He also told them that the senior colonel of his regiments, Lieutenant Colonel Smith, would command, with Major John Pitcairn as his executive officer.
At the Red House, two-and-half miles from Fort Erie on the Chippawa Road, were 38 of the 49th Regiment under Lieutenant Thomas Lamont, some men of the Royal Regiment of Artillery under Lieutenant King, and some militia artillerymen.
In the officers' mess of a New York regiment, a lieutenant in January 1863 reported "several pretty spirited, I may call them hot, controversies about slavery, the Emancipation Edict and kindred subjects.
(Antill was commissioned the regiment's lieutenant colonel).
After the death of Ellsworth, Noah L. Farnham, the regiment's lieutenant colonel, was the obvious choice to take command.
Not far away were 70 of the light infantry company of the 41st Regiment under Lieutenant Angus McIntyre.
Field Marshal João Propício Mena Barreto reached Paysandú on 29 December with two infantry brigades and one artillery regiment under Lieutenant Colonel Émile Louis Mallet (later Baron of Itapevi).
He served with the 21st Massachusetts for nearly two years, eventually commanding that regiment as lieutenant colonel in 1862, and colonel from 1862 to 1863.
Further along the Chippawa Road, about four-and-a-half miles from Fort Erie, lay the post at Frenchman's Creek, garrisoned by 38 more men of the 49th Regiment under Lieutenant J. Bartley.
One subsection of the 4th Machine Gun Squadron was attached to each regiment, although Lieutenant Colonel Murray Bourchier (commander of the 4th Light Horse Regiment which fought in the trenches and redoubt) said "The Hotchkiss guns were useless, the fast pace affording no time to get them into action".
