" Regiment Groß- und Erbprinz Spain" Topic

I am working on Leval's German Division for Spain and I have already finished the Nassau and Frankfurt battalions. I am starting on Hesse Darmstadt Regiment Groß-und Erbprinz. Looking at pictures online majority of the pictures show red turnbacks, but reading John Gills With Eagles to Glory on page 218 wrote in table 5-1 that each regiment turnbacks were according to primary color of the regiment which would be yellow for Erbprinz. I have found some pictures online showing yellow for the whole turnbacks and another with yellow piping on the turnbacks. There are paintings from the Hesse Darmstadt state archives that are painted for soldier from 1809-1815. However, it seems majority show red in recent paintings. Can anyone help me which is correct?

Also after working on my family history I found I have an ancestor with the last name of Landefeld who we have traced back to 1700 in a small town called Hausen, Hesse. Christian Landefeld served in Hesse-Kassel army in the Prinz Karl Regiment in 1765. He had a son who was born in Obergude, Hersfeld-Rotenburg, Hesse. His son Johann Jost Landefeld served in the von Mirbach Regiment during the AWI and was wounded. He had at least 3 sons who were born in the late 1780s but all died on unknown dates. I was wondering according to where they were born in Obergude could they have served in the Hesse-Darmstadt army or Hesse-Kassel army. I am thinking they would follow in their grandfather and father foot steps(hopefully, so I can have a reason to paint the Hesse-Darmstadt army of the Napoleonic era.)

Thank You
Michael

I tend to go with the Histofig site:

link

Rod

look at this, it's in german but pictures speak for themselves
link

Obergude near Alheim on the river Fulda – that looks like Hesse-Kassel to me, and Kingdom of Westphalia from 1807. The place was also close, about 20 km, to the border with territory belonging to Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

As for the Regiment Groß- und Erbprinz, think about the date at which you want to model them …. they were re-organized along the French model as they departed for Spain, so that they had a mix of the older blue and green coats. Then about the start of 1810 they got new blue habits. But that was about it for re-supply, and so later they cut off the tails of the habits to make patches!

- Sasha

The hessen-kasselschen Infanterie-Regiment von Mirbach (von Jung-Loßberg in 1780) was disbanded in 1789, the men being sent into the Infanterie-Regiment Erbprinz (Kurprinz in 1803, von Wurmb in 1805), disbanded 1 November 1806 along with rest of the Elector's forces ….. re-formed at Eschwege in 1813 as the Infanterie-Regiment Prinz zu Solms-Braunfels.

I don't know if there was any specific assignment from the Elector's army to that of Jérôme Napoléon (as theew was when the Dutch aemy passed to French service upon the annexation of Holland in 1810). I think the elector told the men to go home in late 1806 and that the Kingdom of Westphalia raised new units. But maybe not.

With 3 sons born in the 1780's to a military family, it is very very likely that one or more of them served in "our" era. Good luck in your family research!

- Sasha

The elector of Hesse-Kassel raised a corps in 1809 as well, not sure where the troopers came from:
link

Thanks everyone for your help! Red it is then.

After looking at some more recent ancestors I found my relatives came to Ohio in the 1860's from Hesse because they wanted to get away from military service.

Which 28mm figures would work well for the older uniform with laced lapels and long tails? Preferably campaign dress?

I would say the Perry miniatures Saxe-Gotha Musketeers would work perfectly fine. You would need to add the lace through your own painting, but the uniform is almost same between Saxe-Gotha and Hesse Darmstadt. Only real difference with uniforms for 1806 and 1809 would the be the way the backpack is held. The 1806 had the backpack on the hip and the 1809 held in the same manner as the french. Lapels might be long enough, but I do not think most people would be able to tell the difference.

Here is the link link

Wich figures you used to do the Frankfurt battalion?
Thanks

Thanks, Marbot. That's helpful. I think you're right.

And then as soon as I buy some, the Perries will go and make the proper thing. Hey ho.

Pepemari47,

The Frankfurt battalion had French light infantry lapels. I am doing them in 6mm so I just used regular french infantry, but if using 28mm you will need to find a french light infantry uniform minus the epaulettes for fusiliers and the elite companies just regular uniformed french light infantry with shako and cords. If, not picky use regular infantry and paint the lapels red.

Hope that helps. here is a link TMP link

many thanks Marbot