Saphroneth
Banned
End of the Mud
Additional reinforcements:
Firstly, on the matter of militia - an extra month and a half is long enough that the second tranche of militia is in place. The total militia + volunteer manpower of the Province of Canada is estimated at about 60,000 on land and a few thousand on the water, which combines with the dozens of extra gunboats recieved compared to OTL and means that essentially all the regulars are freed up to operate in the field.
The below is a calculation of what the end result of the reinforcement effort would be - it is NOT what I necessarily think would be in place by the thaw - but I spaced things out so that for the most part each corps is assembled by division and brigade (i.e. the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division is made up of troops who would arrive last) except for the Maritimes corps which is composed of the last-arriving reinforcements of all. This is, however, what the reinforcement effort is aiming to produce.
Extra troops who arrived at home over the duration of the crisis:
1/6th, 75th, 83rd
These plus the Guards battalions not in Canada and the 59th (recovering from foreign service) would be kept at home, along with perhaps a few more battalions recalled from India over the course of the general drawdown there.
Other troops possibly available are the garrisons in the mediterranean. As per plans, they were going to send volunteer militia overseas to bolster the Med and replace battalions there.
So the total number of battalions that can be split between Canada and the Maritimes is:
Pre-crisis 6 + RCR
1/17th
30th
47th
4/60th
62nd
63rd
RCR (double)
First tranche 18
1/GG
2/CG (my mistake from earlier)
2/SFG
1/10th
1/11th
2/12th
1/15th
1/16th
2/16th
2/17th
2/20th
36th
45th
55th
58th
76th
96th
1/Rifles
Second tranche 17
1/8th
2/18th
2/19th
2/21st
2/25th
26th
29th
31st
32nd
41st
49th
53rd
1/60th
61st
78th
84th
86th
Recently overseas tranche 9
2/1st
1/2nd
1/3rd
1/5th
1/24th
37th
64th
73rd
87th
Mediterranian tranche, assuming 1 battalion plus militia per island (Cephalonia, Corfu, Gibraltar, Malta) 11
2/2nd
1/9th
2/6th
2/7th
2/8th
1/25th
2/3rd
2/15th
1/22nd
2/23rd
4/Rifles
This comes to 61 plus the RCR, and is enough for five full field corps consisting entirely of regulars (that would total 60 battalions). A couple more could be obtained from Mauritius (2/5th), the West Indies (1/21st and 1/14th) and the Cape (85th and 2/11th), to form an amphibious division based at Bermuda or Halifax.
The sticking point for field artillery is probably going to be the availability of home field batteries, as there were only 25 and each corps consumes 6 - thus I assume that there'd be either heavy 4-gun 40-lber position batteriesfrom the "garrison" artillery at one per corps, or 6-gun 20-lber position batteries made up of Canadian volunteer artillery (neither of which is a field artillery job) and this means it's five field batteries per corps.
Cavalry
There were 20 cavalry regiments in Britain, and each corps would require 3. Thus:
First tranche (alerted OTL)
9th Lancers
12th Lancers
16th Lancers
Second Tranche
2/ Life Guards
Royal Horse Guards
4th Dragoon Guards
1st Dragoons
3rd Dragoons
4th Dragoons
5th Dragoons
10th Hussars
11th Hussars
13th Hussars
15th Hussars
18th Dragoons
This leaves five at home.
How much of this could be in Canada by the middle of May? Quite a lot! There's a month after the thaw on the St Lawrence at Quebec, and for some of that time the whole river is thawed (and with British gunboats basically everywhere there's plenty of opportunity to use the rivers and canals to move troops).
Assuming that most of these new troops were pre-positioned in the Maritimes ready to move with the thaw, then it's only a few days on a ship so a dozen transports taking a battalion each have time to move almost the whole force in the time available...
The cavalry is trickier to get over. Because of this, the below assignments are more of a proof of concept than what would actually be in place as of the end of the thaw - instead, assume that anyone who hasn't yet arrived by the end of the thaw is being shipped into position or (in the case of cavalry) recovering from transit.
Field forces assuming no use of Canadian militia brigaded with regular British infantry.
1 Corps (London to Sarnia)
Div 1
1st Brigade
1/17th
30th
47th
2nd Brigade
1/8th
2/18th
2/19th
Div 2
1st Brigade
1/Rifles
2/21st
2/25th
2nd Brigade
1/60th
61st
78th
Cavalry:
1st Dragoons
3rd Dragoons
4th Dragoons
Artillery:
2 Batteries horse artillery
A,B,F,I,K batteries 4th Field Artillery
1 battery of position artillery
2 Corps (Toronto to Niagara)
Div 1
1st Brigade
4/60th
62nd
63rd
2nd Brigade
1/15th
1/16th
2/17th
Div 2
1st Brigade
26th
29th
31st
2nd Brigade
84th
86th
64th
Cavalry: Brigade of Guards Cavalry
2/Life Guards
Royal Horse Guards
4th Dragoon Guards
Artillery:
2 Batteries horse artillery
E,G batteries 4th Field Artillery
B,C,D batteries 8th Field Artillery
1 battery of position artillery
3 Corps (Kingston to Montreal)
Div 1
1st Brigade
1/10th
1/11th
2/12th
2nd Brigade
2/16th
2/20th
53rd
Div 2
1st Brigade
32nd
41st
49th
2nd Brigade
1/5th
1/24th
37th
Cavalry:
5th Dragoons
10th Hussars
18th Dragoons
Artillery:
2 Batteries horse artillery
B,C,E,F,H batteries 9th Field Artillery
1 battery of position artillery
4 Corps (Montreal to Quebec)
Div 1
Brigade of Guards
1/GG
2/CG
2/SFG
2nd Brigade
36th
45th
55th
Div 2
1st Brigade
58th
76th
96th
2nd Brigade
2/1st
1/2nd
1/3rd
Cavalry:
9th Lancers
12th Lancers
16th Lancers
Artillery:
2 Batteries horse artillery
D battery 4th field artillery
E,F,G,H batteries 8th field artillery
1 battery of position artillery
5 Corps (Maritimes)
Div 1
1st Brigade
73rd
87th
2/2nd
2nd Brigade
1/9th
2/6th
2/7th
Div 2
1st Brigade
2/8th
1/25th
2/3rd
2nd Brigade
2/15th
1/22nd
2/23rd
Cavalry
11th Hussars
13th Hussars
15th Hussars
Artillery:
2 Batteries horse artillery
H battery 4th field artillery
A battery 8th brigade field artillery
A,D,G batteries 9th brigade field artillery
1 battery of position artillery
Amphibious division
Brigade 1
4/Rifles
1/21st
1/14th
Brigade 2
2/5th
85th
2/11th
+ Royal Marines
+ Artillery provided by naval brigades
The result of this is that any Union attack overland is doing so against a quite large number of troops, including both fortified militia/volunteers (all armed with rifles) and agile, very-well-trained field corps of British troops well provided with artillery. The weakest point, Montreal, is also the one where two British corps can theoretically concentrate - one against either flank of the Union attacking force.
The above does not allow for the modern artillery that would also be replacing the artillery in Canadian stores, so for example it is likely there would be 110-lber guns in the Montreal forts and 20-lbers or 40-lbers in the forts covering the Richelieu.
'a large force can only move and keep the field for about five months in the year. viz.,from about the middle of May to the middle of October... between the middle of December and the end of March, the intense cold forbids an army encamping, and the deep snows prevent the movement of troops... from the beginning of April to about the middle of May the state of the roads owing to the thaw of the winter snows, is such that many are impassable for an army.' (Wm. Drummond Jervois, 'Report on the Defence of Canada', 1864)
Additional reinforcements:
Firstly, on the matter of militia - an extra month and a half is long enough that the second tranche of militia is in place. The total militia + volunteer manpower of the Province of Canada is estimated at about 60,000 on land and a few thousand on the water, which combines with the dozens of extra gunboats recieved compared to OTL and means that essentially all the regulars are freed up to operate in the field.
The below is a calculation of what the end result of the reinforcement effort would be - it is NOT what I necessarily think would be in place by the thaw - but I spaced things out so that for the most part each corps is assembled by division and brigade (i.e. the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division is made up of troops who would arrive last) except for the Maritimes corps which is composed of the last-arriving reinforcements of all. This is, however, what the reinforcement effort is aiming to produce.
Extra troops who arrived at home over the duration of the crisis:
1/6th, 75th, 83rd
These plus the Guards battalions not in Canada and the 59th (recovering from foreign service) would be kept at home, along with perhaps a few more battalions recalled from India over the course of the general drawdown there.
Other troops possibly available are the garrisons in the mediterranean. As per plans, they were going to send volunteer militia overseas to bolster the Med and replace battalions there.
So the total number of battalions that can be split between Canada and the Maritimes is:
Pre-crisis 6 + RCR
1/17th
30th
47th
4/60th
62nd
63rd
RCR (double)
First tranche 18
1/GG
2/CG (my mistake from earlier)
2/SFG
1/10th
1/11th
2/12th
1/15th
1/16th
2/16th
2/17th
2/20th
36th
45th
55th
58th
76th
96th
1/Rifles
Second tranche 17
1/8th
2/18th
2/19th
2/21st
2/25th
26th
29th
31st
32nd
41st
49th
53rd
1/60th
61st
78th
84th
86th
Recently overseas tranche 9
2/1st
1/2nd
1/3rd
1/5th
1/24th
37th
64th
73rd
87th
Mediterranian tranche, assuming 1 battalion plus militia per island (Cephalonia, Corfu, Gibraltar, Malta) 11
2/2nd
1/9th
2/6th
2/7th
2/8th
1/25th
2/3rd
2/15th
1/22nd
2/23rd
4/Rifles
This comes to 61 plus the RCR, and is enough for five full field corps consisting entirely of regulars (that would total 60 battalions). A couple more could be obtained from Mauritius (2/5th), the West Indies (1/21st and 1/14th) and the Cape (85th and 2/11th), to form an amphibious division based at Bermuda or Halifax.
The sticking point for field artillery is probably going to be the availability of home field batteries, as there were only 25 and each corps consumes 6 - thus I assume that there'd be either heavy 4-gun 40-lber position batteriesfrom the "garrison" artillery at one per corps, or 6-gun 20-lber position batteries made up of Canadian volunteer artillery (neither of which is a field artillery job) and this means it's five field batteries per corps.
Cavalry
There were 20 cavalry regiments in Britain, and each corps would require 3. Thus:
First tranche (alerted OTL)
9th Lancers
12th Lancers
16th Lancers
Second Tranche
2/ Life Guards
Royal Horse Guards
4th Dragoon Guards
1st Dragoons
3rd Dragoons
4th Dragoons
5th Dragoons
10th Hussars
11th Hussars
13th Hussars
15th Hussars
18th Dragoons
This leaves five at home.
How much of this could be in Canada by the middle of May? Quite a lot! There's a month after the thaw on the St Lawrence at Quebec, and for some of that time the whole river is thawed (and with British gunboats basically everywhere there's plenty of opportunity to use the rivers and canals to move troops).
Assuming that most of these new troops were pre-positioned in the Maritimes ready to move with the thaw, then it's only a few days on a ship so a dozen transports taking a battalion each have time to move almost the whole force in the time available...
The cavalry is trickier to get over. Because of this, the below assignments are more of a proof of concept than what would actually be in place as of the end of the thaw - instead, assume that anyone who hasn't yet arrived by the end of the thaw is being shipped into position or (in the case of cavalry) recovering from transit.
Field forces assuming no use of Canadian militia brigaded with regular British infantry.
1 Corps (London to Sarnia)
Div 1
1st Brigade
1/17th
30th
47th
2nd Brigade
1/8th
2/18th
2/19th
Div 2
1st Brigade
1/Rifles
2/21st
2/25th
2nd Brigade
1/60th
61st
78th
Cavalry:
1st Dragoons
3rd Dragoons
4th Dragoons
Artillery:
2 Batteries horse artillery
A,B,F,I,K batteries 4th Field Artillery
1 battery of position artillery
2 Corps (Toronto to Niagara)
Div 1
1st Brigade
4/60th
62nd
63rd
2nd Brigade
1/15th
1/16th
2/17th
Div 2
1st Brigade
26th
29th
31st
2nd Brigade
84th
86th
64th
Cavalry: Brigade of Guards Cavalry
2/Life Guards
Royal Horse Guards
4th Dragoon Guards
Artillery:
2 Batteries horse artillery
E,G batteries 4th Field Artillery
B,C,D batteries 8th Field Artillery
1 battery of position artillery
3 Corps (Kingston to Montreal)
Div 1
1st Brigade
1/10th
1/11th
2/12th
2nd Brigade
2/16th
2/20th
53rd
Div 2
1st Brigade
32nd
41st
49th
2nd Brigade
1/5th
1/24th
37th
Cavalry:
5th Dragoons
10th Hussars
18th Dragoons
Artillery:
2 Batteries horse artillery
B,C,E,F,H batteries 9th Field Artillery
1 battery of position artillery
4 Corps (Montreal to Quebec)
Div 1
Brigade of Guards
1/GG
2/CG
2/SFG
2nd Brigade
36th
45th
55th
Div 2
1st Brigade
58th
76th
96th
2nd Brigade
2/1st
1/2nd
1/3rd
Cavalry:
9th Lancers
12th Lancers
16th Lancers
Artillery:
2 Batteries horse artillery
D battery 4th field artillery
E,F,G,H batteries 8th field artillery
1 battery of position artillery
5 Corps (Maritimes)
Div 1
1st Brigade
73rd
87th
2/2nd
2nd Brigade
1/9th
2/6th
2/7th
Div 2
1st Brigade
2/8th
1/25th
2/3rd
2nd Brigade
2/15th
1/22nd
2/23rd
Cavalry
11th Hussars
13th Hussars
15th Hussars
Artillery:
2 Batteries horse artillery
H battery 4th field artillery
A battery 8th brigade field artillery
A,D,G batteries 9th brigade field artillery
1 battery of position artillery
Amphibious division
Brigade 1
4/Rifles
1/21st
1/14th
Brigade 2
2/5th
85th
2/11th
+ Royal Marines
+ Artillery provided by naval brigades
The result of this is that any Union attack overland is doing so against a quite large number of troops, including both fortified militia/volunteers (all armed with rifles) and agile, very-well-trained field corps of British troops well provided with artillery. The weakest point, Montreal, is also the one where two British corps can theoretically concentrate - one against either flank of the Union attacking force.
The above does not allow for the modern artillery that would also be replacing the artillery in Canadian stores, so for example it is likely there would be 110-lber guns in the Montreal forts and 20-lbers or 40-lbers in the forts covering the Richelieu.