• HOME

  • Bones of Burgos

  • FORUM

  • FRENCH REVOLUTION

    • Origins
    • Events
    • French Revolutionary Wars
    • The Revolution Abroad
    • The Glorious First of June
    • The Battle of Cape St Vincent
    • Occupied Europe
    • Napoleon's Early Life
    • 1793: The Siege of Toulon
    • 1796-7: Napoleon in Italy
    • 1798: Egypt Campagin
    • The War of the Second Coalition
    • The Battle of the Nile
    • Napoleon's Coup
    • War in the West Indies 1793-1801
  • NAPOLEONIC WARS

    • British Politics, 1793-1815
    • Invasion Scares in Britain, 1793-1815
    • The Peace of Amiens, 1802
    • The Redeclaration of War, 1803
    • 1805: The Battle of Trafalgar
    • 1805: Austerlitz
    • 1806: Jena-Auerstedt
    • 1807: Friedland
    • 1809: The Walcheren Expedition
    • 1809: Wagram
    • 1812: Napoleon's Invasion of Russia
    • 1813: Leipzig
    • 1815: Waterloo
    • Expanding Britain's Empire
    • Death, Glory and Legacy
  • PENINSULAR WAR

    • 1808: The War Begins
    • 1809-10: Weathering the Storm
    • 1811: Stalemate
    • 1812: Breaking the Deadlock
    • 1813: Breakout
    • 1814: The Endgame
    • Wellington's Letters
  • LEARN MORE

    • Reviews
    • TEACHER'S ZONE
    • ABOUT
    • CHANNEL
  • Members

  • More

    Use tab to navigate through the menu items.
    To see this working, head to your live site.
    • Categories
    • All Posts
    • My Posts
    Bolebg
    Dec 21, 2021

    French Light Infantry Drummer and Voltigeurs

    in New Work & Research

    Does anyone know the book where i can find combination of drummer uniform color and voltigeur epauletes/shako feathers, per french light infantry regiment?

    17 comments
    0
    17 Comments

    Share Your ThoughtsSign up to leave a comment.

    L
    Loïc Lilian
    Dec 26, 2021

    a such book for each regiment will see the light with Paul Lindsay Dawson writing several volumes for Pen & Sword (concerning 1811-1815) and Helion, for 2023 at the very best, about Line and Light Infantry uniforms based from French Regimental Archives researches, his opinion after that is quite severe to not say trenchant


    Some truly hideous colour combinations used

    99% of representations of bands and drummers are total fiction





    Like
    D
    david Tomlinson
    Dec 26, 2021
    Replying to

    Thank you Loïc. It is as I suspected, something yet to be fully revealed, although I’m sure many myths persist. I remembers quite a heated debate in another forum, one “uniformologist” adamant the white bearskins were worn by trumpeters of a unit, because Comdr Bucquoy showed it. His protagonist had a diary entry from a trumpeter, that said that bearskins were left in depot, and they wore chapeau on campaign. We then had a long monologue on the unreliability of eyewitness accounts. I’m willing to concede that recollections differ and that people sometimes exaggerate. But I’ve got a reasonable recollection what I was required to put on my head every day, and presume this chap did too. What would be his incentive to lie? However, people get attached to their illustrations, even when Paul L Dawson provides that no such cloth existed in stores and none was purchased. If it is half as revealing as Napoleon’s Last Army I eagerly await in anticipation.

    Like

    B
    Bolebg
    Dec 26, 2021

    Just curious - I searched site and that link for 8th Legere but could not find this plate? Can you please send me a link to the plate just to explore it?

    Like
    B
    Bolebg
    Dec 28, 2021
    Replying to

    Ok, i think this plate is from published plates, not online articles - it is the reason i do not see it online. Thanks a lot!

    Like

    H
    Hans - Karl Weiß
    Dec 28, 2021
    Replying to

    @Bolebg You could find those plates, as those I attached by surfing and searching the world wide web, whenever I stumble across some I copy them and store them on my hard drive

    Like

    B
    Bolebg
    Dec 28, 2021
    Replying to

    Thank you

    Like

    B
    Bolebg
    Dec 26, 2021

    Thank you! Very great site with source of information!

    Like

    B
    Bolebg
    Dec 23, 2021

    So how would you paint drummers in french light battalions?

    Like
    D
    david Tomlinson
    Dec 24, 2021
    Replying to

    Personally, I’d probably put them in standard habit-veste, possibly with laced lapels and perhaps sleeves. A little like the first restoration royalist livery perhaps, as it seems to hark back to an earlier style. In all honesty, if I were in any doubt I’d probably put the drummer in a greatcoat! There is probably a book to be written on the dress of tête du colonne, unless I’m unaware of one.

    Like

    H
    Hans - Karl Weiß
    Dec 24, 2021
    Replying to

    red lapels and chevrons on the arms - on the other hand, as stated above this could vary from regiment to regiment, otherweise I would suggest to consult this side which shows some regiments in great detail


    http://frederic.berjaud.free.fr/articles_en_ligne.htm





    Like

    D
    david Tomlinson
    Dec 23, 2021

    In his work on the Otto manuscript (Napoleon’s Soldiers page 75) he quotes a letter written by Soult in May 1808 to the Minister of War: “But there are still many other abuses which merit the attention of the Government both because of the inconvenience they create and the excessive expenses they occasion. All Colonels, both in the infantry and the cavalry, believe themselves to be authorised by custom to make arbitrary changes in the uniforms of drummers, trumpeters and musicians. There are some who’ limited only by imagination, pass successively from one style to another and from the bizarre to the ridiculous” Unless we have eye witness testimony this puts us at something of a disadvantage, as it would be dangerous to infer the General from the specific, In this work their are a number of Tambour-Major’s shown for ligne and légère but no drummers themselves

    Like

    B
    Bolebg
    Dec 23, 2021

    Yes, pre bardin as i am making army for spain 1809-1812

    Like

    D
    david Tomlinson
    Dec 23, 2021

    Guy Dempsey’s work on the prints of Aaron Martinet only shows a ligne tambour, no légère musicians at all.

    Like

    B
    Bolebg
    Dec 23, 2021

    Yes, thats the one of which i know about. I have some other samples from other books. But was hoping for full list per regiment.

    Like
    D
    david Tomlinson
    Dec 23, 2021
    Replying to

    Pre-Bardin I’d always understood that individual regiments had quite a bit of leeway. I don’t know of any comprehensive survey. Even now, we are still not sure for the Armée du Nord in 1815 whether regiments had re-adopted Bardin, retained the Royalist dress or something else. Paul L Dawson has done a magnificent job in Napoleon’s Last Army of chasing down the archives. From how much lace/green cloth that was used/ordered he makes some good deductions. Some remain unknown, or just represents a best guess.

    Like

    D
    david Tomlinson
    Dec 23, 2021

    Pre or post Bardin? Osprey MAA 146 Napoleon’s Light Infantry ISBN 0-85045-521-9 A Chasseurs drummer from 27eme Léger 1807 at plate E3 The text though suggests the sky blue colouring was specific to the 27th

    Like
    17 comments
    Stephen Prentice
    1d

    The Marquise d'Assche

    5
    0
    tomholmberg
    7h

    Peter Stewart Ney, Again

    1
    0
    tomholmberg
    6h

    Napoleon presents his respects...

    0
    0
    Peter O'Brien
    Jun 20, 2021

    Wurttemberg standards 1809-14

    4
    1
    Stephen Prentice
    May 26

    KGL Organisation during the Waterloo campaign

    20
    0
    nickscoti
    Apr 01, 2021

    Hi, could someone suggest me bibliogaphy for Bavarian army 1810 - 1863.

    6
    0
    tomholmberg
    Jun 23

    Napoleon's Relatives Sue

    1
    0
    tomholmberg
    Jun 27

    Did Alexander I Sleep with Josephine?

    1
    0
    tomholmberg
    Jun 28

    LA MUERTE DE NAPOLEÓN

    0
    0
    Stephen Prentice
    Jun 28

    Anatomy of Glory - going cheap

    1
    1
    Hans - Karl Weiß
    Oct 16, 2021

    Napoleon's Admiral's - Boney's Boys on the high seas