Reply To: French Infantry at Waterloo: in Greatcoats or Tunics?

[Waterloo Spirit]

That’s a great article Tony, thanks for sharing the link.

The picture is quite clear from this article by Peter Cross, and also from the details Dave has shared, that the French army of 1815 wore whatever they could get their hands on, or manufacture, in the limited time frame available before the campaign’s launch.

One line regiment marched into Belgium even wearing their bonnet de police (forage cap) instead of shakos. Dawson and others have confirmed that Bardin regulations were never fully implemented, and that some regiments were still wearing habite-longe, while some Light infantry regiments had retained bearskins for their Carabineer companies, instead of shako’s etc. Practicality and availability obviously trumped all regulations.

Having established the uniform situation, I remain with the question: what were the standing orders for battle dress for French infantry regiments on the 18th June? In fact any major battle fought in reasonable weather (after 9 am, it had stopped raining and became sunny).

Would infantry normally wear their tunics (habite-veste/longe) for battle if they had them, or were greatcoats to be worn? The question occurs, however, that if it was convention to wear greatcoats, then why spend money issuing tunics to the infantry at all? That wouldn’t make sense. So logically, the conclusion must be that tunics were to be worn if practical, because that was the norm.

So at this point, I would conclude the following:

a. A few battalions would be dressed entirely in tunics – perhaps the regiments newly equipped by the Royalists such as the 1st, 2nd Line/Light? Those who assailed Hougoumont largely. Some memoires from British Guards, Nassauers or Hanoverians who manned the farm, might offer some French uniform descriptions to confirm this.

b. Most battalions would be dressed in greatcoats. Some battalions entirely, and some with a mix of tunics and greatcoats, depending on the Colonels discretion in attempting, or not, some uniformity.

Further insights and sources are welcome!

Michael

History is sometimes a ghost that lingers on; memories that search for answers lost in time.