Yes Evan is right. I missed the Lang paintings when skimming through David Greentree's book Napoleon's Swiss Regiments (Partizan Press).

The 3rd Swiss grenadier wears a bearskin with a yellow metal eagle ornament, white chords and red over white plume.

Guy Dempsey's book "Napoleon's Mercenaries" states the Swiss grenadiers wore bearskins based on contemporary prints by an artist called Lang(1808)

also Henri Lachouque's book "Napoleons War in Spain" show the Swiss grenadiers as wearing bearskins.

As the Swiss had all the usual French infantry uniform changes I think you can safely assume they had bearskins until they were replaced with shakos like other French regiments.

I don't think there are many contemporary illustrations of the Swiss troops so there's not much argument either way. There is a Von Escher illustration of Swiss grenadiers wearing bearskins in Capri which would indicate they wore them early on but I don't know how reliable his work is.

If you want your Swiss in bearskins then you should go ahead and have them! I doubt anyone can decisively say it's not accurate.

Regards,

Mark

ooops thats Irish French disregard my last post

http://empire.histofig.com/Regiments-suisses.html

this tell u what units there were and where they fought
http://www.napolun.com/mirror/napoleonistyka.atspace.com/infantry_Napoleon_3.htm#swiss

here's a post of someone asking that same question

http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=194090

hope that helps
cheers

Any documentation of the Swiss Grenadiers actually wearing their bearskin hats in Portugal/Spain?

hi
heres a good site that page has a good chart of the colours.

http://www.warof1812.ca/charts/regts_na.htm

Cheers

Howdy folks,

I was wondering, how similar were the unforms worn by the british during the penninsular campaign to those worn in the Americas during the war of 1812? Were the American uniforms slightly anachronistic?

Thanks,
GMB

My miniatures have sakos with pompons.
I would like to know waht is your opinion about the colour of these pompons.

It seems that in Lasalle the 4 bases of cavalry represent a regiment.
If this is correct, then a cavalry regiment had 4 squadrons ,each of which had 2 companies.
I have found out that each company in the regiment had different pompon colour:
Here is the link:
http://www.napolun.com/mirror/napoleonistyka.atspace.com/napoleonic_uniforms.html#napoleonicuniformsheadwears

It says:
"In cavalry there were more variations. The official version for eight companies within regiment was:
I Squadron
1st Company - red pompon (It was also called Elite Company)
Company - red pompon with white center
II Squadron
Company - green pompon
Company - green pompon with white center
III Squadron
Company - blue pompon
Company - blue pompon with white center
IV Squadron
Company - orange pompon or pink
Company - orange pompon or pink with white center "

According to this source, I shoud paint the pompons of each base of cavalry with the corresponding colours of a squadron.
For example the 3rd base should depict the 3rd squadron and its men should wear blue and blue/white pompons.

The bottom line is that I should probably not paint all the pompons with the same colour (e.g. regimental colour).
What do you think?

Take note regarding the Colpack colour it is a trumpeter shown who often had contrasting items. Looking at the details of the other regiments in this series of plates most colpacks were black.

http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/France/Cavalry/Hussars/c_Reesehussars.html

If at all posible, find a copy of the guide included in perry plastic hussars, It is a little artwork by itself, full regiments/timelines .

Here is a picture that may help...

It seems the trumpeter wore the reverse coloured uniform (dolman and pelisse). Officer shabraques (horse furniture) were shaped like Chasseurs a Cheval (usually the same colour as the dolman). Troopers had while sheepskins edged in red. If they had shabraques it was likely to be edged in yellow lace for the 4th Hussars. The elite company looks to have a white busby (Elite units usually had red plumes which is different to what is shown).

Hope this helps.

I've just baught some 15mm french hussars from ESSEX miniatures and I would like to paint them according to the 4th Hssars color scheme.

I have found the basics for the standard troopers i.e.
Dolman = dark blue
Collar = dark blue
Cuffs = red
Pelisse = red
Breeches = dark blue
Lace = yellow

However I am not sure of the details.

1. What color for the trumpeteer?
2. What color for the lace around the shabraque of the standard troopers
3. What color for the saddle blanket on the officer's horses
4. What color for the pomppons on the shakos of the standard troopers

I have included a few figures with "colpack" instead of shako to represent the elite company of the regiment. What color for the colpack (black or white?) and the little piece of cloth hunging from it? (sorry for my english)

Any photos for the 4th hussars?

The 1812 regulations introduced the 'Belgic' shako, and Philip Haythornthwaite in Uniforms of the Peninsular War 1807-1814 (still a good reference source) considers it unlikely that infantry already in Spain were ever issued the new shako , replacement units or drafts bringing the shako with them. This even implies some leeway to mix figures.

Pickton

Thanks. Thats what I was finding. So my stovepipe brits will do fine.

Jay

For gaming/battle purposes:

Stovepipe: Everything but Waterloo

Belgic: Waterloo

On paper they switched in 1812 to the Belgic, but it wasn't used until 1815.

I found a load of British figs in the barn this past weekend. Lots of old Minifigs, Battle Honors, and Napoleonettes. Most of the Brits are in the stopepipe hat/cap/shako (whatever). When did the Brit change to the Belgium type shako?

Thanks,
Jay

Thanks Rafa. Mark

Hi
Yes, you are right
Rafa

Hi Mark,

That was commonly the case or at least it was supposed to be!

Regards,

(another) Mark

Hey Folks,

I am somewhat new to Napoleonics and have a question on what to get for my Hussar and Chasseur units. I notice that AB does NOT have any eagle bearers . . . did these regiments usually leave their eagles in depot when they went on campaign?

Thanks, Mark

Thanks Stecal! Great info.

Mark

Mahrisch meaning Moravian. See Pg 17-18 Osprey Austrian Auxilliary Troops 1792-1816. These were most likey the 1st & 2nd Bns of the Moravian Freikorps consisting largely of volunteer hunters (Jaegers) under Majors Seyffert & Count Vetter. As they were also part of the 9 battalions raised as the Archduke Charles Legion, they wore the Legion uniform. See plate D-2 for a NCO of the 2nd Bn.

dk brown coat faced red collar & cuffs, pike grey trousers, black shako with green plume, white metal buttons, black leatherwork, black gaiters or high boots.

Hey folks,

This is a long shot, but does anyone have any uniform info on these units. There were at least two battalions in 1. Armeekorps at Eckmuhl.

Thanks, Mark