"Mid War Spanish Project: This post: First figures." Topic

Finally I get to paint some Spanish. I thought the British and French would never end. First up, some infantry, guns and an officer. Includes conversions.

More pics and descriptions of what they all are here:

link

Hope you likey!

Always done beautifully, always an inspiration.

Very nice work. A collection to be proud of.

Beautifully painted figures but the Bailen Regiment was not part of Morillo's Division in 1813 it was on the east coast of Spain.

Blame Wiki

link

It lists Morillo's Division as:

León
Unión
Legión
Bailén
Victoria
2nd Jaén

If you check here: link Number 101.

Morillo's Division had the following:

1º de León (regular infantry regiment)
Regimiento de la Unión (Galician unit raised in 1809)
Leal Legión Extremeña (raised in Extremadura by John Downie in 1810)
2º de Jaén (the old provincial militia, the line regiment was destroyed at Ocaña)
Voluntarios de la Victoria (Galician unit raised in 1808)
Tiradores de Doyle (Aragón unit raised in 1808)

Also there is some information available in Spanish sources on what units were wearing torwards the end of the war from the uniforms listed in 1815.

Try here: link
You will need to scroll down

A simple case of contradictory sources then, unless you have two separate ones. So much stuff about the Spanish is the same, unfortunately. I put it down to the collapse of the central bureaucracy after 1808.

Thanks for the uniform link but, I already have it.

I've spent two years trying to get as much info as I can and – not speaking Spanish – its been very hard going. There is so little in English and what there is is wishy washy in a lot of cases. In general, definite information on Spanish armies between 1810 and 1813, compared to other armies of the period, is scant, contradictory and rather vague.

I can confirm that the Bailén Regiment was in the 3rd Army in Murcia and Valencia in 1812 and 1813. Its regimental history is in the Historia Organica de la Infantería y Caballería by the Conde de Clonard.

The original link I sent is from a book written just after the Napoleonic Wars by General Cabanes who served in the conflict. It's effectively a list of OOBs published by the Spanish Army of the time. While it does contain errors and typos I've seen nothing in other sources to doubt its general veracity.

There are more detailed OOBs and sources in Spanish, unfortunately many of them have never been translated. If you have any questions I am happy to help.

Thank you, Mighty Owl.

I have another three line units to paint so I will paint one as Tiradores de Doyle. I have a photo somewhere of reenactors wearing the 'British uniform'. I didn't know they were with Morillo, so your info is a useful addition.

After that I have five units in round hats, six units in bell topped shako and two units in British cazadores uniform. The army will contain a real mix of uniforms which will hopefully give an interesting look to it 'in the field'.

As with my British and French, the only criteria I have for including units is that that they had to be in theatre between 1809 and 1813. A little bit of everything is easier than everything of a little and on the table they are all toy soldiers.

Really nice work! That is a very ambitious project and your numbers to date of French and British are fantastic. Good luck with your Spanish – I feel your pain around sorting them out. The exotic horse battery conversion is especially a sweet looking stand of figures.
You might want to look into the Tiradoes de Doyle a bit more. I did a lot of research on them and and came to the conclusion that their red uniforms would probably have been the round-hatted militia uniforms prevalent in 1808, red because their commander at that point, Doyle, was English. By the time they went to the "British style" it was blue. Here is a link to my blog with what I could discover, if you are interested.
link
I look forward to seeing more!

Hi Bill, I've already bookmarked your blog and the photo of later 'Doyles' is filed.

Thanks to all for the info. on Morillo's Division. I have edited my blog post with your new (to me) information and credited it to you.

Thanks for the mention :)

According to Juan José Sañudo Bayon the Tiradores de Doyle had a flag emblazoned with the Doyle coat of arms.

He also says that in 1810 they were armed and equipped 'English style'.

They received a new uniform in February 1813 unfortunately it doesn't figure in the 1815 uniform guide. Clonard lists the regiment as having a blue uniform with red and white facings.

Bill – regarding the Tiradores de Doyle and the Cazadores de Barbastro. The Cazadores de Barbastro was a regular light infantry regiment that was disbanded in 1812 after suffering heavy losses in the 1811 campaign. During the 1815 army reform there were a number of old Spanish regiments destroyed in the war that were reformed from volunteer battalions.

Very interesting discussion! I know we aren't on the Tiradores right now, Olicana, but I thought it would be worth passing this along. It is from my friend Brian North who has been researching the Spanish for quite a while and has a terrific library of reference in Spanish.
"When Ferdinand VII changed the name to Barbastro they backdated it to 1794. Originally raised as Batallon de la Reunion de Osera, they quite quickly changed to TdD in honour of Doyle who was active in Aragon. In 1808ish they wore red uniforms with white waistcoats and trousers and round hats. Were relaunched 4 times (!!). Known to have received new uniforms in 1810 and 1812 at Cadiz. Nothing known on first. (These would be the "Englsh style" mentioned in MightyOwl's post?) Second ordered personally by Wellington – thought to be the famous 'English' 1812 uniform (which I saw a contemporary watercolour of at the V&A museum library.)"
As you are doing later war Spanish this probably has no impact on your decisions!

This is certainly wargaming in the Grand Manner with museum class figures. Simply magnificent!