The 5th West India Regiment
The 5th West India regiment was one of three regiments that operated of the coasts of America in the fall 1814. Both the 1st (stationed in Guadeloupe) and 5th (Jamaica) were part of the New Orleans campaign and the 2nd (Nassau) off the Georgia coast with Rear Admiral Cockburn's raiding force. The regiments were organized along British lines and made up of black enlisted men with white officers and some white NCOs. The reputation of these regiments against the French during the West Indies campaign was quite good.
The uniforms of the West Indian regiments was similar to the British regular line infantry with some minor exceptions. The coats were red but unlined and unusually had red collars instead of collars in the colour of the regimental facings trimmed with white lace. Most uniquely the coat had a upper chest plastron in the facing colour. The men's shako was identical to regular line infantry but the officers tended to wear round hats. The trousers were of blue serge and fitted over top their gaiters and secured from rising by fitting under the instep of their shoes.
Main Uniform Sources:
A Scarlet Coat: Uniforms, Flags and Equipment of the British in the War of 1812, Rene Chartrand, Service Publications, 2011, pp 96-98.
Armies of the War of 1812 by Gabriel Espostio published by Pike and Powder Publishing Group, p. 100.
Wellington's Army: The Uniforms of the British Soldier, 1812-1815, Plates by Charles Hamilton Smith and text by Philip J. Haythornthwaite, Plate 46.
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| Armies of The War of 1812, p. 100. |
Here are some photos of my rendition of the 5th West Indian Regiment at 20:1 ratio on 30mm x 40mm MDF company stands.
The light company on the right of the photo is mounted on individual 15mm x 20mm stands with magnetic insets that are attracted to a company base of a thin magnetic sheet . The superb flags are from Flag Dude, which were ordered long before the demise of his mail order business.
The figures are predominantly Old Glory that are full of character with a sprinkling of Perry and Front Rank figures. Strangely, Old Glory did not include flank companies with their West Indian figures. So, FR light and grenadier figures became suitable substitutes. The mounted commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Hamilton, is a Perry Egyptian campaign figure. A superb figure that required only minor surgery to remove his queue.
