The Louisiana Territorial Militia

The following information is the official record of the Militia of the Louisiana Territory from 1811 (which included all the Louisiana purchase except what is now Louisiana, which then was Orleans Territory). It is taken from the American state papers: Documents, legislative and executive of the Congress of the United States ..., Part 5, Volume 1 Take special note of the musicians mentioned (fifers and drummers for infantry, bugles for cavalry).

No. 103, 11^th Congress, 3^rd Session 

The Militia, Communicated to Congress, February 20, 1811.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

I lay before Congress a return of the Militia of the United States, as receives by the Department of War, from the several States and Territories.

-James Madison 

Louisiana Territorial Militia

General and Field Staff

Brigadier Generals: 1

Adjutant Generals: 1

Aide-de-Camps: 1

Brigade Majors & Inspectors: 1

Brigade Quartermasters: 1

Field Officers and Regimental Staff

Lieutenant Colonels Commandant: 4

Majors: 12

Adjutants: 5

Quartermasters: 2

Paymasters: 8

Surgeons: 1

Cavalry

Sergeants: 22

Musicians: 4

Dragoons: 225 

Infantry

Captains: 45

Lieutenants: 49

Ensigns: 44

Sergeants: 148

Musicians: 13

Rank and File: 1,948

Total number, including officers, non-commissioned officers, and rank and file: 2,540

The State with the most musicians in the infantry was New York with 2,911 (it had 76,195 rank and file). It was followed by Massachusetts with 1,858 (56,090 rank and file), Pennsylvania with 1,466 (80,211 rank and file), and North Carolina with 1,047 (40,595 rank and file).

While we don't have records for the Militia of the Missouri Territory (what the Louisiana Territory was renamed after Louisiana became a state) during the War of 1812, the records of the other states and territories show that the Militias grew during the war, including the fifers and drummers. There were 14,158 total musicians in the infantry in the state militias in 1813. That's not even including the regular army! That is a lot of fifers and drummers in a war that many people forget even happened.

-Peter Bringe

Memor!