War of 1812; British Foreign Regiments

There were quite a few foreign regiments employed by the British in the War of 1812. Some were decent, others were of very low quality.

For record of service look here;

http://www.warof1812.ca/charts/regts_na.htm

Swiss Regiments

These two Swiss regiments were originally employed by the Dutch, but switched to British service. They were named after their commanders. They received a bad rap for having a lot of deserters, but this was because by the War of 1812 2/3 of their numbers were made up of peninsular war captives! Mainly Polish, but also Swiss, and German. 

Regiment De Meuron

Regiment De Wattville

French POWs

Companie De Foreigners

These were French Prisoners of War. They did not do well, when used in the invasion of the USA they ran ammock, murdering and raping. They were light infantry. 

Former American Slaves

3rd Regiment of Marines

This unit was created from freed slaves. The British freed all the slaves they could in their invasion of the US. These freed slaves fought against their former captors in British service. They fought in the Chesapeake.

West Indies Regiments

These were made up soldiers of African descent from West Indies. The British thought highly of these units, and they performed well. They took part in the New Orleans campaign. There were 4 regiments that took part;the 1st West India, 2nd, 5th and Rangers (I assume rangers were light infantry)