Wolseley realized that the entire regular garrison was smaller than any of Lee’s three corps at Gettysburg and consisted of thirteen battalions of infantry, twelve batteries of field artillery, seven batteries of garrison artillery, three companies of Royal Engineers, and two battalions of military trains. These units would barely constitute two normal British divisions, numbering a little over nineteen thousand men in all, to include staff corps. They were all first rate. The government had wanted the quality of the reinforcement to be taken into account in American diplomatic calculations, which was why the two guards battalions-the 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, and the 2nd Battalion Scots Fusilier Guards-were included. The legendary Rifle Brigade had also sent its 1st Battalion.
Most of the regiments had their share of North American battle honors. The oldest was the Grenadier Guards, which had been sent to Virginia in 1677 to put down Bacon’s Rebellion.
British Army battalions, often referred to as imperial battalions to distinguish them from colonial units, were unparalleled fighting formations, known for their obstinacy in battle often to the point of suicide. They had a sense of themselves based on the regimental system that gave them a wonderful resilience and cohesiveness. Leavened with Crimean War, Great Mutiny, and China expedition veterans, they knew the bayonet end of their business better than another other army in the world.
“Battalion” was not necessarily synonymous with “regiment.” A regiment was the permanent organization that was organized into the tactical formation of a battalion with ten companies. Most regiments had only one battalion, though there were a number of exceptions when there were two or more battalions. The guards regiments all had more than one battalion. Battalions usually numbered about 1,000 men on paper, but actual strength usually varied from 800 to 950.
British regiments were also famous for their unique personalities and were often known by their nicknames. The 1st Battalion, Grenadier Guards, were known as “the Dandies,” no doubt from their parade functions in London and the fact that as all the guards, they were selected for height to make a grander appearance. More often nicknames were born in battle. The famous red coat of the British soldier was actually scarlet and a new and more practical tunic cut adopted as one of Crimean War reforms. Different facings distinguished the various regiments. Black trousers and a black shako completed his uniform. The only exception to scarlet was the rifle green and black of the rifle battalions. It was Richard Sharpe, hero of the 95th Rifles-later 1st Battalion, the Rifle Brigade-of whom Wolseley spoke in his dinner conversation with George H. Sharpe.
The British soldier was also armed with the superb.577 caliber muzzle-loading Enfield rifle of the 1853 pattern, only rivaled by the American Springfield rifle. Ironically, the Enfield rifle was produced on American machinery and according to the “American method” of mass production.
The Royal Artillery had also taken the lead in introducing a breakthrough artillery piece. The field artillery batteries had come equipped with the new breech-loading Armstrong guns. However, the average gunner and his officer could not deal with such a fundamental change and complained of having to rewrite the venerable gun drill “because the gun loaded at the wrong end. In the bloom of the industrial age, the British artillery was not yet prepared for the maintenance of delicate machinery.”
The Trent Affair had also given some impetus to the creation of an effective Canadian militia. The Canadians shared the mother country’s outrage over the Trent Affair, but many English-speaking Canadians had a deeper dislike for the United States than for the imperial smugness of the British. Many were the descendents of the one hundred thousand American Loyalists who either refused to live in the new republic or had been “encouraged” to emigrate after the Revolution. They also continued to describe Americans as unsophisticated braggarts, using the epithet they shared with the British-“Brother Jonathan.”
The outbreak of the Civil War followed by the Trent Affair had resulted in an initial burst of enthusiasm for defense by the provincial Canadian authorities. The new Volunteer Militia was quickly recruited up to its authorized strength and divided into small, organized units that drilled together on a regular basis. By 1862, there were thirty-four troops of horse, twenty-seven artillery batteries, 182 companies of rifles, and five companies of engineers. A Sedentary Militia, which theoretically included every adult male between the ages of eighteen and sixty years old, was also available, but they were not drilled and did not have weapons.
As Wolseley reviewed the situation, he found he could count on about ten thousand men in the Voluntary Militia from Lower Canada (Quebec) and about fifteen thousand from Upper Canada (Ontario). Several thousand more could be found in the Maritimes. The process of consolidating the many independent companies into battalions had begun.
Three Canadian militia infantry battalions were brigaded with one British battalion for wartime operations as well as for training. The British Army had also provided several hundred officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) to train the Canadians. Nevertheless, there was a limit to how much soldiering could be passed on in the short training periods the Canadian colonial government was willing to pay for.
BRITISH ARMY HEADQUARTERS, MONTREAL, CANADA, 2:00 PM, SEPTEMBER 3, 1863
That afternoon, Wolseley reviewed the strategic defense of British North America with General Williams, Colonel Wetherall, and the rest of the staff. He said, “We face the unique military problem of an immensely long border with no strategic depth behind it. The inhabited regions of Upper and Lower Canada are rarely more than fifty miles deep. At the same time, the British forces in Canada and the Maritimes would show clearly that all of our scattered regular forces do not amount to a single corps in General Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. Our Canadian militia has an effective strength of even less than that. Because of the necessity to defend key points, there is no possibility that these forces could ever be consolidated into a single, large field army.”
Although Wolseley considered his regulars more than a match for veteran American troops if war came, he also knew that the unblooded Canadians would have to be used very carefully until they had become seasoned. “We face another problem: Canadian officials tend to lose all interest in defense matters when the immediate cost is waved about. The attitude seems to be that since they are part of the British Empire, the empire will damn well have to defend them. If I remember correctly, that is one reason Brother Jonathan refused to pay his fair share for the Crown’s expenses in the Seven Years War. And we know where that attitude led.
“Case in point, gentlemen, let me read you this comment from George Brown’s newspaper, the Globe: ‘We cannot agree to the dogma that Canada should provide entirely for her defence when she is not the author of the quarrels against the consequences of which she is called to stand upon her guard.’
“On a more positive note, I am glad that the Canadian Volunteers are as splendid men as can be wished for. They are, after all, blood of our blood, bone of our bone. Unfortunately, the provincial authorities have been rather feckless in the selection of their officers. Social standing seems to be the primary consideration. They may well have considered Cromwell’s standards when he said, ‘If you chose godly, honest men to be captains of horse, honest men will follow them.’ So, gentlemen, a major task is to nurse along these provincial officers as best we can until they approach the quality of the men they lead.” As only British officers were present, there were no objections to his characterizations. If anything, there was knowing laughter.