"Napoleon's Hussars & Chasseurs" Topic

first of a series of 8 volumes for Pen & Sword covering the French Army 1789-1815 uniforms coming from 25 years of investigations in French archives,
Paul Lindsay Dawson announces the Light Cavalry for this summer…

We are busy this week completing and editing proof's for our book on Chasseurs and Hussars for release in late August or early September. Each of the 34 regiments of Chasseurs has comments on their uniform and equipment, as well as each of the 17 Hussar regiments. We are working hard to complete the text on of volume discussing the Dragoons and Lancers, and also about the army that Napoleon led at Austerlitz – as well as fitting in tailoring commissions and archive research.

Does this include foreign regiments, e.g. the Husards Croates and the chasseurs of the Portuguese and Hannoverian Legions?

Beautiful cover and illustrations!

The volume concerns the numbered 1er-32e Chasseurs 1er-14e Hussards and provisional REGIMENTS of the Light Cavalry in the "line", not foreign "off-line" auxiliary units

It certainly has all the buttons counted.

I wonder how expensive it is…

The book doesn't show on the list of books that can be pre-ordered on Pen and Sword's site (looking from June 2023 to July 2025)!

don't worry, it was the same for the 4 others PLD's books about the British "home front" for 2023 who were added only few weeks before their planned publication date (13th march, 30th july, 30th august) and the fourth for the end of the year is not yet listed either
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the Uniforms series will be in similar format than his previous books about uniforms such as both Imperial Guard volumes and Napoléon's Army in Waterloo

Any idea of the price?

Is there any new pre-order information?

not yet

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PLD will cease to write about the napoleonic topics after 2024 and the publication of his series

update

We have signed off the final proofs for our forthcoming exploration of the uniforms and equipment Napoleon's light cavalry. The printed copies should be available at the close of September with Cuirassiers and Carabiniers released by December if schedules are kept.
Not forgetting, hitting all good book shops this month is 'The battle against the Luddites' which explores who the Luddites were and what they were fighting for. The book has already led to two pieces being recorded for the BBC and third piece for BBC Scotland is in preparation. Coming at the end of August will be my forray into the numerous French invasion attempts of Ireland and England 1792-1815: did you know, rather than Russia, Napoleon planned to send the Grande Armee to Ireland and Cornwall during 1812? The Luddites grievances were ruthlessly exploited by Napoleon to cause chaos in the North of England, which led to withdrawing British troops from the South Coat prior to the landing of troops. The French never landed, but this remains a fascinating 'what might have been'.

Paul Lindsay Dawson

Again, any idea of the price?

yes at last

not yet in Pen & Sword but amazon uk/fr only

Volume 1 Light Cavalry Hussars and Chasseurs, 256 pages, for £35.00 GBP (=40,47€ but price fixed at 42,92€ on fr/ ~44,62$)
small men, with big egos and moustaches, the hussars of Napoleon's army wore some of the most flamboyant and stylish uniforms of the epoch.
The uniforms of the 17 regiments of hussars are discussed in detail, along with the dress of their brethren in the 32 regiments of chasseurs a cheval, with an emphasis on highly elaborate dress of the trumpeters. Archive documents which have never been previously used to study the subject will be used for the first time: many of these documents have not been published in French and have never appeared as translations. Illustrated with contemporary illustrations, original items of uniform and reconstructions of uniforms, this is the definitive guide to the dress of the Napoleon's light cavalry.

Volume 2 Heavy Cavalry Cuirassiers and Carabiniers, 224 pages, for £28.00 GBP (=32,37€ but price fixed at 34,36€ on fr/ ~35,69$)
Created during the Peace of Amiens, the 19 regiments of cuirassiers that existed during the course of the 1er Empire were, after the Imperial Guard, perhaps the most famous and recognisable soldiers of the epoch. This book explores the long gestation of clothing and equipping the cuirassiers, the development of the arm from 12 regiments to 21 – if we include the carabiniers from 1811 – and how their clothing evolved across the period. As well as assessing the cuirassiers, the story of the evolution of the uniforms of the carabiniers is also told. Much ink has been spilt on the two regiments and their uniforms, yet, as with the cuirassiers, precious little archive research has been carried out.

This is one of a series of ground-breaking books which will be the defacto study of this perennially popular subject for historians, researchers, wargamers, re-enactors and artists. Using archive records to ‘set the record straight', as well as contemporary illustrations and original items of uniforms, the author sets out to describe the uniform of every regiment of Napoleon's army. Using archive sources found in the Archives Nationales and Service Historique de l'Armée de Terre in Paris, the author's unrivalled research over a period of twenty years, will reveal exactly how, for the first time in over 200 years, Napoleon's army was mounted, clothed and equipped. Having been granted to access to over 1,000 archive boxes, the author assesses how the regulations were adopted in practice. This vast resource, as yet untapped by the majority of researchers and historians for understanding the Napoleonic era in general, include the many regimental archive boxes preserved in the French Army archives. These sources provide, potentially bias free empirical data from which we can reconstruct the life story of a regiment, its officers and above all its clothing. What did trumpeters wear? Did cavalry regiments really have sapeurs? We answer these questions and present the reality of how regiments were dressed derived from diaries, letters, inspection returns, regimental accounts and even cases of fraud. For the first time, this unique series of books discusses the wide ranging 1806 uniform regulation and the more famous Bardin regulation which applied to all arms of the Army and explores the way in which regiments on campaign adopted and adapted their uniforms. For the first time since the days of Napoleon, we can say exactly what was worn by the French army.

the 19 regiments of cuirassiers that existed during the course of the 1er Empire…

The original 12 cuirassiers regiments, numbered 1-12, were created in ca1800 by being converted from the existing cavalerie regiments. Napoleon abolished seven of those regiments, out of the twenty-five in existence, and twelve of them became cuirasssiers. The remaining six were converted into dragoon regiments.

The 13th Cuirassiers were formed in Spain from provisional regiments in Spain in 1808-1809. The 14th Cuirassiers was formed in 1810 from the Dutch 2d Cuirassier Regiment when Holland was annexed to France. Davout apparently formed a 15th Cuirassier Regiment in Hamburg in 1813-1814.

So where are the other four?

The two carabinier regiments were armored in 1810, but they were carabiniers not cuirassiers and their uniforms and armor were different from the cuirassiers.

So, again, who were the other four mentioned above?

he precised

19 regiments of cuirassiers were created but just 18 existing at one-time :
Two 14e regiments. One French the 14e disbanded 1811 the other Dutch the 14e bis raised in 1810. The 15e 16e 17e were French raised in 1812.

these last ones were rather the 1st to 3rd provisional regiments of 1813
I already knew the case of the 15e Cuirassiers, it was only destined to renumber the 1st Provisional in Hamburg but not achieved*, so both "16e" "17e" were planned numbers for two others provisional regiments, it existed on-paper depots in France for a "15e" and "16e Cuirassiers"

* D'après les intentions de l'Empereur ce régiment devait être constitué définitivement et prendre le n°15 mais les événements empêchèrent de donner suite à ce projet
Histoire du 4e Régiment de Cuirassiers

In short, the four 'extra' regiments are an error.

If regiments, no matter what type, existed only on paper, then they didn't exist on the ground.

The three provisional regiments that went into Spain in 1808, two were assigned to Dupont and their survivors became the 13th Cuirassiers.

The 3d Provisional regiment was disbanded in 1811. These regiments were formed from the 5th squadrons of the cuirassiers and carabiniers.

There is an excellent section on the provisional cavalry regiments beginning on page 106 of L'Armee Francaise: An Ilustreated History of the French Army, 1790-1885 by Edouard Detaille, translated by Maureen Carlson Reinertsen.

Provisional regiments were not regular regiments and had various teething problems for as long as they were in existence.

The hussars were formed eventually in 14 regiments. The first 10 were 'augmented' by the addition of an 11th Regiment from the newly 'absorbed' Dutch Army. A 9th (bis) Regiment was formed from hussar squadrons in Spain that had been detached from their parent regiment and was 'redesignated' as the 12th Hussars in 1813. That same year the 13th and 14th Hussars in northern Italy. These two were destroyed in Germany that year and a new 14th Hussars was raised in 1814 from the survivors and a new 13th Hussars was taken into French from the now-defunct Westphalian service and probably was never combat-worthy.

Two of the numbered Chasseur a Cheval regiments, 17th and 18th, had been disbanded during the Revolutionary Wars and were not reformed during the Consulate and Empire. The 30th Chasseurs was converted to the 9th Lancers in 1811. The 31st Chasseurs was also formed in 1811 and was partially armed with lances, becoming the 31st Chasseurs-Lanciers.

The 1st 2nd 3rd Provisional Cuirassiers Regiments existed another time on the battlefield in 1813 by gathering in these 3 regiments the 4th Squadrons of the 12 Cuirassiers Regiments, that is why PLD reaches a such number

for my part I wrote only that the Depots of "15e" and "16e" Cuirassiers existed on paper, not the Provisional Regiments, and it was the same for both 17e and 18e Chasseurs
the 17e Chasseurs was a short-lived renumbering for Piemontese Hussars in 1801-1802 before they received definitively the 26th rank
17e and 18e Chasseurs were raised on paper but as a kind of deception phantom units avant la lettre in 1811, something like these WWII Phantom units, with colonels, majors and squadron commanders appointed in their depots fixed in Lille (17e, Colonel Adrien, Major Porcher) and Metz (18e, Colonel Deboisrembourg, Major Henry)

The 1st 2nd 3rd Provisional Cuirassiers Regiments existed another time on the battlefield in 1813 by gathering in these 3 regiments the 4th Squadrons of the 12 Cuirassiers Regiments…

Do you have a source for that 'information'?

And the provisional regiments are usually not 'counted' when totalling up the number of total regiments of each arm as they were made up of squadrons and/or companies of existing regiments.

There many sources around Cuirassiers such as the Regimental Historiques of 1er and 4e Cuirassiers referring to these regiments,
in the first source the 1st Provisional of Hamburg is even named 15e in echo to the initial will of the Emperor to form definitively these ones as 3 new Cuirassiers regiments (15e 16e 17e)
the 1st Provisional came from 4th squadrons of the 1st to 4th Cuirassiers; 2nd from 4th squadrons of the 5th to 8th Cuirassiers; 3rd from 4th squadrons of the 9th to 12th Cuirassiers

Correspondance de Napoléon

- Au Général Clarke Ministre de la Guerre

Dresde , 3 juillet 1813
Monsieur le duc de Feltre, vous recevrez un décret par lequel je forme 3 régiments provisoires de cuirassiers.
Ces 3 régiments se formeront à Wesel des 12 4es Escadrons des 12 Régiments de Cuirassiers (…) Ces 3 Régiments joints au 28e de Chasseurs complété à 1250 hommes feront environ 3650 hommes de cavalerie (…) les 3 Régiments formeront une Brigade dite des Cuirassiers de Hambourg.

Je ne serais pas éloigner de former de ces 3 régiments des régiments définitifs et de placer leur dépôt ainsi que celui du 28e à Hambourg. J'attendrai votre réponse là-dessus

Au Maréchal Davout Prince d'Eckmühl Commandant le 13e Corps de la Grande Armée à Hambourg

Dresde, 3 juillet 1813
Mon cousin vous trouverez ci-joint un décret pour former une brigade provisoire de cuirassiers de Hambourg. Elle sera composée de 3 régiments provisoires formés avec les 4es Escadrons des 12 Régiments de Cuirassiers ce qui fera 12 escadrons qui complétés chacun à 200 hommes porteront la force de cette brigade à 2400 hommes.
Ces escadrons se rendront à pied à Hambourg

Dresde, 7 juillet 1813.
Les 3 régiments provisoires de cuirassiers, composés de douze 4emes escadrons, faisant 2400 hommes, arriveront à Hambourg avant le 10 août; c'est à vous à prendre des mesures pour les monter. Le décret que j'ai rendu et la lettre que je vous ai écrite ce matin là-dessus vous mettront au fait de tout ce qui concerne ces régiments.

at Pen & Sword

£24.50 GBP introductory offer instead of 35

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but publication date given for 30th november

a few more Gems for the Napoleonic Library
good to have a fresh take on all these
fascinating Regiments and the ones that
never made the front page as it were.

around 30 sample pages shared on googlebooks

fantastic preview of the book

I am pleased to announce that my book on Hussars and Chasseurs is available for pre-order and as an E-Book, with a review copy available from Google to hopefully entice sales. We are heading to Paris in coming weeks to spend time in the Archives Nationales and Service Historique de l'Armee de Terre at Vincennes to complete research on the soldiers and their clothing of the French Revolution. If you like what you see on the review copy of my work on google, let me know your thoughts and comments.
Paul Lindsay Dawson

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if you like the numerous paintings of Lassalle and his Infernal Brigade…

another very interesting point of view from Paul Lindsay Dawson on Michael Lint's blog I would like to share to demostatre all the great interest to follow PLD's investigations in French Archives vs usual well-known plates and beautiful paintings…but inaccurate

Yet neither regiment was so dressed at the time. The dress of the army for Jena, Friedland etc is very well documented indeed.

Hussars were re-dressed officially, as with chasseurs a cheval into single breasted Kinksi.
The 5e Hussards were wearing their kinksi's, had no culottes hongroise, the 7e Hussards were again in kinksi/surtout. Hussars in Dolmans was officially not a thing till Bardin. 1806 schakos with colpack for elite company. Schako a flamme were all replaced at camp of Boulogne.

At the same time, officially Dragoons were ordered into blue and cuirassier helmets but most colonels told the war ministry 'to go hang themselves'.

How the regulation was applied was down to the Colonel's whim. I cover this in my forthcoming books.

Paul Lindsay Dawson

instead of 30th november book available early since this last thursday 2

amazing and exicting book, a must have

hard (or funny or unexpected) reality of the Archives sometimes found by PLD,

some flamboyant Hussars regiments only soberly dressed with surtouts c1807-1808, no dolmans nor pelisses while some Chasseurs regiments keeping theirs old suppressed dolmans, an Inspection under the first Restauration as far as 1814 appalled to find the 7e Chasseurs Regiment not only still dressed with dolmans but having adopted also a pelisse like if it was a Hussars regiment!