There were 40000 militia in Lower Canada, 10000 in Upper Canada and 10000 in the Maritimes. One fourth of each unit would receive better training and often cast off British uniforms; these were called flank companies. It was often just the flank companies that were involved in battles. There were also volunteer companies in every region which were usually uniformed. Very few of the regular sedentary militia would have had uniforms.
Upper Canada
Stormant and Glengarry Sedentary Militia
In the Eastern regions of Upper Canada, the Americans reported being followed by 500 highlanders in kilts. These were revolutionary war veterans and their descendants.
Lower Canada
Maritime Territories
These saw no action.
Where did you get these diagrams from?
ReplyDeleteHi Aidan,
ReplyDeleteAll plates are from the excellent "War of 1812 Uniform Blog". I have been in contact with the creator who is in France.
http://history-uniforms.over-blog.com
The information that the plates are based on are from Renee Chartrand's two volumes on the War of 1812.
In some cases militia units are based on conjecture of what was most likely. In the case of the Scottish Upper Canadian Militia along the St.Lawrence, the Americans reported being followed by 500 "highlanders" complete with bagpipes. Highlander veterans from the American Revolution and their families lived in that area. The British gave thousands of cast off British uniforms and other equipment to the militia. They also had thousands of green tunics as shown. The majority of Upper Canada militia in the field would have had green or red tunics IMO.