The Rhode Island troops were formed into a brigade of three infantry regiments.

Each division included a cavalry brigade (of two regiments) numbered as their parent division with the following exceptions:

The 2nd Bavarian Landwehr Division was formed as a triangular division with one brigade of three infantry regiments.

French Infantry divisions were square divisions, with two infantry brigades of two infantry regiments each.

From 16 January 1918 it contained just one brigade of 3 regiments.

The 2,100 men who volunteered were organized into a brigade of five regiments under Brigadier General Samuel Whiteside.

In the last months of the war, he led a brigade of five regiments.

Upon Lincoln's call for volunteers in April 1861, a brigade of two infantry regiments was raised by Rhode Island.

Later that month, Carman led a temporary brigade of three regiments sent to help quell the New York Draft Riots.

By contrast, in a square division, there were typically two brigades of two regiments.