Before horses became the standard draft animal of armies in the nineteenth century, oxen pulled the heavy work: the artillery trains, the supply wagons, the pontoon bridges, the heaviest siege guns. They were slower than horses but pulled more weight, ate rougher forage, and recovered better from hard service. The most famous use of oxen in the American war was Colonel Henry Knox's Noble Train of Artillery in the winter of 1775-76 — sixty tons of cannon, mortars, and howitzers dragged on forty-two ox-drawn sleds from Fort Ticonderoga through the Berkshire snow to the army outside Boston, three hundred miles in under two months. Without those oxen Washington had no heavy guns, and without the guns on Dorchester Heights the British did not have to leave Boston. This W. Britain two-piece yoke captures both animals in harness on a naturalistic base — pairing naturally with the Regal Enterprises Knox's Artillery Regiment and its 6-pounder gun (the same kind of piece the oxen hauled), the Tradition of London American Generals set with Washington and his command at the headquarters that ordered the haul, and the matte 1/30 W. Britain Washington's Bodyguard at Support Arms figure standing watch over the army's strongbox and its precious convoys.

Set Number: 35054 / W. Britain / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 2-piece set