South Carolina state dragoons (Eutaw Springs, 1781)

The latest addition to the forces for Eutaw Springs. 

South Carolina state troops formed the extreme left of the rebel front line at the battle. At this time it seems that the majority of South Carolina’s state forces were light dragoons. These are painted to look like Wade Hampton’s regiment of SC state dragoons although there were others in a similar uniform. I was also going to paint a unit as Peter Harry’s regiment but decided against for two reasons. Firstly their uniform was white coats with blue facings, very similar to William Washington’s 3rd Continental Light Dragoons. Secondly I need some dismounted troops or infantry as part of the state brigade for Eutaw Springs. As I have modelled dismounted 3rd LDs these can fill in as Peter Harry’s unit having dismounted to better tackle the British flank battalion defending its blackthorn thicket (not a great target for a cavalry charge!). 

The figures are Perry 1st Light Dragoons. These have the flat fronted caps that I particularly wanted. They are single-piece castings alert from the right arms. They aren’t the easiest things to paint and the castings had quite a lot of pitting to the surface along with the expected “spaghetti legs” that took some sorting out. Overall though I’m pleased with how these turned out.