The formation of the British Light Infantry companies and their employment in the Saratoga campaign of 1777
Date
1986
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
ORCID
Type
Degree Level
Masters
Abstract
During the period 1771-1772 the British Army formed light infantry
companies in their regiments of foot. Before the end of the decade
these companies were trained, equipped and sent to war. This period
covered only a small portion of the time over which Britain developed
light infantry troops. The formation of a large, well-trained
light infantry force was an evolutionary process that stretched over
the greater part of the eighteenth century and into the Napoleonic
Wars. The process consisted of alternating peacetime reflection and
theorizing with battlefield experience. The events of 1771-1783
constitute a vital link in the chain that led to the fruition of
British light infantry and the formation of such famous units as the
"Light Division" of the Peninsular War.
The campaign of the American War selected to demonstrate the use
of light infantry in this period is John Burgoyne's ill-fated
expedition down the Hudson River commonly known as the Saratoga
Campaign.l The campaign had several aspects that lent it to this
study. Burgoyne was aware of the general trends of military development
and thought in both Europe and America. He was not important in the
development of British light infantry but was, as were so
many of his contemporaries, keenly interested in the potential uses of light troops.
By 1777 he was an experienced leader with a reputation as a
military reformer and a student of the "Art of War." Burgoyne had with him
several experienced leaders of light troops, most notably Simon Fraser
(Frazer).
Burgoyne, Fraser and the leaders of the British Army as a whole formed
most of their ideas about light troops during the Seven Years War. They
applied the lessons and took the traditions of that war into the
American War.
In 1777 Burgoyne commanded, in his army, ten companies of light
infantry. Until that time onlyone of these had seen a real test in
the American War, although all were involved in the somewhat desultory
campaign of 1776 that expelled the Patriots from Canada.2 They were
in 1777 relatively fresh and untested. These companies had also, again
with one exception, come directly from the British Isles. Here they
had been training since 1771-1772. The light companies received
training in the year that they spent almost idle in Canada, 1776-1777.
They were in the unique situation of having experienced some form of
training in peacetime and larger scale group training in the field
during wartime. Their actions in the campaign of 1777 would reflect
the nature and extent of the training of the light infantry. The wooded
region between Canada and Albany was the type of terrain that light
infantry could be expected to deal with more effectively than would the
line troops of the battalion.3 An examination of the light companies
with Burgoyne in 1777 illustrates British attitudes and experiences in
using light troops up to that point.
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Degree
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
History
Program
History