Regimental Make-Up

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      The staff officers of a regiment according to the establishment of October 1642 was as follows:

Colonel

Lieutenant Colonal

Sergeant Major

Quartermaster

Provost Marshal

Wagoner or Carriage Master

Preacher

Chirurgeon plus two Chirurgeon's mates

Gunsmith plus one gunsmith's mate

Drum Major

 
 
 

     The establishment list omits the chirurgeon and his two mates, but this must be an error as these officers are found on all establishments throughout this period. The make-up of the regiment is shown in the table below.


Staff Officers
The role of most of the staff officers was essentially the same for the infantry
as for the cavalry. There were five differences in the officers’ positions:


• an infantry regiment always had a lieutenant colonel
• an infantry regiment had only one quartermaster for the whole regiment,
  and he was part of the headquarters staff while in the cavalry there was one
  quartermaster for each troop
• an infantry regiment had a wagon-master on the regimental staff
• the staff of an infantry regiment included an armourer
• an infantry regiment included a drum major in addition to the drummers in
  each company; this officer can be found listed with the staff or, sometimes,
  on the roll of the colonel’s own company.

Colonel’s company

Lieutenant (Captain lieutenant)

Ensign

4 x Sergeants

4 x Corporals

2 x Drummers

Gentlemen of the arms

Armes

200 x Soldiers

 

Lieutenant Colonel's Company

Lieutenant Colonel (as Captain)

Lieutenant

Ensign

3 x Sergeants

3 x Corporals

2 x Drummers

Gentlemen of the arms

160 x Soldiers

 

Sergeants Major's Company

Sergeant Major (as Captain)

Lieutenant

Ensign

3 x Sergeants

3 x Corporals

2 x Drummers

Gentlemen of the arms

140 x Soldiers

 

Each of the 7 Captain's Companies

Captain

Lieutenant

Ensign

3 x Sergeants

3 x Corporals

2 x Drummers

Gentlemen of the arms

100 x Soldiers

 


    
The duties of two of the three field officers, the colonel and the lieutenant colonel, were similar to those described above for the cavalry. But those of the infantry sergeant major were more specific to the infantry role.


     Sergeant Major: This officer had the technical responsibility to draw up the regiment in the formation for the march or battle, and he had to be an experienced officer if he was to do this successfully. Richard Elton described the responsibilities of this officer:


     His duty is every morning, and evening, or upon any other occasion, to attend upon the General, Martial] of the Field, or Sergeant Major General of the Army, to receive his Orders how, or in what manner, the Regiment shall march, whether in a single Battalion, or else in two, [or] to be joined with others. After which he gives order accordingly unto the Captains how to draw up their Companies & orders them accordingly. At which time of embattling or marching, he ought to be as near as the midst of the Regiment as he can, for the better regulating of them.


    
In order to carry out his duties in deploying the regiment the sergeant major had to be ‘well verst in the severall drawing up of Regiments, with their various forms of Battail, that according to the condition of the place, ground, number of men and Orders received from the Major General, or Majors of the Brigades, he may not shew himself a Novice, or one that is to seek’.


     On the battlefield ‘he is to be on horse-back, in regard he is the eyes, hands and feet thereof [of the regiment]: in time of battail he is to see every Officer to perform his charge, and Souldier his duty, forcing and compelling them forward, if in case they turn their backs’."° In the absence of the colonel or lieutenant colonel, the sergeant major was responsible for training and exercising the regiment, and in practice he would usually be the officer who did so. In summary, he ‘ought to be well grounded in all Military Affaires, and to be both wise and valiant’.


     One of the sergeant majors in a brigade of infantry also fulfilled the role of ‘major of the brigade’. This officer ‘receives the Word [password] and other orders from the Major—General, and gives them to the Majors of the other Regiments of the Brigade, and they to their Colonels and Lieutenant-Colonels’. Sir James Turner recorded that ‘This Major of the Brigade is ordinarily he who is Major of the oldest Regiment of that Brigade’," presumably on the basis that he would be the most experienced and best fitted for the job.


 

     The Wagon Master

     The regimental wagon master was responsible for the regiment's baggage and the sutlers, soldiers and other followers who accompanied it.  Turner considered that:


     Captain, Lieutenant, Ensigne and Corporals; and likewise as soon as he is come unto his Guard he must direct the Corporals where to set out the Perdues and Sentinels, and how to order his Watch’.

 

     Corporal

     There were usually three corporals in an infantry company, although the colonel’s company may have had four. The corporal was armed as the other infantrymen, typically one of the three as a pikeman and the other two as musketeers. While the sergeant may have supervised and observed the soldiers at arms training, it was the specific responsibility of the corporal to teach and instruct them in the use of the Pike, and Musket, and to have a Roll and List of his men in his division or squadron. And when a soldiers name is crossed out, he is to give notice unto his Sergeant; and when a new one shall supply his place, his care must be to instruct and enable him in the Postures of such armes as he shall bear. Being with his squadron upon his Guard, he is to provide them with wood, coal, candle and light.

 

     The Corporal was also to ‘take care of the baggage and money of such as are hurt or sick, and to be in his own carriage sober, wise and discreet, for the avoiding ill example unto others’.

 

     Drummers
     There were usually two drummers in an infantry company who were to ‘know how to beat all the several points of War’. The drummer’s other duty in respect of carrying messages was the same as that described above for the trumpeter.

 

     Gentleman of the Armes
     This officer was not always found on the company strength. He was responsible for the weapons of the company, and it was his duty ‘to see that the soldiers keep their armes neat and clean, and that they be well fixed; and if any thing be amiss or broken, he is to have them carried to the Armourers to be repaired’. He would also take responsibility for keeping the arms of any sick or dead soldiers in order to prevent them being lost or stolen, and he ‘was likewise to mark and figure the armes of the Company, and to preserve and keep a List of what number of figure each Soldier shall bear upon his Arms. He is likewise to keep the powder, bullet and match, and to deliver it forth upon occasions to the Corporals.


     Lanspassadoe

     Although this non—commissioned officer was found in European armies, there is little record of his use during the English Civil War. This rank appears on the roll of two of the infantry regiments of the Eastern Association, Sergeant Major General Lawrence Crawford’s regiment and Colonel Sir john Palgrave’s regiment.  The lanspassadoe was, essentially, an assistant to the corporal. He is not found in the New Model Army.

 

     The Clerk
     Although he was not on the formal establishment of all companies, most would  have a company clerk or scrivener who ‘keeps the Rolls of the Company receives the Pay and gives it out according to the directions of the Captain, to whose command he is only lyable, and to whom only he is accountable, and in his absence to the Lieutenant. He ought to have so much literature as to read and write fair, and to have some skill at Arithmetick’. He was on ‘every pay-day to deliver up a true bill, giving an account unto his Captain of all such
moneys he hath either received or paid forth’.8‘ A seventeenth—century army generated a surprising amount of paper work, and although the responsibilities of several officers required them to undertake it, much of it must actually have been done by the regimental clerk. Richard Elton commented that the clerk ‘0ught to be very just and honest’, a comment which might indicate that a captain would be fortunate to find one that was.

 

     Dragoons

     As they marched with the cavalry, dragoons ‘are subordinate to the General, Lieutenant General or Major—General of the Horse’. However, their main fighting role was as infantry since dragoons were ‘Musketeers mounted on Horses, appointed to march with Cavalry, in regard there are not only many
occasions, wherein Foot can assist the Horse, but that seldom there is any occasion of service against an Enemy but wherein it is both fit and necessary to joyn some Foot with the Horse’. ].B. writing circa 1660/ 1661, considered they ‘were invented for special Services, to assist the Cavalry as Infantry’.“
They were very useful soldiers, versatile on campaign and effective for internal security. They had a bad, though probably well—deserved, reputation as plunderers.


     Since they were, essentially, mounted infantry, dragoons were organized on the same lines as an infantry regiment. When it was first raised, the New Model Army included one complete dragoon regiment comprising ten companies of 100 dragoons each plus officers, but this was exceptional and was probably the only regiment raised at this strength during the Civil War. It was more usual for regiments to consist of five or six companies and quite common to find independent, unregimented companies. The Earl of Orrery recommended that each regiment of cavalry should consist of six troops of cavalry troopers and one company of dragoons, as he believed that ‘Dragoons thus annexed to the Horse, are much better than they are, when Regimented entire, and by themselves’. He gave some substantial practical reasons for this on the basis that the cavalry commanders would be ‘more careful of them, and will not needlessly harass them by extraordinary and unequal duty’, and the Horse Officers knowing all their Dragoons by name, and they knowing all
the Horse Officers, they are the more likely to fight cheerfully for them, or not to escape unpunished if they be remiss; for every one being known, none can escape by ignorance; the contrary to which is often experimented [experienced] in commanded Parties, when the Officers are unknown to the Soldiers, and the Soldiers to the Officers.


     Orrery left another practical reason until last, as he wrote that ‘to omit many other particulars, some have observed that as the Dragoons are commonly the briskest, and daringst of the private Soldiers, so they are also the least sober; and ’tis likelier to wean them from that fault, when they are but a seventh part of the Regiments, then when they are an entire Regiment, and all Birds of one Feather.

 

     The most complete list of the officers and men of a dragoon regiment is set out in _J.B.’s Some Brief Instructions for the Exercising of the  Horse-Troops. This showed the following staff officers:

 

Colonel

Sergeant Major

Quartermaster

Preacher

Provost Marshal

Chirurgeon and two mates

 

     The second in command of the regiment of dragons in the New Model Army was the sergeant major, as shown in the list above, However, there is an example of a lieutenant colonel of dragoons, as john Lilburne was lieutenant colonel and de facto commander of the dragoons in the Earl of Manchester’s regiment in the Army of the Eastern Association.

 

     The officers and men of the company were given as: captain (the colonel or sergeant major as ‘captain’ of his own troops or a captain for the remaining troops in the regiment)  lieutenant (captain lieutenant in the colonel’s troop)

 

cornet
two sergeants
three corporals
two drummers
a farrier


     The non-commissioned officers of a dragoon regiment show its mixed status. It had the sergeants and drummers of an infantry company but included a farrier. The corporal in a dragoon company held the rank and position of an infantry corporal, not that of a corporal in the cavalry. The junior commissioned officer carrying the company flag was called a cornet - the cavalry rank - not an ensign.
 

The Artillery Train


     The artillery train included a wide range of specialists, together with one or more companies of ‘firelocks’ to provide guards. The most complete list is provided by _J.B. and contains the following ‘Officers, Artificers, and Attendants of the Trayne of Artillery consisting of 26 Peeces.


General of the Ordnance


Lieutenant General
Assistant
2 clerks
Surveyor or Controller
2 clerks
The Chief Engineer
A clerk
Six Engineers for ordering Trenches, Fortifications, and Approaches
6 clerks
Fifteen Guides or Conductors
A Pay—Master
2 clerks
Two Commissioners of Ordnance, Mattrosses and Amunition
2 clerks
20 Gentlemen of the Ordnance
A Commissary to distribute Victual
2 clerks attending him
A Purveyor General for Munition, and all necessaries for the Ordnance
2 Horses [horsemen] to assist him
A Waggon—master for the Artillery
2 Assistants
20 Conductors attending him
A Principal Conductor for the Artillery for draught Horses and Ammunition
A Commissary for the Trayne of Artillery for the draught horses
Quartermaster for the Trayne of Artillery
Master of the Miners
25 other Miners
3 Captains to 600 Pioneers
3 Lieutenants
3 Overseers of the Pioneers work
2 Petardiers or Fire—workers
To each of them [the Petardiers] 4 Attendants
One Master Gunner
3 Master Gunner’s Mates
20 Gunners
30 Gunners [the 30 Gunners being on a lower rate of pay than the 20 above]
200 Labourers
A Provost Marshal of the Artillery

136 Cromwellk War /1/Iaehine.· The New Made/Army, ]645—]66O
3 Under jaylors
A Battery Master
A Bridge Master with 100 Matrosses to work about Rivers
An Assistant to him
100 Mattrosses
A Chaplain
An Ensign
A Drum
A Trumpeter
A Chirurgeon
2 Under Barber Chirurgeons
A Master Carpenter
2 Mates
A Master B1ack—Smith
2 Mates
6 Servants
A Master Wheelwright
2 Mates
8 Servants
600 Pioneers
3 Tent Keepers
9 Servants
An Armourer
4 Servants under him
A Basket—maker for Gabions, hurdles and Baskets
4 Servants
A C011or—maker
4 Servants
A Gun-Smith
2 Servants
A Lad1e—maker
4 Servants
A Cooper
4 Servants
A Ropemaker
4 Servants
 

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