The World Turned Upside Down - The Delaware Regiment of Continentals.

The Delaware regiment of Continental infantry fought at most of the major battles of the American War of Independence from the time it was raised under Col. John Haslet on December 9th, 1775, to its final engagement at Combahee River in 1782. 

The Delaware Regiment in action at the Battle of Long Island 1776 - Domenick D'Andrea

Known as the "Delaware Continentals" or "Delaware Blues", they were from the second smallest state, and served, famously, at Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Camden, Cowpens, Guilford Court House, Hobkirk’s Hill, the siege of Ninety-Six, and Eutaw Springs; and won a reputation that set it apart from the rest of the army.

 

Gaining the nickname 'The Fighting Blue Hens' based on the men of Captain Caldwell's company, famous for holding gamecock fights with a specific breed of chicken, the Kent County Blue Hen, and possibly bringing the birds on campaign, their style of dress echoed that nickname as the American historian David McCullough in his book '1776' describes them as turned out in handsome red trimmed blue coats, white waistcoats, buckskin breeches, white woollen stockings, and carrying fine, 'lately imported' English muskets.

John Haslet (c. 1727 – January 3, 1777),
The first Colonel of the Delaware Regiment

Raised in early 1776, under the command of Colonel John Haslet they went north in July and August 1776, arriving in time to engage in the entire sequence of events surrounding the British capture of New York in 1776.

1st Delaware is led by Colonel John Haslet as they depart Dover Green and march north to New York City, July, 1776. Artwork “The Drum Beat of a Nation” by Stanley Arthurs.

At the Battle of Long Island, the Delaware Regiment fought with Colonel William Smallwood's Marylanders, with many commentators identifying them as the best two regiments in the Continental Army. 

They fought under the command of Brigadier General William Alexander, Lord Stirling, and were responsible for holding the Gowanus Road, the far right of the Continental Army line. 

The Battle of Long Island on 27th August 1776 - map by John Fawkes
https://www.britishbattles.com/war-of-the-revolution-1775-to-1783/battle-of-long-island/

They were immediately south of Brooklyn, with New York Harbour to their right, and on August 27th, 1776, the British sent much of their army well to the east, and under cover of darkness, easily turned the left flank of the Continental Army. Only on the right did the American's hold their own and Haslet later described "how his 'Delawares' stood with 'determined countenance', on them all the while, and the enemy, 'though six times their number', not daring to attack". But they were nearly surrounded and, once ordered to leave, could only undertake a harrowing retreat by wading and swimming across Gowanus Bay. 

Retreating across Westchester County, Haslet's men won a victory over a corps of Loyalists at Mamaroneck, New York. At White Plains on October 28th, 1776, the Delaware Regiment again fought with Colonel William Smallwood's Marylanders, reinforcing militia placed on the strategic Chatterton's Hill, that would see the militia flee in the face of the British attack, but both Haslet's Delaware's and Smallwood's Marylanders exacting a costly price in British and Hessian casualties for the reward for taking the hill.

John Fawkes' map illustrates well the importance of Chatterton's Hill, effectively anchoring 
Washington's emplace position at White Plains, and why taking it was so important for Howe to turn the American's out of such a formidable position.
https://www.britishbattles.com/war-of-the-revolution-1775-to-1783/battle-of-white-plains/

With expiring enlistments leaving fewer than a hundred men remaining in his regiment, Haslet crossed the Delaware with Washington and joined the attack at the Battle of Trenton on the morning of December 26th, 1776. However, on January 3rd, 1777, in a skirmish at the beginning of the Battle of Princeton, and with General Hugh Mercer down and wounded, Haslet tried to rally Mercer's brigade and was himself shot in the head and killed instantly. Nevertheless, they did rally and a surprising victory was won to complement the earlier one at Trenton.

The Death of Brigadier Hugh Mercer at the Battle of Princeton on 3rd January 1777  - John Trumbull

  

Following Haslet's death Lt. Col. David Hall was promoted to Colonel to lead the Delaware Regiment in March 1777, and some 312 soldiers of the new Delaware Regiment marched into camp at Morristown.

Colonel David Hall, who succeeded John Haslet in March 1777

The Delaware regiment was present for the American raid on Staten Island on August 22nd, 1777, the Battle of Brandywine on September 11th, 1777, where they were with General Stirling's reserve units at the rear when a surprise flanking attack by the British threw them into the thick of battle. They fought well and managed an orderly retreat under fire.

On October 4th, 1777, the Delaware Regiment was at the Battle of Germantown where their attack went well at first, but then they ran short of ammunition and scattered when their deep advance on a narrow front left them surrounded by the enemy, seeing the regiment suffer heavy losses, and Colonel Hall severely wounded and not fighting again. 

The following June, the regiment was again on the field at Monmouth in what would be the last of the big battles in the northern theatre.

In April 1780 the 2nd Maryland Brigade was assigned to the Southern Army, and the Delaware Regiment marched south with them, led by Lt. Col. Vaughan, with only about 300 men.

The Delaware Continentals during the Battle of Camden

At the Battle of Camden, the Delaware Regiment suffered heavy losses, with all officers above captain being captured and 48 men killed. At Camden, Captain Robert Kirkwood, desperately trying to keep his men engaged in the fight, waved his sword and shouted, "By the living God, the first man who falters shall receive this weapon in his craven heart!" 

Kirkwood's word's succeeded in preventing his men from running away, but roughly 50% of the 275 remaining soldiers became casualties, and after this disaster, and after this time the unit had no colonel and ceased to function as a regiment.

Illustration of Robert Kirkwood by Dale Watson who used historical research to represent what he might have looked like.

Continental Army leadership decided to split the regiment into independent companies. Captain Peter Jaquett took one company, Captain Robert Kirkwood took the other, with both companies having 96 men.

Guilford Courthouse “The Old Line,” by Bryant White

These men proved their worth once again at the battles of Cowpens and Guilford Court House in 1781, with both Kirkwood and Jaquett's companies operating with Henry Lee's cavalry forces, and additionally the Delaware companies were also often used to stiffen the main battle line, such as at Cowpens and Guilford, where in the former Kirkwood's company lost 25% of its men in the firefight and hand-to-hand struggle against the 7th Fusiliers.

Lt. Col. William Washington, leading the 3rd Continental Dragoons, is surrounded and captured by British redcoats at the Battle of Eutaw Springs - Don Troiani.

On September 8th, 1781, at the Battle of Eutaw Springs, Kirkwood’s men were in the thick of the fight in what would be the last major battle in the southern theatre as well as one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war. The battle turned for the Americans when Greene’s troops drove in the British lines. 

A Delaware private soldier - Don Troiani

When the attack began to falter, Greene ordered his reserves forward; Colonel Washington’s dragoons and Kirkwood’s light infantry. However, according to Colonel Otho Holland Williams of the 1st Maryland, Washington’s dragoons attacked prematurely. They ran headlong into British troops under the command of Major John Marjoribanks and were mowed down and badly chewed up. During the intense fighting, Washington was wounded and captured. While the remnants of the cavalry withdrew, Kirkwood’s light infantry charged the British line as Colonel Williams related “with his bayonets.” As a result, the Delaware company drove Marjoribanks’ men back, allowing time for Greene to manage a withdrawal.

The following month after Eutaw Springs, in October, 1781, Kirkwood fell ill, but continued as company commander. On January 1st, 1782, Kirkwood, who had only briefly seen his home in six years, was granted a furlough. By the following year, the Delaware troops still under Kirkwood’s command had followed him north. One detachment was stationed in Philadelphia, and the other in Newark, Delaware. 

What was left of the Delaware regiment would see out the war in garrison duty. Though having remained a captain for the war’s duration, the highly skilled and able commander was finally commissioned a Brevet Major on September 30th, 1783.

My Delawares, New Yorkers and a generic regiment in brown make up my first brigade of Continental Infantry for my World Turned Upside Down project.

My interpretation of the Fighting Blue Hen's takes much inspiration from Don Troiani's artwork above, using the Perry plastic Continentals, adapted for a more aggressive stance by the use of British arms as supplied with the Perry's Plastic British infantry set, and with a plastic Continental rifleman adapted to hint at the look of the Delaware companies that went south with Robert Kirkwood in 1780.

The look of the regiment is completed with a suitable colour from the GMB range of flags and arranged using the low profile sabots from Supreme Littleness Designs.

More anon

JJ