Back in 2012, a Canadian schoolteacher created a "War of 1812 casualties" project, focused on the Crown Forces engaged against the French. The idea was to obtain relevant copies of the WO 25 series of casualty reports, and to transcribe this. This can now be accessed via FindMyPast. In 2016, Ancestry digitised the WO 12 series of muster and pay lists for the years 1812 to 1817.
There has been some debate as to just how many British died at New Orleans. For anyone with a doctoral grant wishing to follow this up, the latter two sources will be able to provide the ability to assess casualties for a given infantry battalion, or for all the infantry battalions present at New Orleans or similar.
For the artillery, it is a bit different. They were not administered by the War Office until 1855. When this happened, it looked like a deliberate plan came into being, whereby the legacy records were mixed up, rather than being catalogued and being put into a coherent order. (There's a reason for mentioning this, which will be explained later.)
To get back on topic:
There were three companies of Royal Artillery that took part in the Chesapeake campaign of 1814. Michell's company of the 9th Battalion, with Pym's company and Carmichael's company of the 8th Battalion.
Major General Keane left Plymouth for North America on 18 September 1814. He was accompanied by the 93rd Foot, five companies of the 95th Foot, a dismounted squadron from the 14th Light Dragoons, and extra artillery. This took the form of 40 men in a rocket detachment commanded by Captain Lane, and Major Munro's company of the 9th Battalion Royal Artillery. That I can tell, when Keane's convoy stopped at Madeira, detachments of gunners arrived from Lisbon. Carmichael and Michell were to have 15 and 25 gunners respectively, Pym had only 2! Although under the command of these men, they were still associated with their parent artillery company.
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I have been able to source some POW details from the aforementioned website. In this regard, Justin Young, militaria collector (Jager medals), has the right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of the behemoth prisoner transcription from whence these details came. All that I have been able to add is the name of the Commanding Officer. Number Forename Surname Rank Captured by
6208 Archibald Henderson Private Gen. Jackson Pym
9693 John Mason Private Gen. Jackson Michell
9694 Robert Miller Private Gen. Jackson Carmichael
11809 Thomas Ross Corporal Gen. Jackson Michell
13819 John Thomas Private Gen. Jackson Michell
13080 John Smith Private Gen. Jackson Munro
8142 Robert Lavatt?[Hewitt?] Private Gen. Jackson Munro
8066 Peter Lyon Gunner Null Pym
10858 Thomas Pope Gunner Captain Taylor Pym
7340 John King Gunner Captain Taylor Pym
5896 Michael Hannah Gunner Militia Carmichael
Fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
The casualty report for Bladensburg mentions that six gunners were wounded on 24 August 1814. (Source: London Gazette Issue:16939 Page:1938) It does not mention the deaths of the two men from Michell's company. The North Point casualty return similarly reports that six gunners were wounded on 12 September 1814. (Source: William James (1818), p.513 Appendix 72)
Although the fatalities up to the battle do not tie back to Stovin's casualty summaries, they do tie back with Dickson's figures (ignoring the Sergeant), as reproduced on page 402 of Francis Duncan (1873) Vol 2 Casualties 23 to 24 December: 2 ORs killed [1 identified] Casualties 25 to 31 December: 4 ORs killed [2 identified] Casualties 1 to 5 January: 1 Officer 1 Sergeant & 9 ORs killed [1+1+8 identified] Gunner Robert Stewart 23/12/14 Killed Pym
Corporal Hugh Urquhart 23/12/14 Killed Lane
Corporal William Calloway 28/12/14 Killed Carmichael
Gunner Thomas Walsh 28/12/14 Killed Lane Gunner William Dolbridge 01/01/15 Killed Pym
Gunner John Durrant 01/01/15 Killed Carmichael
Gunner Patrick Seeley 01/01/15 Killed Carmichael
Gunner Jonas Mason 01/01/15 Killed Carmichael
Gunner David Morrison 01/01/15 Killed Michell
Gunner Dennis Carr 01/01/15 Killed Michell
Gunner Thomas Oldfield 01/01/15 Killed Michell
Gunner William Mattison 01/01/15 Killed Munro
Lieutenant Ramsay 01/01/15 Killed
Sergeant James McDonald 01/01/15 Killed Pym
'The casualties among the Royal Artillery were as follows:—
Lieutenant Alexander Ramsay: mortally wounded. 12 Artillerymen killed. 13 Artillerymen wounded.' Casualties 8 January: 5 ORs killed Gunner Daniel Devlin 08/01/15 Killed Carmichael
Gunner John Wetherington 08/01/15 Killed Pym
Gunner William Hadley 08/01/15 Killed Munro
Gunner John Leach 08/01/15 Killed Munro
Gunner John Martin 08/01/15 Killed Munro
As an aside, prisoners of war get a mention. I am aware that Major Mitchell of the 95th Foot was taken prisoner in December 1814 and was released on 15 March 1815. There is a file of Britons returned from the captivity of the Americans, archive reference ADM 103/466. A lot of the data had been hosted on a website which is unfortunately defunct, so the transcription files can no longer be downloaded. https://web.archive.org/web/20180410220829/https://www.1812privateers.org/Great%20Britain/prisoners.htm
Whilst the muster sheets can provide some interesting information, on the proviso you can read the writing, I have some reservations about unit strength. I am going to leap forwards 50+ years to the Naval Discipline Act, and this has pertinence 100 years later. Generally speaking, if a rating was associated with HMS Vivid, for the reasons of pay and discipline, whilst they were likely to be on shore at Devonport, it was possible to be on detached duty elsewhere. In the same way that the HMS Vivid "accounting base" may be associated with 2,000 ratings on a given day, it could be the case that 1,900 of them are at Devonport. The annotations I saw against names ("Portugal", "Halifax" etc) did indicate that whilst they were being paid for being a member of the specific company, the actual "bayonet strength" of the unit in the field is likely recorded elsewhere.... but where?
Muster data for Carmichael's company
Muster data for Pym's company
I was able to identify the following fatalities among the rocket detachment. Corporal Hugh Urquhart 23-Dec-1814 Killed in action
Gunner Thomas Walsh 28-Dec-2014 Killed in action The following two deaths occurred after cessation of hostilities Gunner Francis Mills 18-Mar-1815 Died
Gunner Patrick Connolly 17-Mar-1815 Died
First Lieutenant James Christie. P. of war
B1 Bombardier Robert Miller P. of war
13 Gunner Peter Lyon P. of war
35 Gunner Michael Hannah P. of war
59 Gunner Thomas Smith P. of war
81 Gunner Henry Fowler Wounded
From the musters, I was able to source the following for the 8th Battalion. Pym's company Gunner Robert Stewart 23-Dec-1814 Killed in action 31 Gunner Charles Fraser Wounded 3 Drummer William Horton 02-Jan-1815 DOW 2 Sergeant James McDonald 01-Jan-1815 Killed in action
20 Gunner William Dolbridge 01-Jan-1815 Killed in action
37 Gunner John Wetherington 08-Jan-1815 Killed in action
15 Gunner Francis Knowles 12-Mar-1815 Died
11 Gunner Arch. Henderson 20-Jan-1815 POW
59 Gunner John King POW
60 Gunner Thomas Pope POW Carmichael's company Corporal William Calloway 28-Dec-1814
8 Gunner John Durrant 01-Jan-1815 Killed in action
26 Gunner Patrick Seeley 01-Jan-1815 Killed in action
29 Gunner Daniel Devlin 08-Jan-1815 Killed in action
84 Gunner Jonas Mason 01-Jan-1815 Killed in action
72 Gunner Benjamin Davenport 21-Jan-1815 Died aboard HMS Royal Oak
Muster data for Munro
Muster data for Michell
Below is the sheet from the detachment file
In the same manner that there are the WO 12 muster and pay records, there is the WO 10 equivalent for the artillery. I have been able to look at these, to double-check the name of the soldier concerned. Michell's company Bombardier William Walmough 25-Aug-1814 Killed in action
Gunner John Keggan 25-Aug-1814 Killed in action
Gunner John Rome 20-Oct-1814 Died on HMS Royal Oak 25 Gunner David Morrison 01-Jan-1815 Killed in action
74 Gunner Dennis Carr 01-Jan-1815 Killed in action
79 Gunner Thomas Oldfield 01-Jan-1815 Killed in action In the last three instances, the sequential number from the muster list has been recorded. The following from the muster was of interest too: Lieutenant Williams 28-Dec-1814 Died
Gunner William Richardson 14-Jan-1815 Died
Gunner James Michill 14-Jan-1815 Died
66 Gunner William Hogarth POW The two aforementioned deaths of Richardson and Michill get a mention in June 1815, but do not appear on the muster, that I can tell! Munro's company 62 Gunner William Mattison 01-Jan-1815 Killed in action
7 Gunner William Hadley 08-Jan-1815 Killed in action
30 Gunner John Leach 08-Jan-1815 Killed in action
61 Gunner John Martin 08-Jan-1815 Killed in action I came across another death in the muster info, yet could not find him on the muster! There looked like some extra comments had been added in red ink, but unfortunately it was not very clear in the images that I took. ? Gunner Richard Hanson 21-Jan-1815 Died
Although the artillery are not documented by the WO 12 series of records, there is the chaotic WO 54 series which is supposed to be the equivalent. For the 8th Battalion I found a ledger that commenced after 1815. For the 9th Battalion, I did find a ledger covering the Napoleonic Wars, and some casualty details were forthcoming.