Researching 1812 Canadian Militia Rifle Companies

[watermoccasin]

It appears that there were only 5 companies of Canadian Rifle Militia in the War of 1812. While they may have had some Pattern 1776 Infantry Rifles and Dutch rifles available to them, it would appear from my reading that most of these riflemen would have brought their own rifles from home (and very few, if any, would have been in possession of the newer Baker Rifle).

My question is: what would have been the common flintlock rifle options? These companies were located in Upper Canada (Ontario), with 2 in Leeds County, 1 at York, and 2 in the Chatham-Kent area. I'm unsure of the distribution of German settlers within these parts of Ontario at this time, but I would still expect a fair number of Jäger rifles (especially since the Pattern 1776 itself was a straight copy of the Jäger rifles that had been used in the British army for a while at that point, and the Baker Rifle was a further development of the Jäger). How about American-style rifles by German craftsmen, such as the Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky rifles?

It's rather difficult to find literature that directly references the type of rifle most common in Ontario at this time, but if anyone out there knows (or at least has a reasonable argument for why they suspect something to be the case), I'd very much appreciate it!

 

[david doyle]

In 1794 the militia numbered 29,377 with only 8617 muskets. He suggested sourcing form East India Company. 1797 India Pattern.
( Duke of Richmondan, Jan 24th letter)


At the outbreak of the war of 1812 French muskets (1763 aqquisitions) were still prominent in service.

At Fort George on March 31st 1813 there were 720 english muskets and 240 french.

The upper Canadian Historical Arms Society is unable to positively identify the arms used by The first Regiment of York Militia, 1st and 2nd Regiments Leeds Militia and 1st regiment Oxford. They Speculate based on samples associated with the Servos family and on display at Fort George that they may have had Baker rifles. (UCHAS, 1963)

I think you'd be safe with any French 1717, 1728 or 1746 musket, or any of the English offerings from the Brown bess, Indian pattern or anything else that 'could have' been. A 42 Inch Barrel would be correct but I am sure a nock carbine or blunderbus would have a place in the armoury.

I know of one 'musket' that was carried on a foot march from S.NB to Upper Canada. The RCMP smashed the hammer off it with a hachet during the early days of registration. Complimentary de-watting with no permission asked!
The road it traveled is still locally known by the old folks as the road to Ontario.

 

[watermoccasin]

Thanks for this post, it was quite helpful. I'm surprised to learn about the possibility that many of the militia riflemen might have had access to the Baker, seeing as it was still relatively new. I suppose it was 12 years old at the time the conflict started, though.

What about the 1776 Pattern Infantry Rifle? Are there numbers for those? I was led to believe that some of them were retained in eastern stores and made their way west to Upper Canada militias.