Twenty-three currently active battalions of the Regular Army earned credit for campaigns during the War of 1812: two Air Defense Artillery battalions, six Field Artillery Battalions and seventeen Infantry battalions. These twenty-three battalions represent two Air Defense Artillery, four Field Artillery and seven Infantry regiments. Three additional Air Defense Artillery regiments have been awarded shared credit for War of 1812 campaigns, but the lineages of the artillery companies that earned those credits have not been perpetuated by currently active battalions. There are also twenty-four Army National Guard units with campaign credit for the War of 1812.

Air Defense Artillery

When the War of 1812 began, the Regular Army contained four regiments of artillery: the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiments of Artillery, and the Regiment of Light Artillery. In March 1814 the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Regiments were combined to form the Corps of Artillery, consisting of forty-eight companies; the Regiment of Light Artillery consisted of ten companies.McKenney 2007, p. 26.

Only a few companies from the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Artillery functioned regularly as "mobile" artillery, that is, in support of an infantry attack. Most of the time during the War of 1812 artillery was used as "position" artillery to repel an attack by enemy infantry. Artillery companies also often fought as infantry. Indeed, the 1st Regiment of Artillery served primarily as infantry in New York and along the Canada–US border, and the Regiment of Light Artillery, rather than functioning as a mobile horse artillery, was reorganized as infantry by the end of the war.McKenney 2007, p. 27.

During a major reorganization of the Army in 1821, the Corps of Artillery and the Regiment of Light Artillery were abolished, and four new artillery regiments were constituted: the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Regiments of Artillery. These four regiments were the precursors of the present-day 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Air Defense Artillery Regiments. The four new regiments constituted in 1821 were organized from existing artillery companies that had served in the War of 1812. As a consequence, even though these four Air Defense Artillery Regiments do not trace their lineages back to artillery formations that existed during the War of 1812, all four have been awarded shared credit for War of 1812 campaigns because of the service of their component elements that do date back to the War of 1812 or earlier.McKenney 2007, p. 32.

Of the fourteen companies that survived into the twenty-first century as Air Defense Artillery battalions, only two are currently active: 2-1 ADA and 3-4 ADA.

1st Air Defense Artillery Campaigns: Canada

The 1st Air Defense Artillery traces its lineage back to June 1, 1821, when the 1st Regiment of Artillery was organized at Fort Independence, Massachusetts, from existing companies dating back to the War of 1812 or earlier.Department of the Army, Lineage and Honors, 1st Air Defense Artillery.() Three of the companies used to form the new 1st Regiment of Artillery in 1821 were artillery companies that served along the Canada–US border during the War of 1812: Captain Ichabod B. Crane's Company, 3rd Regiment of Artillery; Captain Robert G. Hite's Company, 3rd Regiment of Artillery, constituted on January 11, 1812;McKenney 1985, pp. 18–19. and Captain Francis Stribling's Company of Light Artillery, organized in 1814McKenney 1985, pp. 20–21

Cranes' Company is the antecedent of today's 2-1 ADA; Hite's Company, of 6-1 ADA; and Stribling's Company, of 7-1 ADA. Only one of these battalions is currently active: 2-1 ADA.

2-1 ADA

Campaigns (earned): Canada

2-1 ADA traces its lineage to Captain Ichabod Crane's Company, 3rd Regiment of Artillery, constituted January 11, 1812, and organized in July, 1812. Crane's Company was redesignated May 12, 1814, as Captain Ichabod Crane's Company, Corps of Artillery.Department of the Army, Lineage and Honors, 2nd Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery.() During the War of 1812 Crane's Company, along with several other companies from the 3rd Regiment of Artillery, moved from its cantonment in New York to Sackett's Harbor for service along the Niagara Frontier. These companies, fighting as infantry, participated in the capture of York (west of present-day Toronto) and Fort George (located in Canada at the mouth of the Niagara River).Fredriksen 2009, p. 168.

2-1 ADA is a Patriot battalion serving as an element of the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, stationed at Camp Carroll, South Korea.

2nd Air Defense Artillery Campaigns: Canada

The 2nd Air Defense Artillery traces it lineage back to June 1, 1821, when the 2nd Regiment of Artillery was organized at Baltimore, Maryland, from existing companies, a number of which dated back to the War of 1812 or earlier.Department of the Army, Lineage and Honors, 2nd Air Defense Artillery ( ) Three battalions of the 2nd Air Defense Artillery are derived from artillery companies that saw action along the Canada–US border: Brevet Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Towson's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery, constituted on January 11, 1812;McKenney 1985, pp. 36–38; a company in the 1st Regiment of Artillery commanded by Captain Lloyd Beal, Captain Samuel T. Dyson, 3rd Lieutenant Moses M. Russell and Captain Frederick Evans in the 1st Regiment of Artillery, originally organized in 1810 as Captain Lloyd Beal's Company;McKenney 1985, pp.40–41 and a company in the 3rd Regiment of Artillery commanded by Captain Thomas Stockton and Captain Benjamin Pierce, constituted on January 11, 1812, as Captain Thomas Stockton's Company.Mckenney 1985, pp. 45–46

Towson's Company was the precursor of today's 2-2 ADA; Beal's/Dyson's/Russel's/Evans' Company, of the 4th Howitzer Battalion, 2 ADA; and Stockton's/Pierce's Company, of the 6th Missile Battalion, 2 ADA. None of these battalions is currently active.

Lieutenant Colonel Towson emerged as one of the most competent artillery officers in the American Army. His company distinguished itself at the Battles of Chippewa and Lundy's Lane. Credit for these two campaigns is not shared with the 2nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment, since shared credit is awarded only when at least two subordinate elements of the regiment have earned that credit.

3rd Air Defense Artillery Campaigns: Canada

The 3rd Air Defense Artillery was constituted on June 1, 1821, as the 3rd Regiment of Artillery and organized from existing units with headquarters at Fort Washington, Maryland.Department of the Army, Lineage and Honors, 3rd Air Defense Artillery () Two of the companies used to form the new 3rd Regiment of Artillery in 1821 were artillery companies that had earned credit for the Canada Campaign through service along the Canada–US border: Captain Addison B. Armistead's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery, originally constituted in 1798 as Captain John Lillie's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers, which, after several redesignations became Captain Addison Armistead's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery on January 11, 1812;McKenney 1985, pp. 55–57 and Captain A. C. W. Fanning's Company, 3rd Regiment of Artillery, constituted on January 11, 1812, as a company in the 3rd Regiment of Artillery and organized in Sacketts Harbor, New York, in July, 1812, and redesignated as Captain Fanning's Company, Corps of Artillery in May, 1814.McKenney 1985, pp. 58–60

Fanning's Company played an important role in the defense of Fort Erie during Major General Jacob Brown's invasion of the Niagara Peninsula in 1814.

Armistead's Company was the precursor of the 1-3 ADA; Fanning's Company, of the 2-3 ADA. Neither 1-3 ADA nor 2-3 ADA is currently active.

4th Air Defense Artillery Campaigns: Louisiana 1815

The 4th Air Defense Artillery traces its lineage back to June 1, 1821, when 4th Regiment of Artillery was constituted in the Regular Army and organized from existing units with headquarters at Pensacola, Florida.Department of the Army, Lineage and Honors, 4th Air Defense Artillery () Two battalions of the 4th Air Defense Artillery are derived from artillery companies that served in the War of 1812: Captain Thomas Murray's Company, 1st Regiment of Artillery, originally constituted on October 20, 1786, and organized at West Point, New York, as Captain Henry Burbeck's Company of Artillery;Mckenney 1985, pp.81–83. and Captain James Barker's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery, constituted on January 11, 1812.McKenney 1985, pp. 87–89

Murray's Company and Barker's Company are the antecedent of today's 1-4 and 3-4 ADA, respectively. Only one of these battalions is currently active: 3-4 ADA.

The credit for the Louisiana (1815) Campaign awarded to the 4th Air Defense Artillery is shared credit earned by Captain Thomas Murray's Company, which was at Fort St. Philip, a fort below New Orleans about thirty miles from the mouth of the Mississippi River, when it was subjected to a prolonged bombardment by British warships on January 5, 1815,Remini 1999, p. 170. and Captain Charles Wollstonecraft's Companies. Wollstonecraft's Company is the predecessor of a battalion that is no longer in the 4th Air Defense Artillery. Wollstonecraft's Company ultimately became today's 1-5 FA, the oldest unit in the Regular Army. Its lineage and participation in the War of 1812 will be discussed in the section on the 5th Field Artillery.

The fact that a regiment can retain the battle honors earned by a subordinate unit that no longer serves in the regiment is due to a quirk in the rules for assigning campaign credits prior to 1898 that applied before the implementation of the Combat Arms Regimental System in 1957. The passage and display of regimental honors was governed by AR 870-5, which states that campaign participation credit that accrues to a color-bearing organization includes "credit earned by two or more of its guidon-bearing elements before 1898." Thus, the credit earned by Murray's and Wollstonecraft's Companies passed to the 4th Air Defense Artillery as a shared honor for all of its elements. AR 870-5 also states that "the honors of a color-bearing organization will not be changed by the removal of its organic elements." Therefore, the shared credit remains with the 4th Air Defense Artillery, even though one of the units that earned that credit has been removed from the regiment.

3-4 ADA

Campaigns (earned): Canada

3-4 ADA traces its history back to a company in the 2nd Regiment of Artillery constituted on January 11, 1812, and organized in May as Captain James N. Barker's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery. Barker's Company was consolidated in late 1813 with Captain Spotswood Henry's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery (organized in 1812), with the consolidated unit designated as Capt. James. N. Barker's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery. In December 1813, Barker's Company was redesignated as Captain Samuel B. Archer's Company, 2nd Regiment of Artillery, and then as Captain Samuel B. Archer's Company, Corps of Artillery, on May 17, 1814.Mckenney 1985, pp.87–89.

Barker's Company participated in a number of actions along the Canadian–American border, including Queenston Heights (October 13, 1812), Fort George (May 27, 1813) and Stoney Creek (June 6, 1813).Fredricksen 2009, p163–165. Since 3-4 ADA is the only battalion in the 4th Air Defense Artillery with credit for the Canada campaign, this credit is not shared with the regiment.

3-4 ADA is an air and missile defense battalion serving as an element of the 108th ADA Brigade, 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command, currently stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

61st Air Defense Artillery Campaigns: None