Major General Lafayette McLaws

McLaws was born in Augusta, Georgia on January 15, 1821. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1842, placing 48^th out of 56 cadets. While at Jefferson Barracks. Missouri, he married Emily Allison Taylor, niece of Zachary Taylor, making him a cousin-in-law of future Confederates Richard Taylor and Jefferson Davis.

Resigning as a U.S. Army captain at the start of the Civil War, McLaws was commissioned a major in the Confederate States Army. He was quickly promoted to colonel of the 10^th Georgia Infantry regiment, then quickly again to brigadier general in brigade and division command in the Seven Days Battles. Then, on May 23 1862, to major general. He joined his childhood friend in Augusta and fellow West Point of '42 classmate, Maj. Gen James Longstreet’s First Corps in the Army of Northern Virginia as 1^st Division commander and stayed with Longstreet for most of the war.


On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863, McLaws commanded the second division to step off in Longstreet's massive assault on the Union left flank. He achieved great success (at a high cost in lives) in the areas known as the Wheatfield and the Peach Orchard, but the army as a whole was unable to dislodge the Union forces from their positions on Cemetery Ridge. His division did not participate in Pickett’s Charge the next day, despite Longstreet's command of that assault.

After the war, McLaws worked in the insurance business, was a tax collector for the IRS, served as Savannah's postmaster in 1875-76, and was active in Confederate veterans' organizations. Despite his wartime differences with Longstreet, McLaws initially defended Longstreet in the post-war attempts by Jubal Early and others to smear his reputation. Just before his death, however, his opinion changed about the lost cause movement, and he began speaking out about Longstreet's failures at Gettysburg.

Lafayette McLaws died in Savannah on July 24, 1897 (aged 76) and is buried there in Laurel Grove Cemetery. He is the posthumous author of A Soldier's General:  The Civil War Letters of Major General Lafayette McLaws (2002).

 

The figure is from Redoubt, with a minor change regarding facial hair using Green Stuff.

This guy will be me on the table at the Gettysburg game in July!

Barksdale's Mississippians

I have been away for the past couple of weeks and been unable to comment on so many of your posts. I have been reading most of them though and will start catching up with as many as I can.

For now here are some photos of the latest batch of Rebels for our Gettysburg game. These guys will be part of Brig -Gen William Barksdale's Brigade made up of four Mississippi regiments. Those being the 13th, the 17th, the 18th and the 21st .  I still have another three stands to paint up for this brigade and they are on the painting table now! 

 The next bunch of photos are of the rest of my Rebels. I have another 11 stands painted but waiting to be based and another 11 stands that I have just started painting.

 

 

Happy Easter everyone!!!!

Artillery from the South.

For the Gettysburg refight I will need three guns and crew for the Division that I am doing and I also need to come up with two more guns and crew for my share of the Corp artillery.

These guys are all from Foundry. Bought several years ago but finally now they have some paint. They are a mixture of a number of sets, some of which were going to be Union but because of this game they have been pressed into Confederate service.

A variety of bronze and iron barreled guns.

Confederate Infantry

With our Gettysburg refight coming up in July I needed to paint up more Rebels for my part in the game. Here is another 8 stands to go with my rather small force that is painted so far.

The figures are all from Renegade Miniatures.

Check out our Harper's Weekly blog, dedicated to the Gettysburg refight for photos of the rest of my Rebel Infantry and photos of some of the troops from other participants in the game .

German HMG

Finished painting these two chaps along with their gun a while ago but only sorted out the basing the other day!

WW1 German HMG team from Renegade Miniatures.

Trostle Farm, Gettysburg.

This is what I have been up to over the last couple of months.

Trostle farmhouse.

Made from cardboard balsa wood and plastic rod for the upper story rails for the Gettysburg refight game in July.

 There was also a barn and a wagon shed on the property but I think I will leave the farm as just the homestead.

 Picket fence made out of strips of balsa wood.

 

 By sitting the house in the corner of the field there is enough room for troops in the front and down one side.

  

  

The yard has been made big enough to hold a unit 4 stands wide  and the building can be removed altogether if more troops are required to be in the field.

I have also posted a few more photos on our Harper's Weekly blog showing the house in action and a bit of info on it's place in the great battle.

Happy New Year everbody

Lets hope it's a good one!