The composition of the garrison of Tangier varies significantly during the occupation, and the resources and tactics of the Moors changed.
The most easily accessed information about the forces involved in a range of encounters is
Tangier - The Earliest Battle Honour by John Hawkins - Pen & Sword
Another reliable, but somewhat less easily accessible source of information is
The English Garrison of Tangier by Andrew Abram - Helion
Well researched but very dated in approach and hard-going are -
Tangier, England's Lost Atlantic Outpost by EMG Routh - John Murray 1912
The History of the Second Queens Royal Regiment Vol.1 by LtCol. John Davis - Bentley & Son 1887
More difficult to find are individual C17th accounts such as
The Diary of Sir James Halkett - 1680
The Tangier Campaign by A J Smithers - Tempus Publishing - is poorly researched, contains numerous inaccuracies and gives the impression of being written 'off-the-cuff'.
The Garrison
Early years
For the great majority of the English occupation of Tangier the foot regiments were armed with a mix of matchlock and flintlock muskets. Although the stores held a plentiful supply of full-length and short pikes they seem to have often been ignored, to the great loss of the garrison.
Large numbers of grenadoes were used.
During the first fifteen months Harley's Regiment, probably the most experienced, bore the brunt of the fighting, and took the majority of the losses.
A unit of Harley's with matchlocks,
flintlocks and grenadoes.
In April 1663 Harley's was merged with Peterborough's to form The Governor's Regiment of 15 companies, and the two Irish regiments were combined to form the Lieutenant Governor's Regiment of 5 companies .
During 1668 the remaining regiments were merged to form The Tangier Regiment.
Palisades were erected around the forts and along the defensive lines, and caltrops were frequently deployed in defensive situations to deter enemy horse.
Ghailan's Berbers
From the beginning of the English occupation until Ghailan's death the garrison was up against the warlord's coalition of militias from more than twenty tribes; lowland farming communities, hill dwellers and itinerant Arabs.
Ghailan & Drummer
painted by KMW
Ghailan's forces would include:
a large number of horsemen including,
1. elite tribal leaders riding fine horses with rich equipment and carrying the best weapons, and
2. a mass of tribesmen on hill ponies
Figures painted by WhiteWolf
as well as,
3. a large number of foot skirmishers.
Although most would be armed with lances, javelins and bows, many would have muskets. Moroccans had traded weapons and gunpowder with England since Elizabethan times and were certainly no strangers to musketry. It was a constant source of complaint from European occupiers that Western merchants were all too keen to sell equipment to the Moors. More recently the tribes of the Gharb around the European enclaves, including Spanish Cueto and Portuguese Tangier, had captured weapons in battle and from piracy against European shipping, and even in fighting against the Ottoman influenced state of Algeria. Despite producing a certain amount of gunpowder within Morocco, Ghailan was always ready to trade a temporary truce or even alliance in exchange for gunpowder and weapons.