#provincial corps

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This Boxing Day afternoon, how about some wintery-looking Seven Years War Provincial Corps troops out on patrol, somewhere on the frontier.

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What better way than to start your week with a new Don Troiani artwork? Depicted is a private of the United Corps of Pennsylvania & Maryland Loyalists at Pensacola, West Florida.

Both the Pennsylvania and the Maryland Loyalists were raised as separate regiments in Philadelphia 1777, during the British occupation of the city. They were combined, rather unhappily it seems, into one outfit of six companies in 1778. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William Allen they were and sent first to Jamaica and then, from December 1779, to Pensacola in West Florida, to aid in operations against the Spanish.

They took part in the failed relief of Mobile in March 1780 and the assault on Mobile Village on January 7 1781. They were then part of the garrison of Pensacola when it was besieged and captured by the Spanish later that year.

The prisoners were taken to Havana and then repatriated to New York a few months later, and formally returned to duty – as two separate units once more – in July 1782. The Pennsylvanian and Maryland Loyalists spent the last year of the war garrisoning New York. The Maryland Loyalists were last mustered in December 1783, while the Pennsylvanians were disbanded on October 10 1783.

Provincial Loyalist corps are often depicted as wearing green, but by the mid point of the war and beyond most wore red coats, with only a few notable exceptions, such as the British Legion and the Queen’s Rangers. This was for ease of supply, and likely also helped make the Loyalists feel more thoroughly incorporated into the British military, while also causing opponents to believe they were facing British regulars.

The Pennsylvania-Maryland corps appears to have had green or olive facings with white lace plus yellow and green threads based on the lace of the Loyal Irish Regiment. I think the black leatherwork here (usually reserved for light infantry) is because the belts are store-issued from a “stand of arms.”

Also note how high on the torso the cartridge pouch and bayonet frog and scabbard are worn, in contrast to how low-down many reenactors wear them – an accurate historical touch, as befits Troiani’s work!

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Loving these shots of recreated garrison life for British Provincial Corps troops during the Seven Years War in North Carolina. Photos taken by Karen Demby at Fort Dobbs and reproduced with permission.

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Following on from yesterday's Seven Years War South Carolinians, some Virginians of the Provincial Corps from the same conflict, including a certain "officer." Artwork by David Rickman for Osprey Publishing's "Colonial American Troops 1610–1774" by René Chartrand.

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Provincial Corps troops from South Carolina during the Seven Years War.

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A light infantryman of the King’s Royal Regiment of New York, a Loyalist American in the Provincial Corps. Detail from the Battle of Oriskany by Don Troiani.

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Detail from “Wolves of the Mohawk” showing officer’s of Butler’s Rangers, 1777, by Don Troiani. 

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American Provincial of the Seven Years War.