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Revolutionary War Company Madness

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The 700 British regulars under Lt. Col (later MG) Francis Smith that sortied out of Boston to Lexington and Concord some 250 years ago this month did so in a bewildering array of units. Smith’s force included the Grenadier and Light Infantry Companies of the 4th (King’s Own), 5th, 10th, 23rd (Royal Welch Fusiliers), 38th, 43rd, 47th, 52nd and 59th Regiments of Foot, Grenadier and Light Infantry companies of the 1st Battalion of Marines, and also the Grenadier company of the 18th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Foot.

For those keeping up at home, that’s at least 21 companies for what would today be viewed as a light battalion-sized force.

Why?

Robust and agile Grenadiers and “Light Bobs” from various regiments and Marines made up the British force that marched on Lexington and Charleston. They were typically drilled and trained to skirmish with the enemy from behind cover, provide reconnaissance, and protect the army’s flanks, whereas more traditional line infantry companies from the same regiment were of the “stand and deliver” style force that would provide massed musketry in a set-piece battle (NPS photos)

The reason for the variety was that Smith, looking to move fast, had the cream of the Britsh regiments in Boston, the elite Grenadiers and the skirmishers of the Light companies, with each of His Majesty’s regiments of foot organized into 10 companies: eight line, and two flank (Grenadier and Light). The picked men of each regiment. Smith’s main striking force would be the Grenadiers, screened and supported with the assorted Light companies.

It was a good choice, as his exhausted force would have to cover 18 miles from Boston to Concord and back, with the way back under a fierce fighting retreat, in 22 hours.

Each British infantry regiment of the time numbered 477 men in 10 companies, with each of the latter typically containing no more than 49 men: a Captain, two Lieutenants, two Sergeants, three Corporals, a Drummer, two Fifers, and 38 Privates. As basic math would have given Smith a force of well over 1,000 on paper, the discrepancy (700 marching out of Boston), shows how understrength through illness, death, and discharges the Brits were.

King George III only had a 48,647-strong Army- deployed around the globe- in 1775, organized in 46 regiments of infantry and 16 of cavalry as well as an array of independent companies and support units. Of those 46 regiments of foot, an impressive 18 were deployed to America. At the start of the war, the only regular cavalry in the Americas was the 17th Dragoons, numbering just 288 sabres in four squadrons.

In all, only 8,580 British regulars were in America at the start of the Revolution.

Facing 4,000 alerted Massachusetts militia who began surrounding Boston on the morning of 20 April- an 11-month siege that would eventually lead to the evacuation of the city by the British in March 1776- you can see how thin the King’s hold on the colony really was.

Nerding out on 1775 firepower

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We’ve been digging into the ballistics and history around the battles of Lexington and Concord, which are now 250 years in the rearview.

Of interest, we found that a .69 caliber spherical musket ball of 584 grains, pushed by 110 grains of modern 2F black powder out of the barrel of a Land Pattern musket, was still able to zip through 32 inches of 10 percent FBI ballistics gel and keep going through two water jugs into the berm!

That’s no slouch.

Photos by Paul Peterson, Guns.com

Looking back at the outfitting of the local militia, in the Journal of Arthur Harris of the Bridgewater Coy of Militia (n.d.), Arthur Harris states that in 1775, Massachusetts forces were required to have with them:

A good fire arm, a steel or iron ram rod and a spring for same, a worm, a priming wire and brush, a bayonet fitted to his gun [at this time Minute Companies were outfitted with bayonets while many Militia Companies were not required to use them], a scabbard and belt thereof, a cutting sword or tomahawk or hatchet, a…cartridge box holding fifteen rounds…at least, a hundred buckshot, six flints, one pound of powder, forty leaded balls fitted to the gun, a knapsack and blanket, a canteen or wooden bottle to hold one quart [of water].

Many of the guns at those battles that were carried by the militia were “long fowlers,” or hunting pieces, of assorted calibers, along with a smattering of British (.77 caliber) and Dutch-made (.78 caliber) martial muskets and some French infantry muskets (.60 and .62 caliber) captured in the French and Indian War.

Meanwhile, the British regulars were armed with 46-inch-barreled Long Land muskets and 42-inch-barreled Short Land muskets in .75 caliber. As bullets of the age were often molded to much smaller diameter than the bore (for instance the British used .69 caliber balls in their .75 caliber muskets), to aid in rapid loading as part of a paper cartridge, this only adds to the curious array of balls recovered not only in this early battle but in many Revolutionary War sites.

A sampling of the British and Colonial musket balls recovered from Lexington and Concord. One analysis of just 32 balls recovered at the Parker’s Revenge site spanned from .449 to .702 in diameter. 

When the smoke cleared, the Massachusetts provincials lost 49 killed, around 40 wounded, and 5 missing out of roughly 4,000 who answered the drum. The British lost 269 killed and wounded out of 1,800 regulars engaged.

A deep dive into those on the ground there, as interpreted by Lt Paul O’Shaughnessy and Pte Nick Woodbury of the 10th Regiment, and Steven Conners of the Lexington Minutemen:

Battle Road 250!

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This upcoming Patriots’ Day weekend will see the Minute Man National Historical Park host Battle Road 250 with hundreds of Revolutionary War reenactors.

Honoring the day-long battles fought at Lexington and Concord and the roads around the two Massachusetts towns, the park says that over 750 reenactors will be on hand for the anniversary of the beginning of America’s War for Independence.

While several events are planned around the anniversary, it is the fast-paced Battle Road Tactical Demonstration that will draw the crowds. Told from both sides, that of the rapidly mobilized Colonial Minutemen and militia and the British Regulars – the hated “Lobsterbacks” – those in attendance will be able to drink in the sound of musketry and the thrill of historical interpretations on the hallowed grounds that helped establish Liberty.

The park’s social media accounts have been filled in recent days with images of past Battle Road demonstrations as well as recreated militia and Redcoats drilling and training in the use of the 1764 manual of arms.