Input Of Baron De Gaugreben

The Canadian Historical Review published a portion of the memoirs of Baron De Gaugreben (Captain, King's Royal German Engineers also known as the King's German Legion), who entered service with the British in 1811, and served in Canada 1812-1815, entitled The Defence Of Upper Canada, dated 10 November 1815 (excerpt below):

Experience has proved that a regular cordon of strong places properly distributed on the frontiers, was the surest expedient of preserving a country from all hostiles schemes.  For these most important points are preserved by a few of our troops, in order to enable our whole force to collect in time, with a view to take advantage of any favorable moment.  But this requires discernment, presence of mind at the time of danger, activity perseverance, and intrepidity in the Commanding Officer.  Is this the case, the fortified places will admirably support the Operations of an Army against an Enemy superior in numbers, and the Engineer Officers will then be highly esteemed, admired and supported.  Therefore I conclude with the following motto:

No Genius, no Honor.)

Letters of Colonel Mansfield

From the Quarterly Publication of the Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio

Six letters of Colonel Jared Mansfield of the U. S. Engineer Corps to his nephew Lieut. Joseph Totten (later Major General and for a long time Chief of the Engineer Corps.) These bear dates of 1808, 1811 & 1812, of these two hold references to Hull's expedition to Detroit, and a third contains an account of the appearance of an earthquake in Cincinnati, December 16th, 1811... . ...."I hope we shall experience no more of these awful phenomena of nature. They have been (by account) more dreadful in the country west, on or beyond the Mississippi."


A letter from Colonel Mansfield to Joseph Larwell (Larwill) is housed at Newberry.

John Le Breton Of Le Breton Flats

From the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online:

...he [Le Breton] became deputy assistant quartermaster general at Quebec, a temporary staff appointment he held until March 1812. Between April and October he acted as adjutant of the Voltigeurs Canadiens; in November he returned to the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, serving as an assistant engineer.

An aggressive officer whose ambition outreached his achievements, Le Breton nevertheless participated with distinction in nine actions during the War of 1812.

15 [October 1813]

Secretly he was to assess the Americans’ strength at Detroit and on Lake Erie.   See a letter written by Le Breton here.

He was severely wounded and disabled at Lundy’s Lane in July 1814. Between July 1815 and April 1816 he was on leave in England and in the Canadas. Promoted captain in the 60th Foot in March 1816, he went on half pay later that month.

See the Le Breton Flats related post in In Deeds.

Specialization Ranks

From a paper entitled Short History of the Specialist Rank, I learned that the War of 1812 was the first time special insignia and uniforms were made for the specialists (engineers, medical personnel, quartermasters, etc).