Military Guide
Redcoats and Rebels
Capture. If you were an officer and you got captured, often, you would be traded for another of equal rank. While in captivity, officers frequently dined with the enemy and were treated very well. Regulars were frequently imprisoned in POW camps if British or loaned out for labor on farms or if American, imprisoned on the feared prison ships in New York harbor. Ending up on a prison ship was a virtual death-sentence. American POWs could often escape their situation by joining the British army and serving time that way. As much as 3/4s of all Americans captured saw service in the British army. Some were given parole (i.e. sent home and told not to fight any more), most honored their agreement. Family was allowed to visit and send money, in fact, this practice was encouraged.
Basic Facts: Each regiment had 475 men (although most had 325-400 on duty) divided into 10 companies (8 "light infantry" and 2 "grenadiers"). Each company had 25-38 men and had a captain, a lieutenant, an ensign, two sergeants, there corporals, and a drummer. A regiment was commanded by a colonel and a lieutenant colonel if the colonel was absent. They also had major, a surgeon, a surgeon's mate and sometimes a chaplain. The main weapon was a smoothbore musket widely known as a "Brown Bess" (flintlock, 14lbs, 44in. barrel), they also came equipped with a bayonet. Artillery battalions had 8 companies of roughly 116 men and officers. Cavalry regiments had troops, each with 231 men and officers. Cavalrymen had to supply their own horses and were often from the middle or upper classes.
Fact: Why did it take so long for the British Army to move somewhere? Because their baggage trains were so long! They brought their wives and families along and officers often doubt whole dining sets, bed sets, and other luxuries. Baggage trains could be up to and over 12 miles long!
British Army. Adventurers, vagabonds, and the unemployable found their way into the British army. Many regulars in the British army were convicts who were given the option "hang or join the army"; most chose the army. Others were knocked out or gotten drunk by recruiters and woke up in the army. Once a man accepted "the King's shilling" (a pay bonus for enlisting) he was in service for life. Some were the children of soldiers and had no other option but to follow in their father's footsteps, at 14, they became a drummer boy, 18-21, they would become a private. A regular had little chance of rising beyond sergeant. Officers had it better off.
Officers. Many were the younger sons of aristocrats and being younger sons with no inheritance, they joined the army to seek their fortunes. Commissions were often bought and seldom were merit-based promotions given; you got what you could buy. Vacancies were offered to the most senior officer in the rank below. Most officers were poor soldiers and knew less about how to fight then their men. Obviously, discipline was incredibly strict. The penalty for assaulting an officer was death.
Discipline. Other offenses had severe punishments, like being whipped with a cat o' nine tails over 200 times (more than enough to kill a man). British soldiers were incredibly well-trained and were very well equipped and supplied and probably had it better than any other army in Europe and they were just as good fighters, if not better.
Fact: British regulars carried a little tin of maggots that they would put on serious wounds to avoid dangerous infections. Sound gross? It is, but it beats amputation!
Women in the British Army: In the British Army, wives and children of the regulars accompanied their husbands, which is part of the reason it took so long to move from place to place-- there were hundreds of women and children (not to mention supplies) to move! Widows are naturally a product of war; in the British Army, widows had 1 month to mourn and then had to remarry or leave camp. Naturally, with a husband in the foreign service, getting back home was pretty much impossible, ergo, they remarried. At age 14, the daughter of a British soldier would either have to marry another soldier or leave camp, although if an apprenticeship could be found for her she could take that option...Regulars v. Provisionals. Regulars were professional soldiers. Provisionals were loyalists that chose to fight with the British in "loyalist" militias.
The King's Navy The British navy was far superior in size and strength. The British had 270 ships (131 with 60+ guns) in 1775 and by 1783 they had 468 (174 with 60+ guns).
Basics. Initially officers were picked by popular vote, like the word popular in there? Yes. It was a popularity contest. Washington soon put an end to this practice and began promoting people based on merit. Most high-ranking officers still came from the upper/middle classes however. The Continental Army was poorly disciplined and poorly equipped and poorly trained for most of the war. It wasn't until the winter of '77-'78 that Baron Von Steuben managed to whip the colonial forces into shape with his vigorous drills. The Continentals also used the Brown Bess and the Pennsylvania (a.k.a. Kentucky) Rifle. Rifles were accurate but took 2-3 minutes to load (not a good thing in battle). Continental Riflemen were quite respected by the British soldiers however for their marksmanship.
Women in the Continental Army There were plenty of wasps buzzing around Continental Army camps (those wasps would be loose women). The vast majority of women that went anywhere near the camps were either came followers (no, not whores!), or they stayed at home to manage the house and farm/business. Women that followed their husbands were a recognized part of the military and received rations (1/2 that of a man, their children got 1/4). They worked as cooks, nurses, and laundresses and yes, they were paid for their work. These women were subject to military law. Some women dressed as men and went off to fight! This was probably more common amongst the lower classes. This sort of thing is virtually unheard of amongst the upper classes-- it's far too scandalous and the rigid social structure prevented such things from happening! Even so, it was a rare occurrence for a woman to dress as a man and fight.
In the Navy. The Continental navy was small and only 8 merchant vessels were ever purchases and converted by Congress. They did commission 13 frigates to be built however. There were 50-60 ships in operation in total during the war, although not at the same time. America had no ship capable of carrying more than 32 guns at first until France either loaned or sold vessels to them. Each state was aloud to create their own navy however. The marine corps was established so each ship would have troops to fight abroad other vessels. Congress employed many privateers however and by the end of the war, they had sunk or captured roughly 600 enemy ships by the end of the war. Privateering was more popular than joining the navy. Why? Because privateers could keep whatever prizes they captured. To be a privateer, get a letter of marquee from congress (if you didn't have one, you were a pirate and if you got caught, you hanged.) For a captured privateer however, things weren't much better, you got stuffed into a prison ship.
Uniforms: In the beginning of the war, few had "proper" uniforms due to lack of funds. While some high-ranking officers and Congressional couriers had then, virtually all men wore their normal clothes until 1779 when the first major efforts to standardize dress were made.
Copycats. The Continental Army borrowed its ranking system from the British and the setup of its units.
Commander-in-Chief: Head of all armies, addressed as "General"; holds rank of general.
Maj. Gen.
Brig. Gen.
Col.
Lt. Col.
Major
Captain: Also another name for the leader of a local militia.
Lt.
Ensign (i/a) = Cornet (c)
Sergeant (x2 per company)
Corporals (x3 per company)
Private
Key. (i) infantry, (c) cavalry, (a) artillery. subaltern rank. Officers.
*coming soon if they can be found*
