The amount of uniform data and regulations and general information concerning almost any given nation involved in the Napoleonic Wars is and can be overwhelming. This journal, now in its sixth year, has produced hundreds of pages deahng with uniforms and dozens of uniform books have been reviewed or consulted. Yet when it comes to the uniforms of the United States Army of the 1812 period, one is amazed at how much INCORRECT data has been assembled and passed on as the truth. These mistakes are either accepted by the novice or compounded by writers and pubhshers who continually trace their own research back to the original errors. It is the same old story that our Managing Editor rightly keeps pointing out. To get the correct data one should seek the original sources whenever possible. It would appear that very very few have.
Perhaps the present problem is only the result of previous problems. The first attempt to produce paintings of the 1812 period army were done by Alonzo Chappel and Felix 0. Darley. Yet the figures they produced were more in line with the uniforms worn between 1822 and the 1840's. However, the real problem came about mainly and chiefly through a massive series of paintings depicting the uniforms of the United States Army by H.A. Ogden. Working through no less an authority than the U.S. Quartermaster General, Ogden, instead of using existing 1812 period articles of clothing and equipment, chose to base his works on the works of Chappel and Darley.
Thus, error compounded error and these were perpetuated to yet another generation of historians who took these works as being the real thing. Perhaps, due to the relative small size of the United States Army of the conflict httle equipment was available for study. Perhaps much data on these uniforms was lost when the British burned Washington, D.C. in August of 1814.
But even if these two facts were true, it doesn't really answer the question that is the title of this article. Like the old Minuteman myth of the American Revolution, it stayed alive. In fact, the errors would be the totally accepted regulations by historians today if it had not been for a few, a very few, serious, research-oriented historians of a different breed who took the time to go back through the archives to the original sources.
Men like H. Charles McBarron Jr., John R. Eiting, Frederick P. Todd and a name already familiar to readers of this journal, Detmar H. Finke, as well as many others who should be recognized, but space dictates otherwise. But I shall mention another whose works are well known, Canada's own Rene Chartrand.
These individuals, working sometimes separately, sometimes collectively, but always with original data, produced, through "The Company of Mihtary Historians" , some of the best and most accurate colored plates of United States forces in the War of 1812. It should also be mentioned that their coverage also includes British and Canadian uniforms of the period. Their works are continuing and shall be reviewed in future issues of this journal, as well as their past works that warrent your attention.
One of the most recent is a partnership by Rene Chartrand and Brigadier General J. L. Summers entitled Military Uniforms in Canada, 1665-1970. This just released volume with color plates by J.R. Marrion, is available from the New Brunswick Museum, 277 Douglas Avenue, Saint John, New Brunswick, CANADA, E2K, 1E5 for $29.95 plus one dollar postage.
COMMENTS
by Allan Ferguson
I have read your article on the importance of the War of 1812, and truly congratulate you for this solid attempt to wake up the scoffers of our little war. On the other hand, there is still room for more comment, on both sides of the border, to explain what and how it took on such importance.
Your start leads me to think that you could write another such article evaluating the services of British troops, their sucesses, failures, etc.
To cover the American side one need only look at what transpired. The change from von Steuben to the reglement de 1791, the change in the officer corps, the change in tactics at large, all contributed to the eventual American measure of success in 1814.
Let's face it---1812 and 13 were both dismal affairs in the annals of military history!
Think also about this: after the revolution, the American concept of the military required the militia, under the logic that only tyrants have standing armies. The War of 1812 proved that the militia system had serious shortcomings, and that it was not totally adequate to the needs of offensive or defensive war as it then stood. Fortunately, both Baltimore and New Orleans managed good defense, but think of the December, 1813 raids on Buffalo, Fort Niagara, and vicinity!
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