"3/63e Regiment de Ligne - Talavera" Topic

The 63e Regiment de Ligne under their new brigade commander, GdB Cassagne, were destined to play the role of reserve for much of their time during the Battle of Talavera as their 40 casualties for the two days of battle would indicate.

However they could be excused from having had a few concerns as they were committed to what turned out to be a very limited final French attack on the 28th July in the northern valley.

If you would like to know more and the latest progress on the Talavera Project then just follow the link to JJ's

link

Jonathan

Beautifull unit as always!

Thank you, glad you like them.
cheers
JJ

Great! Really enjoy your series as I am a big fan of the different distinctions that each regiment had. Btw do you have any information on other units outside of the Peninsular War such as the 10e Leger.

Michael

Thanks MC.

There is quite a bit of reference on the 10e Legere from the Otto Manuscript, which is copied by Rouselot and Bucquoy has five plates covering their look in 1809.

I found a few examples of stuff referenced from Pinterest

This might help

I should say Bucquoy interestingly shows white chords for all companies including the elites

JJ

That is the problem I was running into. You can find so many different uniform variations for the 10e. In the three pictures you have shown there is 2 different cuff flaps. Granted it is for different time period 1807 and 1809, but looking at this image you can see another type of cuff flap.

Looking closely at the carabiner it looks like he has either dark yellow top to his epaulettes or gold.

Thank you
Michael

The issue of differing sources applies pretty much across most of the references for most of the units, which is why getting too pendantic about the actual look for any given time is a pointless effort.

The Otto manuscript is a primary source but the details in some of the pictures are dubious with weapons wrongly drawn which leads one to doubt the accuracy of some of the other details.

My method is to select a reference that is as close to the period I am portraying and that seems to be a reasonable look or one that other sources correspond with and work with that. The majority of the references for the 10e for instance seem to portray a rather standard looking Legere unit so I would probably go with that, although I like the white chords for all companies that Bucquoy shows and that would make a nice table top distinction.

The illustration you posted is from Bucquoy, and even though the Voltigeurs is from 1807 you can see both illustrations show white chords on the shako and busby for these elite companies which would suggest to me that that is a reliable regimental distinction.

I strongly agree with JJ on the discussion of the regt distinctions and to the example of the 10th legere which I am in the middle of painting.
There is another element that is hard to get are hands/heads around since we must rely on what is available, and ultimately very limited in availability and that is information that confirms the possibility of battalion distinctions within the regiment.
One can argue, from that of the 30th Ligne illustrations, which confirm that there were battalions distinctions in existence, especially in the volt companies.
Which makes the most sense since they were detached in skirmish order regularly and thus due to the hardness to command and control the need for the visual aspect.

So there is the possibility that the one example showing the red chords for the Carabiner and green for the Volt was a battalion distinction or simply a short term use, as JJ alludes too.

So what to do …what to do???

MG

It is known that the elite co of the 10th had the brass scale shoulder straps ( a few legere units had such- 10th being the best known) through out the Napoleonic period.

JJ,

Look forward what you are able to come up with for the 94th and 95th!

MG