The regiment was first raised on 14, January 1776 under the command of Colonel William Smallwood and fought in most the major battles of the war including The New York Campaign, Battle of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Camden, Guilford Courthouse before being disbanded on 15 November 1783. The regiment really stood out on Long Island where it virtually by itself earned the nickname "The Maryland 400" by holding off some 2000 British long enough for Sterling's entire Brigade to retreat and join the rest of the American army intact by charging the enemy some 6 times, before itself withdrawing. They fought stubbornly in most engagements and only retreated when ordered to do so.
When deciding to do my first Continental unit in coats I knew the first regiment was going to be the 1st Maryland. They were originally in brown hunting shirts, but I decided to do them in the latter Continental army regulation uniform of blue coats with red turnbacks. I painted them to look somewhat like the painting from H. Charles McBarron 1st Marylanders at Guilford Courthouse which I've long admired, but took some liberties. What I like about the painting other then the drama is how it shows even this well equipped regular army unit isn't perfectly uniformed and is how I picture American units to look and not surprisingly is how I model and paint them. It was fun to paint the unit, but time consuming with the color changes all the straps which I find difficult.
The figures are a mix of Perry and Foundry(early Perry) and the awesome flag is from GMB designs. A little on the flag in that to my knowledge nobody knows exactly what flag the 1st Maryland carried so I had the freedom to pick and choose what I wanted. Since GMB does two conjectural flags for the 2nd Maryland and I only use one flag for my American units I decided to give one to the 1st Maryland and the second I'll give to the 2nd Maryland. Since I really like the flag I was very happy to have the choice!
More units coming soon(ish)!
Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Perry, Foundry
