British Army Strength during the Trent War Counterfactual

 

Initial Strength

 

The British Regular Army is approximately 220,000 strong in 1861, spread out as follows:

 

UK, available for deployment to America: 40,000 Infantry, 12,000 Cavalry, 6,000 Gunners, 2,000 Engineers

UK, not available for immediate deployment: 5,000 Infantry (excluding those in depots, see below), 2,000 Cavalry, 4,000 Gunners

In the NA & WI Theatre: 25,000 Infantry (4,000 of which are West Indian), 2,000 Gunners, 500 Engineers, 1,000 Troops of the Military Train

In the Med Theatre: 12,000 Infantry (of which 6,000 are available for immediate deployment)

In India: 45,000 Infantry, 6,000 Cavalry, 8,000 Gunners, 1,500 Engineers (plus, 10,000 HEIC Infantry and 3,000 HEIC Cavalry absorbed later in that year)

In New Zealand: 5,000 Infantry, 500 troops of the Military Train

In South Africa: 5,000 Infantry

In China: 3,000 Infantry

In Australia: 120 Gunners (several other gunner batteries elsewhere)

Sources of Expansion

 

1.      The Militia

 

The Militia and Yeomanry of the United Kingdom were a major source of recruiting in all of Britain’s wars. The Trent War would be no different. The Militia could be called out for service as a reserve army, and the normal practice was for their officers to “raise for rank”.

 

Since the 1840’s the Militia have been aligned with regular regiments, and on mobilisation they would send volunteers to their aligned regiments. During the Crimea 90,000 out of 160,000 militia volunteered to join the regulars, around 10,000 volunteered for overseas service, and the remainder served in the UK as home defence forces.

 

Due to the creation of the Volunteers in late 1850’s, Militia numbers declined to around 130,000 by 1862. We can thus estimate that 70,000 militia would volunteer for the regular army in 1862, and 10,000 would volunteer for other colonial service.

 

2.      The Army Reserve

 

Around the time of the Crimean War, a new scheme was launched. Instead of full careers in the Army, a recruit could enlist for 6 years only, followed by a further 6 in the First Class Army Reserve, and another 12 or so in the Second Class Army Reserve.

 

The scheme was not a great success, and during this period only 5,000 or so reservists are available to be recalled to the colours.

 

3.      The Yeomanry

 

The Yeomanry was around 14,000 cavalry, and had a very good record of responding to mobilisations, generally being integrated into existing cavalry regiments.

 

4.      The Volunteers

 

There were 160,000 volunteers in 1862, including some very old established battalions (such as the HAC and Victoria Rifles), and many newly raised battalions. A small portion of these would volunteer for regular service. Maybe 30,000 volunteers would go regular.

 

5.      Existing Depots

 

Around 30,000 troops were in the depots, which had been frequently mobilised as additional battalions.

 

6.      New Recruits

 

New recruits from civilian life would be raised, but would take at least 6 months to train.

 

7.      Foreign Legions

 

If desperate, the British could again raise Foreign Volunteers.

 

8.      The Military Train

 

The Military Train was the logistics branch, which was only 3 Battalions strong, but had been raised from nothing to 15 Battalions in 1855. We can assume that since the Military Train was simply raised by militarising existing transport assets, so the new Battalions could be raised extremely quickly.

 

The Effect

 

Rather quickly, the British Infantry would expand by 135,000 men. This is essentially an extra battalion for extra regiment.

 

Forces available for North America, circa April 1862

 

Before major expansions get underway, the regular British Army could put the following in theatre:

 

182,000 Infantry

26,000 Cavalry

8,000 Gunners

7,000 Logistics

2,500 Engineers

 

Total: 225,500

 

The Canadians themselves already contributed:

 

5,000 Active Militia

15,000 Volunteer Militia

14,000 Sedentary Militia (out of 38,000 who responded) (1/3rd were called out, so another 28,000 or more could be called out. It was expected that many of those who failed to answer roles would appear if a real war started)

 

The Maritimes themselves contributed:

 

1,000 Active Militia (from Newfoundland)

5,000 Volunteer Militia

55,000 Sedentary Militia answered roles

 

For a total of 195,000 men.

 

Other Forces

 

In similar situations, Australia etc. had contributed small volunteer militias of 2-3,000 (in this period). The Indian Army and the British Forces in India could easily bud of a 30,000 man expeditionary force to California.

 

The Marines were fairly large, 133 Companies strong (140 men per Coy). Each Battleship carried a Coy, which would be organised into Battalions. 3 Marine Battalions would thus be present in NA&WI waters, organised as a Brigade (of 3,000 or so), supplemented by a naval brigade of about 2,000.

 

Conclusions

 

British Strength in North America in the event that the Trent War became a serious land war could quickly jump to around 500,000. This is larger in size to the entire Confederate Army.

 

It is however doubtful the British would commit to this extent unless pushed. However, it shows that the British had enough slack in the system to counter any major invasion. They could successfully “up the ante” no matter how many men the Union diverted from the South. No wonder Lincoln feared the British, their Navy and Economy aside.