The World Turned Upside Down - His Majesty's 64th Foot.

 

With the expansion of the British army as a result of the commencement of the Seven Years' War in 1756, it was ordered on the 25th of August of that year that a number of existing regiments should raise a second battalion; among those chosen was the 11th (North Devonshire) Regiment of Foot.

The 2nd Battalion of the 11th Foot was raised at Southampton on the 10th December 1756 before moving to Newcastle upon Tyne, and on 21st April 1758 it was additionally ordered that the 2nd battalions raised two years previously should become independent regiments in their own right with the  2nd Battalion of the 11th Foot becoming the 64th Foot.

Colonel, later Major-General John Barrington,
was the first colonel of the 64th Regiment - Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Shortly after King George II ordered that the dates of seniority of the 64th Foot and the other regiments created on the 21st April 1758 should be backdated to the date of their raising as 2nd battalions, and therefore the date of seniority of the 64th Foot became 1756, and the first colonel of the regiment was the Honourable John Barrington who decided that the facings of the 64th Foot should be black.

Soon after its official establishment under Barrington, the regiment was sent to the West Indies, and upon arrival, in 1759, it took part in the unsuccessful attempt to take Martinique (January 1759) and then in the successful invasion of Guadeloupe (January to May 1759), with participation in this action earning the regiment its first battle honour 'Guadeloupe 1759', though this honour was not actually awarded until 1909.

The Taking of Port Louis, Guadeloupe 1759, the 64th Foot's first Battle Honour.

The regiment returned to England in June 1759 severely reduced in numbers by men drafted to other units and by tropical disease, and on arrival at Portsmouth only 137 other ranks out of an establishment strength of 790 were fit for duty, although officer strength was almost up to strength. Recovery took a long time and after a brief period in Suffolk the regiment spent three years in the Scottish Highlands and another five in Ireland before sailing for North America in 1768.

The 64th Foot in America 1775-1783

The regiment spent the next several years in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Boston, Massachusetts, although much of the time in the latter city was actually passed at the fortified barracks on Castle Island in Boston Harbour. 

Lieutenant Colonel, later General Alexander Leslie
Joshua Reynolds.

They moved into the town of Boston in 1774 when tensions with the colonists grew, and on the 26th February 1775 took part in an incident which lays claim to being the first time that blood was spilt in the American War of Independence when the 64th, under their commander Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Leslie, were ordered to seize a supply of weapons and ammunition known to be in Salem, Massachusetts.

Salem waterfront circa 1770-1780
During the American War of Independence, the town became a centre for privateering with some 800 vessels commissioned as privateers.

The American patriots in Salem were forewarned and tried to prevent the 64th from carrying out their orders, and in the scuffle that ensued a local Salem man, Joseph Whicher, was slightly injured by a British bayonet. Negotiations prevented any further bloodshed and the 64th withdrew to Boston, their mission a failure.

The 64th Foot served throughout the siege of Boston and subsequent evacuation of the city in March 1776, missing the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 7th, 1775, being the garrison regiment stationed at Castle William and were the last regiment to depart from the city, bound for Halifax, giving them the distinction of being the last British unit to set foot in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts during the war.

Following the reorganisation of the army by General Lord Howe at Halifax the 64th, saw its flank (grenadier and light infantry) companies detached to form part of the 2nd Grenadier and 2nd Light Infantry Battalions respectively.  

One of my first units to be upgraded for The World Turned Upside Down project was an early war interpretation of a combined light infantry battalion, similar to that joined by the light company of the 64th Foot in 1775-6.
JJ's Wargames - Early War British Light Infantry

All three battalions took part in the 1776 capture of New York with the 321 'hatmen' of the 64th Foot part of the 6th Brigade under Brigadier General Agnew and alongside the 23rd, 44th and 57th Foot.

A private soldier of the light company of the 64th Foot - Rick Scollins.
These men and those from the grenadier company were detached from the regiment to join
the 2nd Light Infantry and 2nd Grenadier Battalions respectively. Note the red hackle carried by men of the 2nd Light Battalion 
after the Paoli attack to taunt their enemies threat of reprisals against them for the action.

The 64th was also engaged at Battle of Ridgefield when on the 25th April 1777, a British force from the New York Garrison, consisting of 1,500 regulars drawn from the 4th, 15th, 23rd, 27th, 44th, and 64th regiments, 300 Loyalists from the Prince of Wales American Regiment and a small contingent of the 17th Light Dragoons, under the command of the Royal Governor of the Province of New York, Major General William Tryon, boarded twelve transports and landed at Compo, Connecticut between Fairfield and Norwalk, and marched from there to Danbury. 

This 1780 map shows the movements of the various forces prior to the Battle of Ridgefield:
A: British movements to Danbury, B: American movements toward Danbury, 
C: British movements toward Ridgefield, and D: American movements toward Ridgefield
(upper arrow: Wooster, lower arrow: Arnold)

There, they destroyed Continental Army supplies after chasing off a small garrison of troops. In response, Connecticut militia leaders Major General David Wooster, Brigadier General Gold S. Silliman, and Brigadier General Benedict Arnold raised a combined force of roughly 700 Continental Army regular and irregular local militia forces to oppose the British force, but could not reach Danbury in time to prevent the destruction of the supplies, so instead, set out to harass the British on their return to the coast.

Farmers Against the Crown - Dale Gallon
https://www.gallon.com/shop/other-wars/revolutionary-war/farmers-against-the-crown/
Local Ridgefield farmers resist the British forces as they advance to their ships on the coast.

On April 27, the company led by Wooster twice attacked Tryon's rear guard during their march south, and in the second encounter, Wooster was mortally wounded and died five days later. 

The main encounter then took place at Ridgefield, where several hundred militia under Arnold's command confronted the British and were driven away in a running battle down the town's main street, but not before inflicting casualties on the British.

The expedition was a tactical success for the British forces, but their actions in pursuing the raid galvanized Patriot support in Connecticut.

The 64th Foot alongside the 33rd, 37th and 46th Foot were part of Major General James Agnew's 4th Brigade, established on Osborne Hill at the start of Lord Cornwallis's attack at Brandywine. The other three regiments of the brigade have been featured in previous posts.

In the latter half of 1777 all three units of the regiment participated in the Philadelphia campaign, taking part in the Battle of Brandywine, the Battle of Paoli and the Battle of Germantown. 

The 64th Foot took part in the Battle of Germantown contacting units of Colonel John Stone's 1st Maryland Brigade during the British counterattack.

Remaining in Philadelphia over the winter and into 1778, the 64th and 2nd Grenadier Battalion formed part of the rearguard when Lieutenant-General Clinton evacuated the city in June 1778, and returning to New York, the 64th took part in several small operations. 

The regiment including it's light company and grenadier company as part of their respective combined battalions took part in the skirmish that became known as the Baylor Massacre alongside the 33rd Foot under the command of the now expert 'night attack' specialist, Major-General 'No Flint' Grey.

Major-General Charles 'No Flint' Grey, 1st Earl Grey KB.

Against the sleeping 3rd Regiment of Continental Light Dragoons in camp, under the command of Colonel George Baylor, near present-day River Vale, New Jersey, Greys men carried out a successful surprise attack using Grey's tactic of ordering unloaded muskets and the use of the bayonet only, to achieve such a deadly outcome, with the action resulting in fifteen Continental Army soldiers killed while a further 54 were wounded or captured by the British, for the loss of one soldier killed.

In November 1779 all the companies of the regiment were transferred to the Southern theatre of operations, and in April 1780 the 64th were part of the covering force besieging Charleston, while the grenadier and light companies formed part of the main siege force. 

One of the worst American defeats of the war, the siege of Charles Town (Charleston) lasted from March 29th to May 12th, 1780, after which Major General Benjamin Lincoln, commanding the Charleston garrison, surrendered his forces to the British; leading to the capture of some 5,266 prisoners, 311 artillery pieces, 9,178 artillery rounds, 5,916 muskets, 33,000 rounds of ammunition, 15 regimental colours, 49 ships and 120 boats, plus 376 barrels of flour, and large magazines of rum, rice and indigo. 350 men of the 64th Regiment were part of the 17,000 British force of regulars, militia and sailors as well as the 64th light and grenadier companies in their respective combined battalions.

The capture of Charleston was one of the worst American defeats of the war, and following its capture the grenadier and light companies were withdrawn to New York as Major-General Cornwallis began to advance on Virginia, leaving the 64th in Carolina as guard troops.

In 1781 the 64th were involved in the Battle of Eutaw Springs the last major engagement of the American War of Independence and a year later took part in one of the last actions of the war, the Battle of the Combahee River on August 27th 1782.

The Battle of Eutaw Springs on September 8, 1781, was the last major engagement of the American War of Independence. The British held the field of battle , but both armies had come very close to disaster, with the British losing 85 killed, 351 wounded, and another 257 listed missing, probably deserted from a force of around 2,000 men. Greene's American army of some 2,200 men suffered similarly, losing 119 killed, 382 wounded and about 78 captured and missing.

The grenadier company was reunited with the 64th but the light company was among the units that surrendered with Cornwallis at Yorktown.

In December 1782 the regiment left America for Jamaica as part of the British force defending possessions in the West Indies, remaining in Jamaica for two years before returning home in 1783. 

My 64th Foot are composed of the plastic British Infantry from Perry Miniatures, with the ordinary ranks at a shouldered arms pose using arms from the plastic Continental set, with added musket slings, finished off with Colours from GMB Designs and another set of low profile sabot bases from Supreme Littleness Designs.

The 64th Foot were a reasonably strong regiment during the war, with a strength of some 390 men at the Battle of Brandywine and thus warranting a five stand arrangement.

There addition to my British army completes the four regiments in Major General James Agnew's 4th Brigade (the 33rd, 37th, 46th and 64th Foot) all now showcased here on the blog as part of my 'World Turned Upside Down' project, and work now turns to the four regiments in Major General Charles Grey's 3rd Brigade (the 15th, 17th 42nd Highland and 44th Foot).

In addition work continues alongside the British-build to develop my American forces with completion of the 2nd Maryland Brigade which will see my new version of the 2nd Canadian Regiment of Continentals, my 2nd Maryland Regiment which will feature next, followed by my recreation of the German Continental Regiment a.k.a the 8th Maryland Regiment.

So as always, more anon

JJ