"Saddle blankets of French general officers" Topic

I can't pin down what was official/customary. Can somebody verify that my understanding is correct? Or that regulations changed from time-to-time.

1) Emperor Napoleon is always portrayed with a red saddle blanket.

2) Marshals, corps commanders, and "Generals de Division" usually had red ones.

3) "Generals de Brigade" usually had red, but sometimes dark blue.

4) Infantry regimental officers always dark blue.

5) Cavalry generals and some marshals wore leopard skin saddle covers, or whatever they chose.

6) ADC's, adjutants, clerks, technical officers: usually blue. ADC's of Marshals, whatever they chose.

Thanks for any help.

Dan

French officers were notorious for 'doing as they pleased' (witness Lasalle's Mameluke trousers). However, you have summarised the situation quite well. By regulation, general officers were supposed to have red shabraques trimmed with gold. Senior infantry officers were supposed to be blue trimmed gold for ligne and silver for leger. Staff officers (ADCs etc.) were supposed to be blue and gold. However, there was always a lot of variation. Cavalry officers might continue on their regimental shabraques when made general. Animal skin covers were always popular and Marshals, especially those who were princes would dress their staff as they pleased. Even infantry colonels in the ligne were known to adopt red and gold.
In short, many French officers read the regulations and then did as they pleased. So you can use your imagination where you cannot pin down the exact historical fact. Good luck.

The red shabraque is almost certainly in deep red velvet…..look at pics of velvet on line and you'll see that you must totally exaggerate the highlights and it works brilliantly, but looks odd at first. I have Perrys' Ney with his ADC's going up that ridge (and I know he had 5 horses shot from under him, so God knows what he was riding by then). He looks good on that rich velvet cloth…..not quite a saddle blanket! (Of course, in practice, the idea that he even brought such with him to the mud of Waterloo seems ridiculous…until you visit the Army Museum in Brussels)

Lasalle: link
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