The Fencibles (from the word defencible) were army regiments raised in the United Kingdom and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars in the late 18th century. Usually temporary units, composed of local volunteers, commanded by Regular Army officers, their role was, as their name suggests, confined to garrison and patrol duties, freeing the regular Army units to perform offensive operations. They had no liability for overseas service.
They included naval forces known as "River Fencibles", made up of boatmen on the Thames and other southern English towns and cities, as well as Sea Fencibles, who, among their other duties, manned small commercial vessels converted to coastal defense.[1]
The title has also used by a small number of American units.
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The Royal Fencible Americans was a Loyalist unit raised by the British in Nova Scotia in 1775, that successfully withstood an attack by Patriot forces under Jonathan Eddy at the Battle of Fort Cumberland.
Fencibles were raised for the entirety of the British Isles. In Thomas Flanagan's The Year of the French Fencibles are raised by Cornwallis and other generals to combat the Irish Rebellion of 1798. Fencibles were a sort of substitute militia often composed of Scottish tenants.
Fencible units were raised in the United Kingdom during the early years of the war, but by the Peace of Amiens in 1802, all Fencible Regiments had been disbanded and those members willing to continue serving had been transferred to regular army regiments, though some Fencibles were raised again to meet the threat of Napoleon's invasion of England in 1803 to 1805.
In the early years of the 19th Century, five regiments of Fencibles were raised in Canada, Newfoundland and New Brunswick, liable for service in North America only (although the New Brunswick Fencibles volunteered for general service and became the 104th Regiment of Foot in the regular army). All but one of these regiments saw action in the War of 1812. They were disbanded in 1816, after the end of the war. See also Canadian Regiment of Fencible Infantry.
The Bombay Fencibles were raised in 1799 by the following order of the Bombay Army: "A regiment consisting of two battalions of natives to be, under the denomination of the "Bombay fencibles," raised from the inhabitants of Bombay, Salsette, and Caranjah, on condition of not being liable to serve out of the said bounds; at the * pay to each private of 5 rupees 2 quarters per month, besides cloathing: which last they will receive from the honorable company."[2]
The 5th battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry was raised from the Bombay Fencibles as the 1st Battalion the 9th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry in December 1800.
In 1847 the Royal New Zealand Fencible Corps were raised and sent to New Zealand for the defence of the early settlers there. They were settled in a variety of outlying places around Auckland, though they in the end did not participate in the following Maori Wars.[3]
Fencible regiments were less effective than regular troops for military duties, with problems of lack of education and disease. The men would take part in inter-regimental brawls and attacks on soldiers. Some regiments of Fencibles, however, were noted for exceptional service.[4]
A small number of units raised before and during the Civil War used the title "fencibles". Example include the Texas Fencibles and the Bellefonte Fencibles (one of the ancestor units of the 112th Regiment). A Texas unit called the Panther City Fencibles existed from 1883 to 1898, and a modern Texas State Guard unit has used the name since 1993.