9.0 British and American Order of Battle
The list below is a good starting place for an historical campaign. The units are listed without strength but can be reasonably assumed to have close to authorized strength an being raised. The normal compliment for a regiment of one battalion was 8001,000 officers and men. I have not included artillery regiments and companies. The Americans fielded one company of artillery for five to six units.
United States Army regular forces listed by the year raised and recruiting locations:
On hand in 1812:
1st Rifle Regiment: 10 Cos. deployed in sections of two to three companies in Ohio and Mississippi River valleys and three companies in up state New York, raised in 1808
1st Infantry (deployed in New Jersey raised in 1789)
2nd Infantry (deployed to Louisiana raised in 1791)
3rd Infantry (deployed in Mississippi Territory Louisiana raised in 1791)
4th Infantry (deployed in New Hampshire raised in 1808)
5th Infantry (deployed western Pa. raised 1808)
6th Infantry (deployed New York raised in 1808)
7th Infantry (deployed in Kentucky raised in 1808)
8th Infantry (raised 1812 in Georgia)
9th Infantry (raised in MA. in 1812)
10th Infantry (North Carolina raised in 1812)
11th Infantry (Vermont raised in 1812)
12th Infantry (Virginia raised in 1812)
13th Infantry (New York raised in 1812)
14th Infantry (Maryland raised in 1812)
15th Infantry (New Jersey raised in 1812)
16th Infantry raised in 1812)
17th Infantry (Kentucky raised in 1812)
18th Infantry (S.Carolina raised in 1812)
19th Infantry (Ohio raised in 1812)
20th Infantry (Virginia raised in 1812)
21st Infantry (MA raised in 1812)
22nd Infantry (Pennsylvania raised in 1812)
23rd Infantry (New York raised in 1812)
24th Infantry (Tennessee raised in 1812)
25th Infantry( Connecticut raised in 1812)
27th, 29th, 41st & 46th Infantry (New York)
28th Infantry (Kentucky)
30th Infantry & 31st Infantry (Vermont)
32nd Infantry (Delaware and Pennsylvania)
33rd, 34th, 40th & 45th Infantry (MA)
35th Infantry (Virginia)
36th Infantry (Virginia and Maryland)
38th Infantry (Maryland)
39th Infantry (Tennessee)
42nd Infantry (Pennsylvania and New York)
43rd Infantry (North Carolina)
44th Infantry (Louisiana)
There were plans to raise 15 more regiments in 1814 but these were not completely raised when the war ended. Many of the regiments raised in 1813 and 1812 were used to defend key areas on the coast. It is difficult to get a complete list of the volunteer and militia units raised so I recommend that these units be raised with additional manpower after the "regular" units are raised. Volunteer units use the state name and "volunteer". For example the 1 st New York Volunteers. These volunteer regiments usually have a short career on the order of six to nine months.
The British deployed a number of units to North America these included the following:
1812 in Canada:
8th King's Own Regiment;
41st Welsh Regiment;
49th Royal Berkshire Regiment;
100th Prince Regent's Regiment;
104th New Brunswick's Fencibles;
10th Royal Veteran Battalion; Royal Newfoundland Regiment;
Canadian Fencible Infantry;
103rd Duke of York's Regiment;
Glenngarry Light Infantry Fencibles;
2nd Marine Battalion.
Deployed in July 1812:
6th Royal Warwickshire
Deployed in August 1812
1st Royal Scots Regiment
Deployed in October 1812:
89th Royal Irish Fusiliers
Deployed in 1813:
2nd Marine Battalion (January);
13th Somerset Light Infantry (August);
Regiment de Meuron (June);
Regiment de Watteville (May).
Deployed in 1814:
16th Bedfordshire Regiment (May):
90th Perthshire
85th King's Shropshire Light Infantry(July).
The following were all deployed in August:
9th East Norfolk Regiment;
17th Leicestershire Regiment;
21st Royal Scots Fusiliers;
27th Royal Inniskilling Regiment;
29th Worchestshire Regiment;
35th Royal Sussex Regiment;
37th Hampshire Regiment);
39th Dorsetshire Regiment;
44th Essex Regiment;
57th West Middlesex Regiment;
58th Rutlandshire Regiment;
59th 2nd Nottinghamshire battalion;
62nd Wiltshire Regiment;
76th West Riding Regiment;
81st North Lancashire Regiment;
82nd Price of Wales Volunteers;
88th Connaught Rangers;
97th Queen's Own Regiment;
102nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers;
4th Royal Lancaster Regiment;
3rd East Kent Regiment.
70th Glasgow Lowland Regiment (Nov);
7th Royal Fusiliers(Dec);
40th Prince of Wales Volunteers (Dec);
43rd Oxfordshire Regiment(Dec);
93rd Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders(Dec);
95th Derbyshire Regiment(Dec).
The British regiments were really battalions since they had one manuever battalion. Their strength should be 800-1000 men. The Highland regiments should field 1000-1200 men. Deploy one company of 9# artillery for each five units listed above. The Canadian militia should be 1000 men each forQuebec and Ontario (Great Lakes Region), 500 for Upper Canada, 500 for NewFoundland and 500 for Nova Scotia. The militia can be divided into 500 man units and deployed with the main forces within the regions.
CONCLUSIONS
As a period of study the War of 1812 has received little attention in the past 95 years. There are a number of first hand accounts and histories of the war in most eastern university colleges. Many of these works were only printed once, 170 years ago and are therefore usually found in special collection sections. I hope this short article has stimulated interest in this period, and that you will consider attempting your own campaign game soon.
More War 0f 1812 Campaign Game
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