"The Silly Regiment" Topic

It's a heavy non-stop rainy day here in NE Pennsylvania. The Pittston Tomato Festival™ parade is lining up on my street, and everyone looks so sad and wet. I am siting on my (covered) front porch, sipping my tea. I picked up at random MWAN #113 to browse. There is an article by my old comrade in arms from Penn State Charles C. Sharp on the OOB for the Battle of Blenheim/Blindheim/2nd Hochstadt. I come across an entry for the Silly regiment. No kidding. Colonel N. de Vipart de Silly, formed in 1702, only one battalion. "In and around Blindheim, brigade unknown". The French allowed a SILLY regiment to wander around, unsupervised? No wonder they lost! The fact that the decisive battle of the War of Spanish Succession takes place in Bavaria... Well, I guess that demands a Silly Regiment.

Well, I do not do WSS, but having a Silly Regiment is almost enough to want me to start. Add one more to Mieczyslaw's criteria list.

Anyone know it's facing colors and flag? :^)

John

Are you sure it is meant to be an infantry regiment? Iain Stamford's 'Marlborough Goes to War: the Campaign and Battle of Blenheim' (2nd edition 2004 by Pike & Shot Society) has a very detailed OOB for both armies at Blenheim. The only 'Silly' (as opposed to silly) French unit in the vicinity of Blindheim is the cavalry brigade of the Marquis de Silly consisting of squadrons of the following cavalry regiments Orleans (3), Forsat (2), La Baume (2), Ligonday (2) & Brisaac (2)!

If you do test your toe in the waters of Marlburianism I can thoroughly recommend Iain's book on Blenheim mentioned above. It has the most detailed I am inclined to think accurate OOBs for Blenheim bar none. I think he sometimes monitors TMP so he may even chip in with the odd comment.

TM

A "MARQUIS de Silly"? Only the French.... ;-)

I am NOT being serious here, and have no interest in WSS as a project to do it all myself. I merely have the Monty Python possibilities in mind here. A "Silly" regiment is just too good to pass up.

Ah, but do the British have the 1st Foot and Mouth is the real question!

JT

Yes but not Foot in Mouth!

"Ah, but do the British have the 1st Foot and Mouth is the real question!"

I think we still have the 1st Foot, the Mouth part must have emigrated somewhere...

Adam

One of the British generals in the SYW was Julius Ceasar, IIRC.

John

Misunderstood thought you were being converted! Your MWAN is article is a little out, 1 battalion of Silly’s infantry regiment served on the French left at Blenheim. It was in the brigade of the Chevalier de Montmorency, part of Marquis de Rozel’s command to the left of Lutzingen. Rene Chartrand’s Osprey Louis XIV’s Army does not give any details, may be someone with the Condray or Kuhn/Hall books can provide details.

TM

There was a General Silly who commanded a brigade in the French army that invaded Egypt in 1799.

So, there is a long tradition of Silly in the French army. All is becoming clearer.

But, OK now. What about the facings and flags? I may want to do a French regiment for pirate gaming, and if I am going to do a silly regiment, I want an authentic Silly regiment, by gar!

I'd guess either bright orange, pink or green. Something really bright to make them stand out. As for flag, I'd imangine a man with his tongue sticking out or something.

JT

There was defintly a Colonel - later General Silly during Napoleon Campaign in Eqypt as Doc Ord says. Also if the UK govt has its way the First foot will be no more- they are up for disdandment after 400+ years

Wasn't there a Colonel or General Cilly fighting on the Yank side in the AWI (certainly at Mounmouth)? No doubt a descendant of the M. de Silly but sensible enough to change his name upon arrival in the New World. Presumably his relatives back in France decided to raise an army to rescue him and his regiment from an ignominious, family-shaming defeat, and by doing so won the AWI for the Americans. It's all very clear now.

I don't know about the 1st and 2nd, but the 3rd Foot and Mouth Regiment ("The Devils in Skirts") guarded the Khyber pass circa 1895. Their most famous engagement was against the Khazi of Khalabar's Burpa tribesmen.

They sent them packing by showing them what was under their kilts.

Oh no, wait a minute. That wasn't real, it was 'Carry On up the Khyber', wasn't it?

(Surely the Carry On team's finest hour?)

John,

From your information,I beleive it could be the 13th line infantry (Bourbon)possibly 1st batallion, as that regiment
was called "de Silly" in the mid 1660's and several members of the de Silly family served in the regiment up to at least 1780. The uniform would be white with red collar, cuffs and west.
Colour would be square, a white cross dividing four squares 1st and 3rd purple, 2nd and 4th blue.
Hope this is helpful (and indeed the regiment you are looking for).

That's interesting, as Stamford lists the 'de Silly' Regt (1 btn) as being brigaded with a single battalion of the Bourbon Regt (and a battalion of Enonville) under the command of the Chevalier de Montmorency. So you think they were simply a battalion of Bourbon maintaining the traditions of an older regiment?

To clarify my earlier carelessness;
the regiment is the Bourbonnais. This regiment was called Silly in 1661 after its colonel before the reform of 1673 gave existing french regiments regional names. This de Silly family is not to be confused with le marquis de Silly,
whose name was Jaques-Joseph de Vipart and who indeed commanded cavalry at Blindheim.
As there are two batallions of Bourbonnais at Oberglauheim
already, I am afraid that I have only contributed to the confusion.... Oh dear....

The bad news are that the regiment Silly might have been one of the one batallion regiments created by the levée of 1702 and disbanded in 1714/15. In that case there is very little documentation on either unifom or Colour....

Now if only the Silly regiment can encounter the Fist Fleet of Foot…..

There were a few Silly's about the French army

Infanterie
Colonel of Régiment de Bourbonnais [342]1657-1665
Jacques de Vipart, marquis de Silly

Colonel of Régiment [355]1704-1708 (1762 Guyenne)
Adrien de Silly, comte de Mailly-la Houssaye
at the Schellenberg/Donauwerth lost 26 officers K&W not at Blenheim

Colonel of Régiment [1261] 1702-1705 disbanded 1714
N. de Silly (N. means first name not known)
no details

Cavallerie
Colonel of Régiment de Orléans [3]1693-1704
Jacques-Joseph Vipart, marquis de Silly (same as above?)
At Blenheim Colonel (Brigadier?)wounded and captured

Capitaine de 2e compagnie des gardes du corps 1482-1491
Jacques de Silly

numbers in [brackets] are regiment number in Susane, all info from Susane

There maybe others that are not in my notes yet.

Here you go John, the arms of the de Silly family. Should be easy enough to create colours:

[URL=http://s145.photobucket.com/user/cameronian/media/desilly_zps2a89fbf3.jpg.html]

Only fair -the English did have a Captain Blackader (note one 'd')

Silly is a small village in the vicinity of Mons, modern day Belgium.

Mollinary

There was a long tradition in the French army to call the regiments by the name of their colonel, and companies by the name of their captain. Even if there was another and more official name. It is often confusing in 17th and 18th century texts, as the regiment or company was called by another name when its commander changed.

The very Silly Regiment
Wigs – orange. And not queued but loose down the sides.
Noses- painted red / or with a red bulbous strap on nose.
Hats- yellow round hats with a big flower on it instead of a feather.
Jackets – blue. With large yellow buttons and pink large cuffs.
Trousers – very baggy red and white stripey ones. Sergeants have large braces.
Stockings- multi coloured.
Shoes- red and yellow.

CO must ride a Shetland. And all bayonets must have sausages, embarressing underwear, wigs or large vegtables attached to bayonets. Famous for their custard pie attack charge. Their flag is red with a large white pair of ladies bloomers in the centre. Musicians have bass drums and trombone.

All commanders arrive in one carriage. The doors fall off