOs too. They were organized like the British regiments with eight line companies plus grenadier and light companies. Their performance during the Caribbean campaigns against the French was quite good. Three West Indians regiments were utilized in the southern and south eastern coastal areas of the United States. The 1st and the 5th were deployed in the New Orleans campaign and the the 2nd formed part of Commodore Cockburn's raiding force on the Georgia coast.

Uniforms

The uniforms of the West Indian regiments were similar to the British army except for some unique detail differences. Their unlined red coats did not have the horizontal white lace across the chest. Instead, they had a small plastron or false half lapel on their upper chest area in the facing colour of the regiment. In the case of the First it was white and the fifth green. The cuffs and shoulder straps were also in the facing colour. Rather than having the facing colour on the collars, as in British regular regiments, the West Indian collars were red. 

Another unique feature of their uniform were their trousers. They wore gaiter trousers (the pant covered over the gaiter area with a tape on the seams that extended under the shoe instep keeping the trousers neatly in place) of blue serge but could also wear white linen trousers in summer. Their hats were similar to the regulars. They started out with round hats, then stove pipe shakos and in 1814 the Belgic shako.

The officers and most senior NCOs wore the regulation British uniform with white linen trousers or the standard gray. However, instead wearing the regulation shako they preferred to wear the round hat.

References

A Scarlet Coat: Uniforms, Flags and Equipment of the British in the War of 1812, Rene Chartrand, Service Publications, 2011, pp.98-100.

Armies of the War of 1812 by Gabriel Espostio published by Pike and Powder Publishing Group, p.100. (the above uniform plate)

Wellington's Army: The Uniforms of the British Soldier, 1812-1815, Plates by Charles Hamilton Smith and text by Philip J. Haythornthwaite, plate 46.

The Model of the First West Indian Regiment

My replication of the First West India Regiments is largely based on Old Glory Figures supplemented by some Front Rank British regulars. As far as I know Old Glory are the only producers of West Indian infantry.  The War of 1812 series although quite old is one of their better sculpted. Kudos to OG for producing this unusual unit and others in the War of 1812 series.  However, while sculpting the unique aspects of the aforementioned uniform distinctions, strangely, Old Glory omitted the flank companies. Hence the necessity of incorporating Front Rank light and grenadier company figures for this unit and eventually the fifth.

P.S. I am still experimenting with lighting and photography. I will eventually get to an acceptable standard. In the meantime please forgive the substandard photos.

The First West Indian regiment was a large unit of 932 men. So, my unit at 20:1 would equate to 46 figures. However, this replication is downsized to 40.

Note the officers wearing their round hats. The flags are Flag Dude, which were fortunately bought many years ago as part of my long range planning and purchase of figures and flags. 

The mounted commanding officer is from the Perry Egyptian range. A lovely figure that only required minor surgery to remove his queue.  Barely visible behind the flag bearer and to the right of the drummer in the second row of the command group is a Perry officer with a large plume who is also in a round hat with its requisite queue surgery complete.

The Front Rank Grenadier company figures that size well with the OG figure of the first company. Although the Victrix (Brigade Games) metal pioneer is a bit chunky he fits in reasonably well with his OG brethren.

Next up, Mississippi Boatmen.