Military Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
in: Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, Military units and formations of Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, Regiments of the British Army,
and 4 more

List of British units in the American Revolutionary War

Sign in to edit
American Revolutionary War
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis
Armed Forces
United States
Continental Army
 → Commander-in-Chief
 → Regional departments
 → Units (1775, 1776, 1777–1784)
Continental Navy
Continental Marines
State forces
 → List of militia units
 → List of state navies
 → Maritime units
Great Britain
List of British units
France
List of French units
Related topics
List of battles
Military leadership

This is a list of British units in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) who fought against the American rebels and their French, Spanish and Dutch allies in the thirteen North American colonies, including battles in Florida and the West Indies. In addition to the regular army it includes German auxiliary units (known collectively as Hessians), and militia and provincial units formed from Loyalists, West Indians, and Canadians.

No battle honours were ever awarded to British regiments who fought in America as it was seen by the British to be a civil war. Four battle honours were, however, awarded for actions against the French and Spanish in the West Indies and other theatres.

Only three British Army regiments (23rd Dragoons and the 73rd and 78th Foot) raised during the period of the war, many of whom were intended for North America, survived the post-war reduction in the Army. The 23rd Dragoons aka 19th Light Dragoons served in India; the 73rd (renumbered 71st in 1786) later became part of the Highland Light Infantry while the 78th (renumbered 72nd in 1786) became part of the Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-Shire Buffs) in 1881.

Note: An Infantry Unit not listed is the 2nd Regiment of Foot aka Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey); however the 1st Battalion -along with the Honourable Artillery Company-suppressed the Gordon Riots in London 1780. Neither did the 11th Regiment of Foot {Devonshire} nor the 12th Regiment of Foot {Suffolk}; nor the 25th Regiment of Foot aka King's Own Scottish Borderers at Sussex; nor the 32nd Regiment of Foot at Cornwall; the 36th (Herefordshire) Regiment of Foot at Herefordshire; nor the 39th (Dorsetshire) Regiment of Foot at East Middlesex nor 41st (Welsh) Regiment of Foot nor 51st (2nd Yorkshire West Riding) Regiment of Foot nor the 81st Regiment of Foot (Aberdeenshire Highland Regiment) take part in the American Revolution. The 86th Regiment of Foot (Rutland Regiment), the 87th Regiment of Foot, and the 90th Regiment of Foot (Yorkshire Volunteers) were stationed in the West Indies. The 72nd Highlanders; 83rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Glasgow Volunteers) and the 95th (Yorkshire) Regiment of Foot did take part in defeating a French invasion of Jersey in 1781 (the Battle of Jersey).

British Regular Army[]

Artillery[]

Cavalry[]

Infantry[]

Foot Guards[]

Brigade of Guards (raised from drafts of 1st Regiment of Foot Guards, Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, and 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards)

  • 1st Battalion
  • 2nd Battalion

Line Infantry[]

H.M. Marine Forces[]

  • 1st Battalion
  • 2nd Battalion

American Establishment[]

  • 1st American Regiment, formerly the Queen's Rangers
  • 2nd American Regiment, formerly the Volunteers of Ireland, placed on British establishment in 1782 as 105th Foot
  • 3rd American Regiment, formerly the New York Volunteers
  • 4th American Regiment, formerly the King's American Regiment, placed on British Establishment in 1782 possibly as the 110th Regiment of Foot.
  • 5th American Regiment, formerly the British Legion, placed on British establishment in 1782 as Tarleton's Dragoons

Provincial Units[]

Militia[]

  • Charleston Militia
  • Charleston Volunteer Battalion
  • Collett's Independent Company
  • Detroit Militia
  • East Florida Militia
  • Georgia Artillery
  • Georgia Militia
  • German Independent Company
  • Independent Troop of Black Dragoons (also known as Black Pioneer Troop)
  • Loyal Commissariat Volunteers
  • Loyal Ordnance Volunteers
  • Loyal Volunteers of the City of New York
  • Massachusetts Militia
  • Massachusetts Volunteers
  • McDonald's Company of Volunteers
  • Minorca Volunteer Company
  • New Jersey Militia
  • New York City Militia
  • New York Independent Highland Volunteers
  • New York Marine Artillery Company
  • New York Militia
  • New York Rangers
  • North Carolina Militia
  • North Carolina Volunteers
  • Nova Scotia Militia
  • Nova Scotia Volunteer Militia Regiment
  • Quebec City Militia
  • Quebec Militia
  • Saint John's County Volunteers (South Carolina)
  • South Carolina Militia
  • South Carolina Volunteers
  • Westchester Chasseurs
  • West Florida Militia

Local Volunteer Corps[]

  • Adams Company of Rangers
  • Bay Fusiliers
  • Brant's Volunteers
  • Bucks County Volunteers
  • Detroit Volunteers
  • Dunlop's Corps
  • East Florida Rangers
  • East Florida Volunteers
  • Georgia Light Dragoons
  • Georgia Rangers
  • Georgia Rifle Dragoons
  • King's Loyal Americans
  • Mackay's Corps
  • McAlpin's Corps of Royalists
  • Mosquito Shore Volunteers
  • Natchez Volunteers
  • Negro Volunteers
  • Newfoundland Volunteers
  • Queen's Loyal Rangers
  • Queen's Loyal Virginia Regiment (absorbed by Queen's Rangers in 1776)
  • Queen's Royal Rangers
  • Rattan and Black River Volunteers
  • Royal Bateaux Volunteers
  • Royal Ethiopian Regiment
  • Virginia Light Horse
  • Virginia Volunteers
  • Volunteers of Augusta
  • West Florida Provincials
  • West Florida Refugees

Associated[]

  • Associated Loyalists
  • Hatfield's Company of Partisans
  • Hazard's Corps of Refugees
  • James Stewart's Corps of Refugees
  • King's Militia Volunteers
  • Loyal American Association
  • Loyal Associated Refugees
  • Loyal Irish Volunteers
  • Loyal Newport Associators
  • Loyal Refugee Volunteers
  • Maryland Royal Retaliators
  • North Carolina Provincials
  • Pepperell's Corps
  • Robins Company of Partisans
  • Royal North British Volunteers
  • Sharp's Refugee Marines
  • Uzal Ward's Company of Volunteers

West Indian Forces[]

  • Barbados Militia
  • Barbadian Rangers
  • Black Carolina Corps
  • Grenada Militia
  • Jamaica Corps of Foot
  • Independent Companies (Jamaica)
  • Jamaica Legion (absorbed by Jamaica Volunteers in 1780)
  • Jamaica Light Dragoons
  • Jamaica Militia
  • Jamaica Rangers
  • Jamaica Volunteers
  • Turks Island Company

German auxiliaries[]

Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst[]

  • Rauschenplatt's Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst's Regiment (2 battalions, 1 infantry in Quebec (1778), and 1 "Pandour" in New York (1780))
  • Nuppenau's Jäger Company
  • Company of Artillery

Margrave of Ansbach and Bayreuth[]

  • 1st Regiment Anspach (later Regiment von Volt; 1st Anspach Battalion)
  • 2nd Regiment Bayreuth (later Regiment Seybothen; 2nd Anspach Battalion)
  • Anspach Jäger Company

Duchy of Brunswick[]

  • Dragoon Regiment Prinz Lüdwig Ernst
  • Grenadier Battalion Breymann
  • Light Infantry Battalion von Barner
  • Musketeer Regiment Riedesel
  • Musketeer Regiment Specht
  • Regiment Prinz Friedrich
  • Regiment von Rhetz
  • von Geyso's Jäger Company

Electorate of Hanover[]

  • 1st Battalion von Reden
  • 1st Battalion von Hardenberg
  • 1st Battalion la Motte
  • 2nd Battalion Prinz Ernst von Mecklenburg
  • 2nd Battalion von Goldacker
  • 14th Regiment
  • 15th Regiment

Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)[]

  • Combined Regiment von Loos
  • Fusilier Regiment von Dittfurth
  • Fusilier Regiment Erbprinz (later Musketeer Regiment (1780))
  • Fusilier Regiment von Knyphausen
  • Fusilier Regiment von Lossburg
  • Grenadier Regiment von Rall (later von Woellwarth (1777); von Trümbach (1779); d'Angelelli (1781))
    • 1st Battalion Grenadiers von Linsing
    • 2nd Battalion Grenadiers von Block (later von Lengerke)
    • 3rd Battalion Grenadiers von Minnigerode (later von Loewenstein)
    • 4th Battalion Grenadiers von Koehler (later von Graff; von Platte)
  • Garrison Regiment von Bünau
  • Garrison Regiment von Huyne (later von Benning)
  • Garrison Regiment von Stein (later von Seitz; von Porbeck)
  • Garrison Regiment von Wissenbach (later von Knoblauch)
  • Jäger Corps
  • Leib Infantry Regiment
  • Musketeer Regiment von Donop
  • Musketeer Regiment von Trümbach (later Von Bose (1779))
  • Musketeer Regiment von Mirbach (later Jung von Lossburg (1780))
  • Musketeer Regiment Prinz Carl
  • Musketeer Regiment von Wutginau (later Landgraf (1777))

County of Hesse-Hanau[]

  • Janecke's Frei Corps of Light Infantry
  • Musketeer Regiment Erb Prinz
  • von Creuzbourg's Jäger Corps
  • Pausch's Company of Artillery

Principality of Waldeck[]

  • 3rd Waldeck Regiment

See also[]

References[]

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at List of British units in the American Revolutionary War and the edit history here.
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement

Fan Feed