Canadian Militia: Missing in Action? (1)

TFSmith's assumptions for the numbers of Canadian volunteer and sedentary militia are based on some of the most egregious research failures which have been conducted. His overall estimate of 15,000 volunteers and 10,000 militia has been well and truly debunked, as having been based on misunderstood peacetime figures. Yet nobody has, as yet, taken the time to deconstruct his overall order of battle for the Canadians in the winter of 1861-2. This is a real shame, as doing so proved not to be particularly difficult.

This is a weighty topic, and as such will be split into sections. This first section will deal with some preliminary remarks on both the sources used and the way in which they have been used. The second section will provide a full OOB for Canadian volunteer units in April 1862, after the crisis had subsided, and compare it to the version which TFSmith produced. The third section will add commentary and analysis to this OOB and provide some closing thoughts.

TFSmith boasts that the 1867 militia list is 'the earliest such summary I have found available on - line' and forms 'the basis of the BNA orders of battle in BROS, especially those for the Provincial volunteers and militia'. This is truly terrible research, not least because it took me very little time to find the equivalent list for April 1863 and a similar but differently formatted list for April 1862. But how could he ever have bragged about basing his estimate of units in existence in December 1861 based on those which survived to March 1867? Would he have been willing to extrapolate the size of the Union army in December 1862 based on its size in March 1868?

TFSmith believes that the list 'is imperfect' because 'it actually exaggerates what would have been immediately available in the winter of 1861 - 62'. As we will see, this is far from the case. He cites the existence of 16 district headquarters as an example of his generosity, but in the winter of 1861 there were actually 19 district military headquarters: 10 Lower Canadian and 9 Upper Canadian, with Montreal being elevated into the 20th military district during 1862.

Furthermore, the existence of these districts is a fact of which TFSmith should be well aware. He cites J. Mackay Hitsman's Canadian Militia Prior To Confederation as one of his 'other useful sources from the period in question', which suggests that he has read it. Yet the report (with emphasis added) talks frequently about the existence of these districts:

166… The same Militia General Order dated July 9, 1855, divided the Province into 18 Military Districts on a primarily county basis… Subsequent Militia Orders listed the colonels to command these Districts and the officers to serve on their staffs - all on a part-time basis. Districts were divided into regimental and battalion divisions.

179. On 7 October 1861 Lieut.-Colonel A. Booker, commanding Military District No. 7 of Upper Canada, complained that efforts were being made to recruit his officers and men into the 2nd Regiment of Michigan Cavalry: a uniformed lieutenant-colonel from Detroit was operating a recruiting office in his Hamilton hotel room. More serious was the case of Colonel Arthur Ranking [sic, although the 1966 typescript edition spells it correctly], M.P., commanding Military District No. 9 with headquarters at Chatham, also in Canada. He was arrested for contravening the Foreign Enlistment Act by trying to raise a regiment of lancers; but he got off lightly, merely being dismissed from the Canadian Militia as were such other officers who accepted commissions in American regiments.

Moreover, the original version of a quote which TFSmith twisted to include in Chapter 1, Part 2 of his timeline explicitly recognises the existence of military districts when the crisis broke out.

At the time of the Trent crisis in 1861... Pope told Alexander Tilloch Galt that he did not want to run the risk “of being thrown into the hands of some half-witted retired officer of the Army, or some pampered Frenchman, or some old fogy like Colonel – of this district.” [emphasis added]

Pope may not have been happy about the officer in command of his own district, but his words, which TFSmith copied for use in his timeline, make it clear that these districts existed.

Ready for part 2?