Greetings all.
In the course of a current discussion on Napoleon Series re.the 28th's wearing old-model caps and their use of 'liberated' French packs, and prompted by a search of discussions on TMP, I thought I would briefly summarise the most useful information that has come to light.
Key to the cap question is an illustration by Captain George Jones from his 1817 compilation "The battle of Waterloo, with those of Ligny at Quatre Bras" which shows Colonel Belson and the 28th regiment holding off the French cavalry. They are unequivocally wearing pre-1812 caps. Jines was not at Waterloo but was with the Army of Occupation in Paris.
Here is an online link to that illustration:
link
Helpful background information comes from Lt Col Charles Cadells memoir – 'Narrative of the campaigns of the twenty-eighth regiment, since their return from Egypt in 1802.' (1835).
Cadell gives repeated accounts of the regiment's caps being shot through during actions in Spain (along with many other regiments, not doubt) and there is this interesting detail from April 1814, following the cessation of hostilties:
"We received orders to prepare to embark for America. Fortunately for us, our clothing had been lost in the Bay of Biscay, on the way out, and being in rags, we were ordered home, destined to reap more honourable laurels." p.226
Following the allied victory in 1815:
"The allied armies having now joined, Paris was soon in our possession; and on the 24th July the whole of the British army was formed in contiguous close columns on the great road from Paris to Neuilly. At 12 o'clock the allied sovereigns arrived, and rode down the front;
We then moved from the right, and in quarter distance columns marched down the Champ Elysees, where we had the honour of marching past them, they having taken up their posts in the Place Louis Quinze. When the 28th passed, the Duke was seen to point them out. The men were still in their ragged clothes; the colour-staffs were shot to pieces; one of them was two yards long, the other only one. I had afterwards the satisfaction of marching the regiment through the capital of France, and returned to the camp. We could only then muster four companies.
By the beginning of August the quartermaster, who had been sent to Deal for the new clothing, returned, when the "Slashers" very soon resumed their usual appearance." '(p240-41)
Regulations stated 'The Felt Cap and the Tuft is to be supplied annually. The Leather Part, Brass Plate & Leather Cockade once in every two years.' (SEE: Carman, W. Y. (1940), ‘Infantry Clothing Regulations, 1802', Journal of the Society of Army Historical Research,
vol. XIX, pp. 200– 235)
Yet it appears that the 28th took the field the following year wearing the old model of cap, three years after it was superseded. Were they using caps from store following the disbandment of the 2nd Battalion in 1814?
Finally, with regard to the unusual knapsacks worn by the 28th, from that same review in Paris, Cadell gives this vignette-
"The Emperor Alexander paid particular attention to the 28th, and admired much the grenadier company. He was much pleased with our brown calf-skin packs, and after minutely examining one, asked their origin. He laughed much when I told him that they were found in a French store we took in Egypt."
Cadell had been a grenadier but was then acting C.O. of the 28th. Whether the packs were worn only by the grenadier coy or the whole battalion, is not clear.
With thanks to the contributors on TMP and NSDF who provided the information on which this summary is based. I am now somewhat the wiser.
For those who don't know it,the Cadell memoir is a good read: It can be found here onine:
link
I hope this is of interest.
paints brigs for the British fleet.
