Welcome to the Website of the Crown Forces of North America (or CFNA) which is the home page for a listing of those War of 1812 Living History or Re-Enactment Units and Groups that represent the British, Canadian, Militia, and Native Ally units of that conflict.
This is a portal to those organisations and groups - to find their location(s), contact information, and any or all web presences they have available to learn more about them... as well as a repository of information about The Crown Forces and their efforts.
The menu will help you locate the information or contact group you wish to learn more about...
United States Forces
Concept
This award has been created by the staff of the Crown Forces North America, (CFNA) as a way of recognizing the many contributions to the CFNA and to the hobby in general that individuals frequently make. The award is meant to not only to mark a person’s contributions but also serve as an inspiration to others.
Background
Historically, while the British Army and Government did not, as a rule, create awards for soldiers for going above and beyond in the course of their duties, there are a few exceptions such as the Waterloo Medal.
Individual Regiments did occasionally create their own. Some examples are for marksmanship, Forlorn Hope, Merit, Service, and individual acts.
Frequency, Volume and Nomination Process
The CFNA award for Meritorious Service can be awarded at a rate of one award per CFNA unit per year.
Nominations for the award can be made by submitting the required form by the unit and submitted to the Aide De Camp to the Brigadier General.
You may use the PDF form and send it in via email once completed (click here for the PDF) or via our online form (click here to be taken to the online form).
Required will be two nominators from the unit (not including the intended recipient).
Please note that the nominating unit will be required to pay for the award.
The Staff, in consultation with the nominating unit will adjudicate the request. Applications should be made by November for consideration for the following season.
Requirements for Nomination
The candidate must be a veteran of the CFNA for at least ten years and have made major contributions to the unit, the CFNA, or the hobby in general.
The contributions should be clearly outlined in the nominating letter to the Staff. It should include a contact from the unit to represent the request, particularly if you hope to have the award be a surprise for the recipient.
It is possible to offer posthumous recognition of an individual.
Be sure to include the site that the unit wishes to use for the presentation ceremony.
Wearing the Award
The award will be presented by the staff officer commanding the requested event at the first morning parade of the event with all troops present.
The recipient may wear the award for the duration of the event and that event only. As it is not an actual historical item of uniform, thereafter it may only be worn at special occasions and events such as mess dinners etc.
The CFNA Award of Merit should be worn on the left breast of the uniform coat with precedence (the right most position) over any other medal (i.e. the Waterloo Medal).
The Award
The Crown Forces North America Award for Meritorious Service is in the form of an oval medal with a suspension bar. The medal will be suspended on a “Waterloo” ribbon.
On one side it is adorned with the crown, the Royal Cypher within the Garter and the words,
“Crown Forces North America”.
The Obverse has a laurel design with the Latin, “NAM MERITUM ET SERVITIUM” (For Merit and Service).
Note: the letter “U”s are represented as “V” as was the custom in Roman writing
Again, you may use the PDF form and send it in via email once completed (click here for the PDF) or via our online form (click here to be taken to the online form).
To have a copy of this article in PDF to send on in explanation to anyone who may need it, please click here.
To have your event listed on the Crown Forces website, the following criteria must be met...
#1: You have been asked to submit your event by a senior Crown Forces officer.
-- and/or --
#2: Your event is specifically about The War of 1812 and/or has a significant amount of War of 1812 content in terms of reenactors, living display. or academic study and/or has a significant Napoleonic military component in terms of reenactors, living display, or academic study that involves members/staff of The Crown Forces North America and are approved by one of the two administrators for this section.
All new inclusions as well as corrections or additions to existing information displayed can be submitted to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Please, for corrections, tell one or the other of us... not both...)
Decisions to add a listing to the site rely on one of these two gentlemen approving the addition and the decisions are final.
The information we will need for the website is as follows...
When a user first visits the Crown Forces website and looks at the calendar of events, they see this...
Very basic information of the current "year" of events.
As a more "filled out" example, here's the listings for June of 2018...
Events listed on the calendar are *NOT* necessarily official "Crown Forces" events, but do have members or staff of Crown Forces North America involved within them and have passed the criteria listed below to be included in our calendar...
- War of 1812 Event
Reenactment or living encampment specific to the War of 1812 in North America.
- Timeline Event
Reenactment or living encampment of reenactors interpreting/displaying multiple periods in history. Listed events here include a significant contribution towards the display of the War of 1812 in terms of living history or information and involves members or staff of Crown Forces North America.
- Napoleonic Events in North America
Although Crown Forces is focused on the interpretation/portrayal of the War of 1812 in North America, we also acknowledge that we are British Forces of the Napoleonic period. As such, we do take part in Napoleonic events when offered. Event listed here involve members or staff of Crown Forces North America.
- Special
This category is used for academic lectures and symposiums, markets and fairs, and other events that include significant relevance to The War of 1812 in North America and involve members or staff of Crown Forces North America.
When the link on the main page is clicked...
The link opens to VERY basic information... the name, the location (Town/City, Province/State,) and a link (outside of the Crown Forces website that the person submitting the information provided,) for more information.
The link can be to an email address, website, FaceBook page, or any other usable (through a browser) information space/document. PLEASE do not send us (attachments via email) items to upload for you (documents, files, PDFs, images,) but only links to where they can be accessed online...
We cannot provide "extra information" more than the above... so please keep this in mind.
Thank you for your help with these listing.
To have your group/unit listed on the Crown Forces website, the following criteria must be met...
#1: You have been asked to submit your information by a senior Crown Forces officer.
-- and/or --
#2: You portray a British, British "Canadian" (Militia/Fencibles/Other), British Native Allied group and participate in War of 1812 reenactments on a regular basis.
All new inclusions and/or re-submitted inclusions must be passed through This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
All corrections or additions to existing information displayed can be submitted to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
(Please, for corrections, tell one or the other of us... not both...)
The information we will need for the website is as follows...
#1: The larger unit your represent.
#2: The specific title of YOUR unit.
#3: The name of the main contact of your unit.
#4: The CURRENT (modern) headquarters (allows for potential recruits to know where you're located.)
#5: A working and monitored email address. (ie: One that is regularly checked.)
~ The above are the essentials above... Below are optional items... ~
a: If you have a Facebook page or group for the public, we can list it. (Not essential)
b: If you have a website, we can list it.(Not essential)
CURRENTLY there are no plans to add links to other social media outlets (Tumblr, Flickr, Instgram, Twitter, etc.)
As an example of this, here's the current (2018) 2nd York Militia entry...
