by William Johnson
This month's cover design is of a unit of French Dromedary Riders from Napoleon's campaign in Egypt. The force was a unit of true dragoons (i.e. mounted infantry). It was created to counter the constant raiding of French positions by the Bedouins. As a result of the large supplies of booty they captured in their many raids on the Bedouins (mainly sheep), the men of this unit tended to become wealthy during their service in Egypt. The unit was dressed in a Shako with a yellow rhombic plate, white cords, cockade and a plume to the top left side. The light blue dolman is accented with white buttons and lace; the red, long-skirted, short-sleeved tunic was edged in black fur. The uniform is completed with a white Arab burnous, black sabretasches with a brass badge of axe and staves, white breeches, hussar boots and sabre.
Back to Dragoman Vol. 2 No. 2 Table of Contents Back to Dragoman List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1997 by William E. Johnson 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 |