Pending projects ~~ The First Colonial Soldiers

After the relative success of my '1699' and '1714' half-pay lists, the last of which good pretty nice reviews in The Irish Sword and the Journal of the Society of Army Historical Research, a number of new projects were started.

One of these projects will be written together with an Englishman of name, and with a good deal more experience in writing. Apart from the topic, on which more shortly, this cooperation is already very inspiring and instructive.

The topic of this project focusses on colonial soldiering in the 17th and early part of the 18th centuries. Whereas this topic is pretty well covered in literature for the period of the later 18th century (King George's War, the French and Indian Wars), this is much less true for the preceding period.

Thus, the scope of the project is related to the early years of settlement and colonisation of New England, the West Indies and, to a lesser degree, West Africa and the East Indies, and more in particular to the garrisons of these colonies: The First Colonial Soldiers. Also dealt with are 'European' overseas possessions like Gibraltar, Dunkirk and the Channel Islands.

For each colony, or overseas possession, an introductory narrative is provided with the relevant background information on the genesis of that colony. More important, and the main topic of the project, are the 'colonial soldiers', the garrisons in those colonies. Lists of troops are provided, regulars and militia, with dates of commissions and organisational / regimental details. Whereas information on regular troops is - relatively - well known and available, the parts on the various colonial militias are often the result of new research and compilation of information from various sources.

Furthermore, the militia had, almost by definition of being the local form of defence, strong bindings to the local community and administration of the colonies. Reading the history of these militias, and their officers, reads like a history of the colonies.

The First Colonial Soldiers is expected to be published by July 2014. Visit this blog for updates, or check the publisher's site.