The American attempt to capture Montreal, and thus isolate all of the British mihtary posts in Upper Canada from their supphes has been dubbed the "Grand Invasion" To those who study Napoleon's 1812 campaign, this_title is a toke, a very small joke, because the total American force contemplated in both wings of the Army was onlysome 10,000. Unfortunately, Major General Wade Hampton s wing which was to move from Plattsburg to Montreal never succeeded in joining Wilkinson's. The result--a little less than half the potential force was not present. Frankhn B. Hough gives the strength and organization of Wilkinson's force on page 503 of his History of Jefferson County New York in the form of a table showing the force that was to muster on Grenadier Island on l6 October 1813. First Division Second Division 1 Maj. Pitt's Arty. 10 Capt. Brook's Arty. 2 Capt. Leonard's Art. 11 Capt. (?) Art. 3 Lt. Col. Eustis's Art. 12 Capt. Archer's Art. 4 Col. Pearce, 16th Inf.(377) 13 Lt. Col Dix. 14th Inf (267) 5 Lt Col Cutting, 25th (562) 14 Col. Ripley, 21st (632) 6 Col Aspinwall, 9th (468) 15 LtCol Upham, 15th (449) 7 Col Preston, 12th (369) 16 Col. (?) (459) 8 Maj. Huyke, 13th (391) 17 Col Brady (462) 9 Col Bissel, 5th (553) 18 Bvt. Col Miller (368) The numbers in parentheses are the numbers that were to have been transported for each regiment. The blanks are Hough's. The organization was broken into two brigades of infantry with three batteries of artillery for each division Hough commented that the artillery was broken down into heavy, light, and lightning; presumably he is either talking of a battery of heavy siege guns for one, or a militia battery equipped with light 3pr guns for the lightning. Generals Covington and Boyd were brigadiers for the first division, the former leading the 16th, 25th and 9th, and the latter commanding the 12th, 13th and 5th. The brigadiers for the second divison were Generals Swartwout (14, 15th, and 21st) and Brown (the unnumbered militia regiments). The above numbers are not the absolute totals. They do not reflect the numbers of dragoons, riflemen and other necessary troops. Furthermore, Hough reported that Col. Cole reported to Grenadier Island on 23 October with 200 men of the 12th and an additional 200 men of the 20th arrived on 31 October. On 28 October 196 men were sent back to Sackets Harbor, probably as a result of the illness and hardship caused by a fluke October snow storm. Other numbers of Empires, Eagles and Lions have gone into the question of some of the forces involved in the invasion. The squadron of the 2nd Dragoons did make a charge at Crysler's Fall (11 November) against well-placed British light Infantry. Major Benjamin Forsyth's US Riflemen were the part of the unenumerated strength that could give some hints as to American skirmishing ability. Brown's brigade, the fourth or militia, would have New York State riflemen, but at the time of Crysler's Farm, they had advanced as far as Cornwall, Ontario. Returning to Hough's statement on artillery, we may see a concerted effort to bring the necessary ordnance to conduct an attack on Montreal. He was not strictly a military writer, thus accounting for some of the confusion in terminology. At any rate, each division was sufficiently complete to stand on its own and to conduct independent operations if necessary. It may be a great assumption, but perhaps skirmishers and cavalry were divided so as to provide each division with all components necessary to efficient operation. Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 1 No. 58 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1981 by Emperor's Headquarters This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com