Monday, February 4, 2013

The 4th Texas Regiment


The 4th Texas regiment was organized in Richmond, Virginia in 1861 from various companies that made the journey from Texas to Virginia. Like the rest of the Texas Brigade these were elite rock hard fighting men from a brigade that can arguably be called the best in the American Civil War. They included some colourful companies like "the Robertson Five Shooters" and "the Lone Star Guards", and "the Mustang Greys" to name a few of the 10 companies that made up the regiment.

The 4th fought at Eltham's Landing, Gaines' Mill where they established their reputation by breaking the union line on Turkey Hill, Second Manassas, South Mountain, Sharpsburg (Antietam) where it suffered it's most casualties, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg ,  Appomattox Court Houseand several others not mentioned.

Of the 1,343 men that served in the regiment throughout the war and after KIA's, Wounded, Desertion(just 3%), POW, and Disease are added up only fifteen officers and 143 men were left to surrendered at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865. Even reduced to those numbers they only surrendered when ordered and some even breaking their rifles rather then having to give them up.

The figures themselves are from Redoubt which is my favourite ACW figure range in spite of the often arduous amount of clean up needed on some of them. I just really like the look of the figures and the extra touch of silver stars added to the hats of the models which the Texas brigade really did have and so is not a gimmick.

I painted the figures using mostly Foundry paints and some Vallejo. The flag is from the wonderful GMB. I opted for the battle flag as the state flags usually remained in camp. I'm thinking of Modelling Hood with an aid holding one of the state flags to get the "Texas" flag in the army at some point.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Redoubt Miniatures




 
  

43 comments :

  1. A nice touch Christopher including a little bit of history with the unit. Redoubt have a large range of superb figures for their ACW and your painting has really done them justice.

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    1. Thank you Silver and indeed Redoubt does have a brilliant and large range of figures to choose from.

      Christopher

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  2. Spectacular looking unit Christopher!

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  3. Wow these minis are wonderful (and I espcialy like the non-uniformed aspect) !
    J-B

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  4. Greate looking unit Christopher!!!

    Love the action in the unit, stunning job !

    best regards Michael

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  5. Love them, Christopher! Nicely done indeed!

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  6. Excellent painting, I really like the pose of those Redoubt figures, very animated

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  7. Craking figures Christopher and really interesting history of the unit.
    cheers
    Paul

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  8. Great looking unit and very nice write up too!

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  9. Fantastic looking unit of rebs and great info! Thanks for sharing.

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  10. A fantastic looking unit Chris, love the bit of history too!

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  11. Wonderful work as always, Christopher. Nice history of the unit too - sounds like a hard-fighting and long-suffering unit. Very respectable battle record. Best, Dean

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    1. Thank you kindly Dean and yes indeed they were some seriously hard fighters!

      Christopher

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  12. Fantastic figures and painting work!
    Phil.

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  13. As i already stated over on Analogue Hobbies:
    Great job!

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  14. Tough as nails and a great looking bunch, Chris. You can't get into a rhythm painting rebels, can you? Like snowflakes, every one is unique!

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    1. Thank you kindly Monty and indeed not group of guys you want to tangle with. You are correct painting confederates takes twice as long to paint then union, but does give that unique look as you say so worth it.:-)

      Christopher

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  15. Great unit Christopher! I like the colours you picked. I have Armistead and his Virginians lined up in the queue and this might just give them a little push to pole position.

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    1. Thank you Michael! Your rebels are an inspiration and I look forward to seeing your Virginians!

      Christopher

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  16. Congratulation to this fantastic unit. Great work (as always)!
    "Longstreet" is calling to arms. :)
    Cheers
    Mike

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    1. Thank you very much Mike! "Longstreet" rules are very much on my mind.:-)

      Christopher

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  17. Great stuff, Christopher. Those figures certainly capture the dynamism of Texas soldiers. How many ACW regiments do you have planned?

    Giles

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    1. Thank you very much Giles.

      In the short term I plan to do about 6 infantry per side and I'm about half way there with close to 3 per side at the moment and I'll bump it up to 10-12 per side later(hopefully later this year) I'll probably emphasize the confederates more to start as I have friends doing the union in preparation for the "Longstreet" rules by Sam Mustafa coming out this fall. In the meantime we will probably play Black powder as their are no minimums and can use what we have.

      Cavalry around 3 per side to start and later 6 plus some dismounted versions.

      Artillery same as cav with 3 to start and later 6.

      Plus commanders, casualties and fun extras.

      In the real long term I plan on doing much more and delving into a lot of the different units seen in the war. This will be an ambitious period of mine(ambitious for me), but it is my favourite period after all.:-)

      Christopher

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  18. Fantastic painting Christopher and an interesting history of the regiment too.

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  19. Great looking unit their Chris. Glad to see the Texas boys will be taking the field.

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