It was an entirely British force that fought in the Chesapeake Campaign.

The Royal navy had essentially turned the Chesapeake Bay into a blockaded port, with a squadron basing forward out of Tangier Island a few miles from Norfolk and the mouth of the bay, and the major American naval base at Norfolk. Serving to also trap the traffic from the major ports of Annapolis and Baltimore that would have to make the run past them as well.

To provide land forces for expeditions ashore and assault Washington and the other major cities a brigade sized force was assembled. Under Major General Robert Ross units were taken from the Duke of Wellington's forces which were now free after Napoleon's first abdication and sent to the American theater. These forces were then augmented with marines drawn from the ships and served as the land force that fought in the Chesapeake campaign. The same force would then receive reinforcements and also form the core of the force that fought at New Orleans. These men from units like the 85th Foot or Royal Scots Fusiliers were veterans of the brutal fighting in the Peninsular War and some fo the most experienced units Britain had ever fielded.