Book Review:
British Forces in North America

By Rene Chartrand
Artwork by Gerry Embleton

 

If you are interested in the campaigns waged in North America during the Napoleonic Wars then this is a terrific book to have in your home library.

Not only does Rene Chartrand cover the uniforms of the main British regiments posted in Canada - the 41st and 49th Foot - but he goes into wonderful detail about the colonial units that served.

They include the Queen's Rangers, the King's New Brunswick Regiment, the Island of St John Volunteers, the Royal Canadian Volunteers, the Royal Canadian Fencibles, Canadian Voltigeurs and Voyageurs, the Compagnie des Guides, the Quebec Volunteersand the Canadian Chasseurs.

British Forces in North America 1793-1815 has a four-page chronology that not only covers the important events of the period, but also where particular units and detachments were posted.

Also listed is a breakdown of all the British regiments that were in North America and the Caribbean, where they served and when they were there.

Chartrand has done a terrific job in collating all the information he has and it is well illustrated with more than 50 photographs of uniforms, equipment and a lot of military portraits. There are a large number of pictures of colonial commanders, although I was a little surprised the likes of General Sir Isaac Brock and other regular army leaders were not used.

The eight colour plates by Gerry Embleton are superb and show off the many types of uniforms that were worn by the British and colonial regulars and the militia.

British Forces in North America 1793-1815 is the book to go for if you need to find out about units that served during the period.

- Richard Moore

8/10