This article is about the War of 1812 era unit. For the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen, see 3d Cavalry Regiment. For the early 1840s regiment, see 2nd Dragoons. For the Mexican–American War era unit, see Regiment of Voltigeurs and Foot Riflemen.
Regiment of Riflemen
Riflemen officer in gray (foreground) and troops in green smocks (background)
Active
1808–1821
Disbanded
March 2, 1821
Country
United States
Branch
United States Army
Type
Riflemen
Role
Light infantry
Size
Regiment
Posts
New Orleans, Territory of Louisiana Washington, Mississippi Territory Fort Atkinson, Louisiana Purchase
Weapons
Harpers Ferry Model 1803 U.S. Model 1814 scalping knife tomahawk,
Engagements
Tecumseh's War
Battle of Tippecanoe
War of 1812
Raid on Gananoque
Assault on Ogdensburg
Raid on Elizabethtown
Battle of Ogdensburg
Battle of York
Battle of Fort George
Battle of Point Iroquois
Battle of Crysler's Farm
Occupation of Cornwall
Battle of Big Sandy Creek
Battle of Conjocta Creek
Siege of Fort Erie
Battle of Plattsburgh
Campaigns
Battle of Tippecanoe War of 1812
Commanders
Commanders
Alexander Smyth (1808–1812) Thomas Adams Smith (1812–1814, 1815–1818) George Washington Sevier(1814–1815) Talbot Chambers (1818–1821)
Key Subordinate Commanders
Benjamin Forsyth Daniel Appling Lodowick Morgan
Insignia
Cap insignia authorized in 1817
Military unit
The Regiment of Riflemen was a unit of the U.S. Army in the early nineteenth century. Unlike the regular US line infantry units with muskets and bright blue and white uniforms, this regiment was focused on specialist light infantry tactics, and were accordingly issued rifles and dark green and black uniforms to take better advantage of cover. This was the first U.S. rifleman formation since the end of the American Revolutionary War 25 years earlier.[1]
Where can you find troops more efficient than Morgan's riflemen of the Revolution or Forsyth's riflemen of the last war with Great Britain?
— Major Bennet Riley, U.S. Army, Letter to Lewis F. Linn
The regiment was first activated in 1808. During the War of 1812, it was temporarily designated as the 1st Regiment of Riflemen when the War Department created three additional similar regiments. The regiment never fought as a unit. Companies, detachment from companies or collections of companies were stationed at a distance from each other and were often allocated to other commands. After the War, the other three regiments were inactivated and the regiment reverted to its unnumbered designation. The regiment was inactivated in June 1821.
^John C. Fredriksen: The United States Army: A Chronology, 1775 to the Present. ABC-CLIO, 2010, p. 63.
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