Battle of New Orleans British order of battle

The following units of the British Armed Forces participated in the Battle of New Orleans on 8 January 1815. The American order of battle is shown separately.

British order of battle

British Army [lower-alpha 1]

General Staff

  • Commander-in-Chief: Major General the honourable Sir Edward Pakenham - killed 8 January 1815[2]
  • Deputy Commander-in-Chief: Major General Samuel Gibbs - died of wounds[2]
  • Military Secretary: Major Harry Smith[3]
  • Deputy Adjutant General: Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Stovin - wounded 24 December 1814[2]
  • Deputy Assistant Adjutant General: Brevet Major Henry Hooper - wounded 24 December 1814[2]
  • Acting Deputy Adjutant General: Captain Sir John Maxwell Tylden[3][4]
  • Acting Deputy Assistant Adjutant General: Captain Wood[3]
  • Senior Officer, Royal Artillery: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Dickson[3]
  • Senior Officer, Royal Engineers: Lieutenant Colonel John Fox Burgoyne[3]
  • Senior Officer, Royal Staff Corps: Major Todd.[3]
  • Major of Brigade: Captain Henry Thomas Shaw (4th Foot) - wounded 8 January 1815[2]
  • Major of Brigade: Captain Thomas Wilkinson (85th Foot)- killed 8 January 1815[2]
  • Quarter Master General: Lieutenant Colonel John Bell[lower-alpha 2]
  • Assistant Quarter Master General: Major Charles Ramus Forrest[3]
  • Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General: Lieutenant George de Lacy Evans[3] - wounded on 24 December 1814 and 8 January 1815[2]
  • Deputy Assistant Quarter Master General: Lieutenant John Peddie.[3]
  • Naval aide de camp: Lieutenant (RN) The Honourable Edward Curzon[3][6]
  • Deputy Inspector of hospitals: Dr John Robb[3]


1st Brigade, Major General John Keane - wounded 8 January 1815

907 men as at 25 November 1814. [7][8] Casualties 23 to 31 December: 2 killed, 5 wounded. Casualties 1 to 5 January: 9 killed; 11 wounded. Casualties 8 January: 63 killed; 101 wounded.[2]

Maybe 700 men.[lower-alpha 3] 400 men (of 1040) as at 8 January 1815.[10] Casualties 25 to 31 December: 1 killed. Casualties 8 January: 5 killed; 23 wounded; 1 missing.[2]

  • 1 battalion of the 5th West India Regiment.

643 men as at 25 November 1814.[8] 640 men (of 1040) as at 8 January 1815.[10] Casualties 25 to 31 December: 1 killed, 2 wounded. Casualties 25 to 31 December: 4 killed, 2 wounded. Casualties 8 January: 1 wounded.[2]


2nd Brigade, Colonel Arthur Brooke

893 men as at 25 November 1814. [8] Casualties 23 to 24 December: 5 killed; 15 wounded. Casualties 25 to 31 December: 4 wounded. Casualties 8 January: 42 killed; 254 wounded; 55 missing.[2]

647 men as at 25 November 1814.[8] Casualties 25 to 31 December: 2 wounded; 1 missing. Casualties 1 to 5 January: 2 killed; 3 wounded. Casualties 8 January: 35 killed; 163 wounded; 80 missing.[2]

995 men as at 25 November 1814. [8] Casualties 23 to 24 December: 3 killed; 11 wounded; 8 missing. Casualties 25 to 31 December: 1 killed, 1 wounded. Casualties 1 to 5 January: 1 killed; 5 wounded. Casualties 8 January: 70 killed; 155 wounded; 236 missing.[2]


Advance Brigade, Colonel William Thornton

456 men as at 25 November 1814. [8] Casualties 23 to 24 December: 13 killed; 69 wounded; 19 missing. Casualties 25 to 31 December: 4 killed; 13 wounded. Casualties 1 to 5 January: 2 killed; 6 wounded. Casualties 8 January: 2 killed; 41 wounded; 1 missing. Casualties 9 to 26 January: 1 wounded.[2]

  • 5 companies of the 3rd battalion from 95th Regiment of Foot.

They disembarked at Bayou Catalan on 22 December 1814, having departed Plymouth, Devon on 18 September 1814.[13][14] 488 men as at 25 November 1814.[8] Casualties 23 to 24 December: 23 killed; 62 wounded; 42 missing. Casualties 1 to 5 January: 1 killed. Casualties 8 January: 11 killed; 101 wounded.[2]


Reinforcements from Europe [lower-alpha 4] [lower-alpha 5]- Both battalions commanded by Major General John Lambert

850 men as at 5 January 1815. [17] Casualties 8 January: 49 killed; 53 wounded.[2]

850 men as at 5 January 1815.[17] Casualties 8 January: 11 killed; 163 wounded; 44 missing. Casualties 9 to 26 January: 1 killed; 5 wounded.[2]

160 men as at 25 November 1814. [8][18] Soon joined by a second squadron, the unit having a strength of 295 as at 8 January 1815.[10] No casualties during battle, but 2 officers and 37 troopers in a boat were captured on 25 January 1815.[2]


  • Artillery

- Three companies of Royal Artillery each commanded by Captain John Michell, Captain Lewis Carmichael and Captain Adam Crawford, redeployed from the Chesapeake (320 men).[19]
- Now joined by a fourth company commanded by Major Alexander Munro[20] of 115 men[21] and a rocket detachment of 40 men commanded by Captain Henry Lane.[19][18] Colonel Alexander Dickson accompanied these reinforcements.[21]
- Casualties 23 to 24 December: 2 ORs killed; 1 Officer, 7 ORs wounded. Casualties 25 to 31 December: 4 ORs killed; 1 Officer, 5 ORs wounded. Casualties 1 to 5 January: 1 Officer 1 NCOs & 9 ORs killed; 12 ORs wounded. Casualties 8 January: 5 ORs killed; 10 ORs wounded.[2]

  • Royal Engineers

- Company of sappers [22] with a strength of nearly 100 men,[23] confirmed as 98 men on 8 January.[10] Casualties 23 to 24 December: 1 OR missing. Casualties 25 to 31 December: 1 OR wounded. Casualties 1 to 5 January: 1 Officer killed. Casualties 8 January: 3 ORs wounded.[2] - Royal Staff Corps detachment of 57 men as at 8 January[10] on shore, no source material to indicate whether they participated in the battle.

Royal Navy
  • Royal Marines

- Royal Marine Artillery rocket detachment from the marine battalion (elsewhere), commanded by Lieutenant John Lawrence. The Marine Artillery numbered 1 officer and 26 gunners. [24] Their penultimate engagement was the Battle of New Orleans.[25]
- Composite battalion of 100 marines from the fleet, in combat, commanded by Brevet Major Thomas Adair, who led the attack by the Royal Marines [26] on the west bank of the Mississippi at New Orleans.[11][27][12] Casualties 8 January: Royal Marine casualties were two dead, with three officers, one sergeant, and 12 other ranks wounded.[2]

  • Sailors from the fleet

- Naval Brigade of 100 sailors from the fleet, in combat, commanded by Rowland Money of HMS Trave,[28] who participated in the attack on the west bank of the Mississippi.[11][27][12] Casualties 8 January: Royal Navy casualties were two dead, Captain Rowland Money and 18 seamen wounded. [2]

Native American allies

- Brevet Major Edward Nicolls accompanied by less than 100 Seminole, Creek, and Choctaw warriors.[29] Among them were Hitchiti Indians led by Kinache (??)

Notes and citations

Notes

  1. One useful document is the one page 'Journal of the movements of the Army acting in the Southern part of the North American coast.' It contains a list of units and their strengths as at 25 November 1814. This, a one page "Plan of the Position we occupied" and Major Forrest's journal were sent with a covering letter to Lieutenant General Clinton by Lieutenant John Peddie. They were discovered in the Clinton Papers held by the University of Michigan. As well as a transcription of the 'Journal of the movements of the Army' a reproduction of the image can be seen via this link. [1] This source was also quoted in Duncan's book in 1873. The same information is recorded in the monthly returns for British forces in North America, archive reference WO 17/1218.
  2. In addition to Bell's service in the Peninsular War, it documents that he 'served afterwards with the army employed against Louisiana, from Dec. 1814 to June 1815', as documented in the "War Services of the General Officers" [5]
  3. Estimate of 'British Army Corps and Strength' & 'Staff of the British Army' by Robert Morrell, M.D. formerly a prisoner of the British, letter dated 8 April 1815. These attachments were sent in a letter from Morrell to Major Latour, and are reproduced in the Report of Sesquicentennial Celebration 1815-1865[9]
  4. The 7th and the 43rd were to go to Georgia to assist, but were diverted to New Orleans, unbeknown to Read Admiral Cochrane[15]
  5. Despatch from Bathust to Pakenham dated 24 October 1814, within: Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Out-letters, archive reference WO 6/2. 'You will be followed immediately by the 7th and 43rd Regiments with another squadron of dismounted Dragoons, which are embarked at Plymouth under Major General Lambert, and by the 40th Regiment from Cork. The 2nd West India Regiment has also been ordered to join you from Barbadoes.'[16]

Citations

  1. "Image of the 'Journal of the movements of the Army.. '" – via hathitrust.org.
  2. Casualty returns within "No. 16991". The London Gazette. 9 March 1815. pp. 443–446.
  3. Despatch from Lambert to Secretary of State for War and the Colonies dated 28 January 1815 within "No. 16991". The London Gazette. 9 March 1815. pp. 442–443.
  4. Lee 1894, p. 415.
  5. Hart 1848, p. 27.
  6. Marshall 1831, p. 68.
  7. Duncan 1873, p. 395-396.
  8. Forrest 1961, p. 24.
  9. Report of Sesquicentennial Celebration 1815-1865, pp. 104–107.
  10. James 1818, p. 373.
  11. Gleig (1840), p. 340 quoting report from Colonel Thornton to Sir Edward Pakenham mentioning 'the force which you had allotted for the service viz., 298 of the 85th, and 200 Seamen and Marines'
  12. "Letter from Vice Admiral Cochrane to the Admiralty dated 18 January 1815". thegazette.co.uk. 9 March 1815. Retrieved 22 November 2021 – via London Gazette. The 85th regiment, with a division of seaman under Captain Money, and a division of marines under Major Adair, the whole amounting to about six hundred men.
  13. Cope 1877, p. 181-182.
  14. Surtees 1833, p. 324-337.
  15. Fraser & Carr-Laughton (1930), p. 296.
  16. Grodzinski (ed) (2011), p.1
  17. Levinge, p. 220. 'On the 5th of January the 7th and 43rd landed.. mustering upwards of 1700 bayonets'
  18. Surtees, p.325, 'The force that embarked at the same time with us [18th September 1814], consisted of the 93rd (Highlanders), a company of artillery, some rocketeers, a squadron of the 14th light dragoons, without horses, and our five [rifle] companies, the whole under the command of General Keane.'
  19. Duncan 1873, p. 395.
  20. Hill, p. 10
  21. Duncan 1873, p. 396.
  22. Forrest 1961, p. 23.
  23. Despatch from Keane to Pakenham dated 26 December 1814 within "No. 16991". The London Gazette. 9 March 1815. p. 439.
  24. Duncan 1873, p. 398.
  25. Letter from Lieutenant Harrison to the Admiralty dated 3 June 1815 within reference ADM 1/3340 (Letters from Marine Lieutenants 1813-115).
  26. Nicolas 1845, p. 232.
  27. "Report from Colonel Thornton to Sir Edward Pakenham dated 8 January 1815". thegazette.co.uk. 9 March 1815. Retrieved 22 November 2021 – via London Gazette. whilst one hundred sailors, under Captain Money, of the Royal Navy... threatened the enemy's left, supported by the division of the 85th Regiment under Captain Schaw... I deployed the column... under Major Deshon.. and about one hundred men of the royal marines under Major Adair.
  28. Nicolas 1845, p. 233.
  29. Sugden 1982, p. 300.

Bibliography
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