"Put the boys in!" The Battle of New Market - Don Troiani
Hello out there! Time for update number three on this big ACW project. This time a little more South than North for the first time. As usual more cavalry, and some foot regiments. The first true blue Union regiment as well, though, if you can believe it. I am a little bit spoiled for choice so blame it on that. Let's just get on with it!
Cherokee Braves hit first supported by rebel cavalry, on some Union Zouaves and Iron Brigade.
The din of powder smoke is thick but the Braves carry on with their charge under the three stripes and stars of their regimental banner.
Why the Cherokee nation would take a banner under the Confederacy is a long and complicated story, well beyond the scope of this little painting post. To summarize though, it has to do more than a little bit with anger at the Federal government and Andrew Jackson over the Trail of Tears. At least, as my research shows me. It is of course more complicated than that once sentence, and I would urge anyone interested to read up on it themselves. As someone who is part Blackfoot I broadly admire this unit complications aside, and enjoyed painting it on a certain personal level, even if on another the real history is a different issue. As with all periods in history, I try and think of the individual men, as I paint individual miniatures.
7th Wisconsin Iron Brigade holds the line against rebel cavalry.
After the defeat of the Federal Army at Bull Run in 1861, several volunteer units including the 7th Wisconsin were mustered under the name of Iron Brigade. Also known as the Black Hats, the Iron Brigade were as infamous and feared in the South as the Berdan. They comprised some of the hardest and stubborn men, in my personal opinion possibly since Napoleon's Guard. Holding the line when other men would not, or simply died trying while the Iron Brigade refused.
Pictured in all grey, VMI Cadets. These deserve an introduction.
The Virginia Military Institute was the second military college in the United States only to West Point, and founded in 1839. VMI is still around and responsible for more Army generals than any program in the US to this day. It's Cadets are famous for the Battle of New Market, where Major General John Breckenridge called them to action from VMI, a desperate punctuation on the state the Confederacy at the start of 1864. They put the boys in, and they prevailed.
“I'm a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn't have the heart to let him down.”
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See you next time.
