iii) Line Cavalry The Origins of the Regiments Cacciatori a Cavallo One of Joseph's first acts on entering his new capital was to order the formation of a cavalry regiment, which he did by a decree of February 18th 1806 announcing the formation of the 1st Cacciatori Regiment. The unit, to be commanded by the wonderfully named Colonel Giovan Battista Caracciolo, a former officer of the Parthenopean Republic and presently an officer in the Italian cavalry, was initially to consist of two squadrons, to which another two were to be added when possible. To this end, all the suitable personnel, both Neapolitan and foreign, were to be assembled in Aversa. Unfortunately, at this point a slight problem arose; although there was a surfeit of officers, these consisting of men from the ex-Bourbon forces, ex-Parthenopean Republican officers and a large number of Frenchmen, Italians and even Poles who saw Neapolitan service as a route to rapid promotion, there was, as was so common in the Neapolitan army, a lack of troopers, these mainly being ex-Bourbon soldiers, captured Bourbon guerrillas and criminals. With raw material such as this, it is hardly surprising that desertion proved to be a major headache for the cavalry as well as for the infantry. The raising of a second regiment, ordered by a decree of June 4th 1806, only added to the problem and the Conscription Law of March 29th 1807 gave the two regiments the right to recruit from the territories of Principato Ultra and Terra di Bari. A further problem was the lack of suitable cavalry horses, those from the main horse breeding areas of Terra di Lavoro and Puglia being wholly insufficient for the units' needs. Naples was a poor country and, in order to reduce costs, Joseph offered his Imperial brother the use of the two regiments. This offer was accepted and, on December 11th 1807, the first three squadrons of the 2nd Cacciatori departed for Catalonia. To the disgust of the men, they had to march all the way to Perpignan where they finally received their mounts. Meanwhile, the 1st Regiment participated in the occupation of the Papal States and entered into garrison in Lazio in 1808 where it had a restful, and desertion-filled, time until September 1809, when, with three squadrons totalling 429 men and 342 horses, it was called on to occupy Bologna in order to guard against any incursion by Andreas Hofer's Tyrolean rebels. When that threat was removed, the regiment rode off to join its colleagues in Spain as part of General Pignatelli's 2nd Neapolitan Division, arriving there in March 1810. Losses in Spain, both through action and desertion, were horrendous and, by April 1811, the two regiments totalled only 178 men, formed into two combat squadrons. Murat had now succeeded Joseph as king and, in July 1811, he issued a decree reforming the two regiments with a strength of five squadrons each, the men coming from among the conscripts and deserters along with men from his own Guard of Honour. Cavalleggeri When Murat arrived in his new kingdom he discovered that the only regular cavalry available to him were the depot squadrons of the two regiments and that of the Royal Guard, Joseph having taken all the active members of the latter regiment to Spain with him. Murat, being somewhat enamoured of cavalry, set out to rectify this deficiency and, on Christmas Day 1810, he ordered the formation of a regiment of Cavalleggeri, based on the cavalry squadron of the Naples City Guard. This regiment was to consist of four squadrons, each of eight officers and 250 men; needless to say, this strength was never reached. The 1813 Reorganisation In March 1813, Murat ordered that the two Cacciatori regiments were to change their title to Cavalleggeri, becoming the 1st and 2nd Regiments of that ilk, while the existing Cavalleggeri regiment became the 3rd Regiment. At this time, all three regiments were issued with lances. Two squadrons of the 2nd Regiment were already fighting in Germany and, when two others were dispatched to join them in the April, Murat decided to raise a further two squadrons to replace them, these being formed by a decree of June 29th 1813 from the sons of men already serving in the regiment or from the orphans of those who had been killed. According to a roll call dated October 15th 1813 the 1st Regiment had a strength of 47 officers, 963 NCOs and men and 898 horses, the three squadrons of the 2nd Regiment in Naples consisted of 59 officers, 849 NCOs and men and 825 horses while the 3rd Regiment disposed of only 18 officers, 537 NCOs and men and 485 horses, somewhat short of its planned strength. A fourth regiment was raised by a decree of July 7th 1814 and this was to be the last full regiment raised before the end of the Napoleonic era in Naples except for a regiment raised from among Italian patriots during Murat's brief and disastrous 1815 campaign. There is little information available concerning this unit, known as the Hussars of Bologna, but they apparently saw action during the retreat to Tolentino although, together with all the line cavalry except the 2nd Cavalleggeri, they did not fight at that battle. UNIFORMS All the regiments wore a variety of uniforms throughout their existence and these will be dealt with in chronological order within each type. Cacciatori a Cavallo First Uniform : Coat The first coat issued to the Cacciatori was a dark green hussar style dolman with white braid and piping down the front and around the bottom. The facing colours (red for the 1st, yellow for the 2nd) were displayed on the collar and pointed cuffs, both of these also being piped white. A pelisse was also issued for winter wear and this was originally dark green with white braid, piping and buttons and black fur, although it appears that, at some date, pelisses in the facing colour were issued with the same details. However, I can find no evidence of the pelisse ever being worn by the men. The waist sash was green with barrels in the facing colour. The elite company wore red epaulets. Trousers The tight fitting breeches were originally in the facing colour with white Hungarian knots and piping along the outside length. The hussar style boots were of black leather with white piping around the top and white tassels and white metal spurs. Headgear The black shako bore a diamond shaped brass plaque bearing the regimental number, brass chin-straps, a French cockade and a green plume tipped with the facing colour, rising from a pompon in the company colour (this followed the French system). The elite company wore a black colpack with a red plume and a bag in the facing colour piped white for the 1st Regiment and red for the 2nd. Equipment All leather was whitened with brass buckles and supported a plain black cartridge pouch, a carbine, a white metal scabbard carrying a brass hilted sabre with a white knot (red for the elite company), and a sabretache. This latter was of black leather, with the outside face covered in green cloth with white braid around the outside edge. In the centre was either the regimental number alone or a hunting horn with the regimental number on it. One illustration shows this latter device with a crown above the horn, all of this being in white. The horse furniture was a white sheepskin with "wolf's teeth" in the facing colour and a cylindrical green portmanteau with white braid and regimental number on the ends. All leatherware on the horse was black. Officers' Uniforms Officers' uniforms were similar to those of the men, albeit with silver braid etc instead of white. A painting of Colonel Desvernois, commander of the 1st Regiment in 1808-09, shows him in this uniform with the addition of crimson boots piped silver, five bands of silver braid on cuffs and breeches, a silver and red sash and a pelisse with white fur. He wears a green shako with silver trim, plate and chin-scales and a white plume rising from a red pompon. His cartridge pouch belt is green leather with red trim and bears a silver shield, while the cartridge pouch itself has a diamond shaped silver plaque. Officers' pointed saddlecloths were probably green trimmed with silver. Musicians Trumpeters wore reversed colours, in other words a dolman of the facing colour with green facings and green breeches, while the sheepskin was black. No other information is available. Second Uniform This was basically the undress version of the above and came to replace it completely by 1808. Coat The coat was a green, French chasseur style coat with the collar, pointed cuffs and turnbacks in the facing colour piped green, while the facing colour also appeared on the piping of the lapels, pockets and shoulder straps. Buttons were white, as were the bugle horn badges which were worn on the turnbacks. The elite companies continued to wear their epaulets. Beneath the coat a waistcoat was worn, this being red for the 1st Regiment and red with a yellow collar for the 2nd, both having white buttons and hussar style braiding. However, a green waistcoat with white braid and buttons also appears to have been issued by 1809. In this year a new, shorter tailed jacket was issued. It had facing coloured lapels and cuffs piped green and green collar, turnbacks and shoulder straps piped in the facing colour. From this time, as well, a surtout type coat in green with collar and cuffs in the facing colour piped green and green turnbacks piped in the facing colour also came into use for campaign wear. Trousers The new breeches were green, reinforced with black leather and bearing a broad stripe of the facing colour down the outside with white metal buttons. Headgear The shako was still worn, although the metal work had changed to white metal and the plate was now sometimes in the form of a shield bearing a hunting horn inscribed with the regimental number. In addition, the plume was now black with a facing coloured tip although a small pompon with the bottom half green and the top in the facing colour was coming into use instead. The elite company continued to wear their colpacks. Equipment The Sabretache was no longer officially in use and a new brass reinforced, leather scabbard was sometimes carried. Officers' Uniforms Officers now adopted silver epaulets of the same pattern as the infantry and appear to have had a fair degree of discretion as far as breeches and other items of equipment were concerned. The 1811 Pattern Uniform In 1811 a new uniform was decreed, of a similar style to that issued to the infantry in the same year. Coat The new coat was green and of the "Spencer" type with closed lapels and short turnbacks. This appears to have existed in two different versions, the first of which had the collar, lapels and pointed cuffs in the facing colour piped green, facing coloured turnbacks and green shoulder straps piped in the facing colour, while the second had everything in green piped in the facing colour. The second version, which was possibly a trial version, does not seem to have been issued in any numbers. Elite company epaulets were now of amaranth rather than red. Trousers The new full dress trousers were red with white piping for the 1st Regiment and yellow with red piping for the 2nd, although leather reinforced, green trousers with facing coloured piping were worn for normal wear. Headgear The shako remained the same although the pompon, now worn without the plume, reverted to the company colour. In addition, the cockade had now changed to one with an amaranth centre and a white outer. The elite company colpack now carried an amaranth pompon in place of the red plume. Musicians Musicians continued to wear reversed colours with the collar and cuffs piped with the musicians' lace illustrated in Part 1 of this series. The shako bore an amaranth plume tipped white and white cords while the sheepskin was black. Cavalleggeri The initial uniform issued to this unit was based on that of the Naples City Guard and, consequently, was similar to that of the 6th Line Infantry, who were also formed from the same base. Coat The coat was of the chasseur pattern in a dark sky blue with crimson lapels, turnbacks, cuffs and collar, crimson piped shoulder straps and white buttons. Under this was worn a crimson waistcoat with white braid and buttons. Again, a surtout was worn on campaign, this being of the same colour as the dress coat with crimson cuffs, turnbacks and piping to the collar and shoulder straps. Trousers The trousers were dark sky blue piped crimson. Headgear The black shako carried white cords, a white metal Imperial eagle, a French cockade and a black plume over a crimson pompon. Equipment All equipment was as for the cacciatori regiments as was the horse furniture, albeit with a blue portmanteau piped crimson. Officers' Uniforms Officers' uniforms were similar to that of the men with the same rank distinctions as worn on the cacciatori version of the coat and the saddlecloth was blue with silver trim. Musicians The trumpeters wore reversed colours as for the cacciatori regiments. The 1811 Pattern Uniform Coat In 1811 the Cavalleggeri adopted the "Spencer" type jacket in dark sky blue with amaranth collar, cuffs, lapels and turnbacks and brass buttons, although one illustration shows the collar and lapels in dark sky blue piped amaranth. Shoulder straps were piped amaranth and the elite company wore amaranth epaulets. Trousers Trousers were of the same colour as the jacket with amaranth piping. Headgear The centre companies wore the old shako with a white plume and the new cockade, while the elite company changed to an amaranth czapka with white trim, black lower part and a white metal "Polish style" plate inscribed with the royal monogram, surrounded by brass rays. This glorious piece of headgear was surmounted by an amaranth pompon and plume. Equipment All equipment was as before. Officers' Uniforms Officers wore the same rank markings as before. Musicians Musicians wore reversed colours and had black sheepskins. The 1813 Reorganisation This is where life gets complicated! When Murat reorganised his cavalry he also decided to mess around with their facing colours and this has led to a great deal of confusion, especially regarding the 2nd and 3rd Cavalleggeri Regiments. Coat Coats were of the same pattern and were officially all of dark sky blue with the facing colour on the collar, lapels, cuffs, turnbacks and as piping on the shoulderstraps. The new facing colours were red for the 1st, amaranth for the 2nd, yellow for the 3rd (ex 1st) and orange for the 4th Regiment which was raised in 1814. However, the 2nd Regiment continued to wear its green coat with yellow facings until the end of Murat's reign in 1815. On campaign, the surtout continued to be worn but in the new colours and the elite companies clung on to their amaranth epaulets. Trousers Full dress trousers were blue (except 2nd Regiment) with piping in the facing colour but a wide variety of different types were worn on campaign. Headgear The centre companies wore the shako with brass metalwork and a pompon in the facing colour while the elite companies wore the colpack with white metal fittings, an amaranth plume and a bag which was red piped white for the 1st Regiment, green piped yellow for the 2nd, yellow piped white for the 3rd and orange piped white for the 4th, all having amaranth tassels. Equipment The main change in the equipment was the issuing of the lance, which was black and bore an amaranth over white pennon. Unlike his brother-in-law, Murat realised that a horseman could only carry a limited amount of equipment and the carbine was withdrawn, leaving the trooper with only one strap supporting the cartridge pouch. This strap bore a brass shield bearing the regimental number, attached by a chain to a brass rondel. The mens' saddle furniture remained as before except that the portmanteau was now in the coat colour with piping and number in the facing colour, but the officers (except for those of the 2nd Regiment) adopted the blue, pointed saddlecloth piped silver with a silver hunting horn in the rear corner. In addition the sabretache appears to have made a reappearance for full dress wear. Officers' Uniforms These were as for the men with the same rank distinctions as before. Many officers continued to carry the sabretache. Musicians As before, the musicians continued to wear reversed colours. Pioneers According to the new regulations, the pioneers were to wear uniforms of reversed colours, amaranth epaulets and a grenadier style bearskin with an amaranth rear patch bearing a white grenade. Those of the 1st Regiment, however, wore white epaulets on their red coats. All wore red (blue for the 1st Regiment) pioneers' badges of a grenade over crossed axes on their left upper arm. The Hussars of Bologna This regiment was raised in a hurry and it is arguable how many of the recruits were issued with the uniform described below. Coat The coat was of the "Spencer" style in medium blue with yellow collar, round cuffs, lapels and turnbacks. All members of the regiment wore white epaulets. Trousers The trousers were of the same colour as the jacket with yellow trim. Headgear The regiment wore a medium blue Czapka with white piping and a black base bearing the same plate as that worn by the elite company of the Cavalleggeri Regiment from 1811-13. A white plume was worn as was Murat's green and amaranth "Italian" cockade. Equipment The regiment carried the sabre and carbine and all leatherware was whitened. The pointed saddlecloth was red trimmed with yellow as was the portmanteau. More Uniforms of the Neapolitan Army 1806-1815 Part 1: Line Infantry Part 1: Light Infantry Part 2: Cavalry Part 2: Artillery Part 3: Guard Infantry Part 3: Guard Cavalry Part 3: Guard Artillery Part 4: Naples City Guard Part 4: Provincial Legions Part 4: Provincial Companies Part 4: Cacciatori Volontari dei Tre Abruzzi Part 4: Internal Security Guards Part 4: Gendarmeria Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #14 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com