Brigadier General Winfield Scott, commanded the First Brigade of the Left Division of the US Army.  He had tried to obtain the correct blue uniform for his men during the spring of 1814 but failed and was forced to accept the grey jackets usually worn as fatigues or undergarments, instead of the regulation short tailed blue coatee.  His men would make this humble garment famous, and today the grey uniforms of the West Point Cadets are worn to perpetuate the memory of the Left Division during the 1814 Niagara campaign.

Except in the area of small arms fire, American and British drill differed little during this period The U.S. army was the only fighting force of the day which had its soldiers aim their weapons and fire in their own time. So distinct was the different firing methods that at the earlier Battle of Crysler’s Farm, the family hiding in the farmer’s basement could distinguish the Americans’ irregular “pop, pop, pop” from the regular volleys of fire from the British army, which sounded “like a tremendous roll of thunder”.

Battle of Chippawa, Scotts Brigade

Four Figures Firing.

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