Year End - 2019

2019 saw my first full year of keeping this blog.  Posts are somewhat infrequent and scattered, but I've been able to stick with it.

On the reenacting front, I was able to attend 8 events in kit this year, and one as a spectator.  A couple of the gatherings were private get-togethers, and several were official Warner's Regiment events.  It's difficult to pick a favorite this year, though presenting a talk to the public while having a chicken standing on my head at Hubbardton does sort of stand out.

For sewing projects, I was able to complete an outfit for G to wear, though she keeps growing, so we'll need to do it again this year.  Another yearly ritual seems to be breeches.  This past year it was a pair for a friend.  This coming year I'll need to replace mine again.

On the gaming side of things, we have a few games of Wings of War, plus several board games, but no major games yet.  I did get a lot of painting done (for me), completing about 61 28mm figures, which is an increase from last year.  I also built a few small pieces of terrain.  This coming year I have a couple of focused projects to concentrate on.  The first is the Battle of Valcour Island, using paper-craft miniatures and rules from War Artisan, and the second is a go at a 6mm scale Battle of Hubbardton, at 1:1 figure scale (roughly 1,500 troops per side).  I've found a few guys who may be interested in playing some historical scenarios, so I'm going to put some effort into getting those games going.

Historical research this year was light.  Other than my usual general reading on various events and period crafts, I did get to visit the Vermont State Archives to look through Ira Allen's survey book.  That was a pretty cool moment.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to make it to the School of Instruction in Pennsylvania, hosted by the Department of the Geographer to the Army.  I'd really like to attend that one day, so I'm going to look into it again this year.

Overall, 2019 was a pretty good year, hobby-wise.  I'm looking forward to continuing in 2020.

Simple Alidade

Taking a break from clothing and painting minis (yes, I'm still very slowly working on wargaming bits), I worked on a  small project yesterday that will help me increase, by practice, my understanding of 18th century surveying.

Alidade and Plane Table in use.

The alidade was a simple tool, used in conjunction with a plane table, to lay out lines in the field while surveying, thereby creating a map during the survey, as opposed to after.

Alidade and Cutting Board...er... Plane Table.

Most of the period alidades that I've found images of online are made of brass.  To keep things simple, I made mine from scrap wood leftover from other projects.

Sights folded.

The build was pretty quick.  The base and sights were cut to length.  I cut down one edge of the base to make it easier to run a pencil/pen along.  With the sights clamped together, I drilled and cut slots in the center.  The sight arms are attached to the base with small hinges, like original alidades, to allow for folding, making storage and transportation easier.  The sight lines are just thread held in place in tiny grooves at the top and bottom of the wood.

Sight Line.

Samuel Wyld, in his 1725 book, The Practical Surveyor, describes the use of the alidade (which he calls an Index):

"Assign on the Paper a Point, or stick a Pin at 0, (to represent the Hole in the Ground or present Station) to which Point, apply the fiducial Edge of the Index, and turn it about, keeping the Edge close to the Point or Pin at 0, till through the Sights you see the Hair cut a Staff or Mark, set up exactly in one of the Angles, as at then by the Edge of the Index, draw a Line from the Point 0 towards the Angle a, with the Point of the Compasses, without regarding the Length, so it be long enough."

I think this will make a good practice set up.

In other words, look through the sites toward a point, then draw a line on your paper.


Now I need to get back to work on a tripod and a chain for measuring.

Survey Crew

18th Century Surveying Crew

For the past several months, I've had a minor fascination with surveying in the 18th century.  I've been reading a few books from the time period, teaching myself the techniques, and I made a short research trip to see some original survey documents.

A couple of weeks ago, I was browsing miniatures online, and realized that some of the artillery crews looked a bit like surveyors.  Remembering that I had an unpainted artillery unit, I dug out the figures and looked them over.  Sure enough, they fit the bill.  I decided to put together a vignette.

Before I get into the process, I'll walk through the final result.

Continental Surveyors.

Continental Surveyors.

First up, we have a couple of surveyors.  I painted these to be in the uniform of the Continental Department of the Geographer, based on images of the reenactment group that portrays those soldiers.  One is taking a sighting through his theodolite, while the other looks on, taking field notes.

Civilian Chainmen.

Civilian Chainmen.

Next are the chainmen.  I've portrayed them in civilian clothes, as if they had been hired from the local population.  The job of the chainmen was to measure distances using a Gunter's Chain.  In scale, a full chain would have been over a foot long, so I've severely compressed the length, but it still gives the impression.

Civilian Flagman.

Finally, there's the flagman.  His job was to mark locations that the surveyors could site to, and that the chainmen would measure to.

Perry Miniatures Artillery Men

I started off with a couple of figures from Perry Miniature's Continental Artillery aiming 6 pounder (AW102).  These had the poses that I was looking for for the main surveyors, but could use some small detail changes.  Namely, after stripping off their old paint, I sculped a small bit of paper into the standing figure's right hand, and I cut away the cannon adjustment lever thingy from the crouching figure (Artillery friends, does that tool have an actual name?).

Perry Miniatures British Infantry

Perry Miniatures Command Standard Bearer

For the chain and flag men, I had a couple of sprues of figures left from a box of Perry's American War of Independence British Infantry 1775-1783 (AW200), that I thought that I could customize.

Scraping Off the Cartridge Box.

Adding Hats and Changing Coats.

The civilians took a bit more work than the surveyors.  Since I was using uniformed miniatures for my base, the first thing I had to do was to scrape off the regimental lace from the lapels and cuffs of their coats.  Both figures featured bayonet scabbards, which I cut down to make into chaining arrow quivers, which would hold the markers used by the chainmen to mark out distances longer than their chain.  Since these men are civilians, and not soldiers, I next carved off their cartridge boxes and straps, then resculpted the backs of their coats to add in some folds.  I opted to leave their canteens.  They likely wouldn't have carried military canteens, but I wanted the workers to stay well hydrated.  The final step was to add their caps.  The Perry sprues come with riflemen's caps that are cocked up on the side.  For one figure, I turned the cocked flap to the rear, carving the interior a bit to fit the head.  I also scraped off the bit of decor that was attached to the flap.  For the second figure, I cut two of the riflemen's hats in half, then glued them together and resculpted a bit to make a single round cap.  The arms of both figures were originally carrying muskets, which had to be cut away and the hands reshaped a tiny bit.

The flagman received a similar treatment.  His lace was removed, and a civilian hat was added.  Since he had started out as a standard bearer, his arm position was perfect.  I cut away the top of the flag pole, adding it to the bottom of the figure's hands to create the staff.  A small target orb was added to the top.

The theodolite was scratch built from bits of sprue and toothpicks.  Being more than a bit fiddly, this went through a few iterations before the final version.

Here's the final modified crew before painting:

Raw Survey Crew.

After priming and painting the miniatures, the final step was to build a base.  Originally I laid out a flat base with the intention of adding some scatter terrain to fill in the empty spaces.  After priming the ground, I had the after-thought of adding a couple of small hilly mounds.  In retrospect, I'm glad that I went with this direction, as I think it makes the scene look more nature.

Crew Primed and Ready for Painting.

Initial Base Layout.

Let's Add Some Hills!

For comparison of the figures, here are some up close (occasionally fuzzy) images of each miniature

 

 

Crouching Surveyor - As Found, Before Priming, Finished.

Standing Surveyor - As Found, Before Priming, Finished.

Trailing Chainman - Before Priming, Finished.

Leading Chainman - Before Priming, Finished.

Flagman - Before Priming, Finished.

Scratch-Built Theodolite.

And here's the finished result, sitting proudly above my desk.

Nice Decor for My Desk.

Surveying Bennington

Theodolite at Bennington Museum (Photo from Wikipedia)

A couple of months ago I became interested in the equipment and techniques used by colonial surveyors. I don't recall what spurred me to start looking into them, but I've been studying some period books and journals regarding the subject, and began looking into recreating replicas of some of the tools so that I can use them in the future to demonstrate 18^th century surveying to the public.

Field Notes of an Unkown Surveyor from New York, 1765

During my high-level online research, I found that the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont has, in its collections, a few original 18^th century surveying items, including a field book from an unknown New York surveyor from 1765. The field book is not on display, but I was able to make an appointment to view the item at the museum's library and archive. In addition to being able to view it, the curator there allowed me to take photos and later emailed me a transcript of the book. I've been reading, re-reading, and studying the book over the last few weeks. It's really sort of fascinating.

The first thing that I came across of interest was a statement by the surveyor regarding the temperament of some of the people who lived in the area that he was surveying. He was working on land that was contested by the colonies of New Hampshire and New York, and not all of the settlers were friendly. Having purchased their land from New Hampshire, many people in the Bennington area were not happy to see a New Yorker who was trying to claim the land for someone else. On the second page of his field book, the unknown surveyor states:

"Going North a Little to the S there Lives one Wickwire & on[e] Pratt I did the Same manner Demand the Possesion of that House & Lot in your Name, here I had like to have had my head broke, & he forwarned me Running across his Inclosion I told him Shurely Would & the, he might Sue for a Trespass of [if] Chose-"

Knowing the history of the New Hampshire Grants, and the residents border dispute with New York, it was pretty neat to see a literal first-hand account from someone who was there, in the midst of it.

Danby, New Hampshire Grants, Land Survey, 1775

Another item that I was able to look at was an original survey of land in Dorset, Vermont, dated 1775. The survey was a single page, and outlined a plot of land that I was later able to draw a map of. I haven't tried placing it within the town lines yet, but based on the survey notes, it was on the northern town line.

After spending an hour or so in the archives, I took a look around the museum. They have a really great collection of items from the area, including a lot of artifacts from the Battle of Bennington. Back to the topic of surveying, one item on display was a theodolite captured after the battle, thought to belong to a local Tory by the name of Colonel Francis Pfister. Pfister and Lieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum, leader of the German troops at Bennington, were both mortally wounded during the battle, passing away at a house where they were taken after the battle.