The Horse Grenadiers were the senior regiment of the Imperial Guard despite being somewhat overshadowed in the eyes of contemporaries [1] by both the more glamorous Horse Chasseurs and Foot Grenadiers. The Regiment, nicknamed "The Big Heels" and "The Gods", was created by decree of the First Consul to be part of the new Consular Guard on 2 December 1799 [2] The initial strength was two squadrons, each of two companies, and formed as a Regiment of "Light Horse," however in December 1800 they became the Grenadiers a Cheval.

In the reorganisation of the Consular Guard of 10 October 1801, the Regiment was increased to three squadrons and a fourth was added in November of the same year. A squadron of velites augmented the regiment on 17 September 1805 and, according to some sources, a second squadron was added later that year to bring the combat strength of the regiment close to 1,500 officers and men. The velites disbanded on 1 August 1811 and a fifth regular squadron was raised to replace them.

In February 1813, after the disastrous Russian Campaign, the Horse Grenadiers had only 127 men present and fit for duty. [3] When the Regiment was initially reformed it was as only four squadrons; but a fifth and a sixth were added before the Spring campaign began in earnest. Both the fifth and sixth squadrons ranked as "Young Guard" without the prestige and pay of the oldest of the Old Guard.

Unlike their colleagues in the Old Guard's infantry regiments (the foot Chasseurs and Grenadiers), the Horse Grenadiers were constantly in combat, from their baptism of blood at Marengo to their swansong at Waterloo-where Allied eyewitnesses record that, disdainful of the rout around them, they left the field at the walk and in good order-and were ignored in favor of easier prey by the pursuing Prussian cavalry.

The uniform of the Horse Grenadiers differed little from that of their brethren in the Foot Grenadiers, although of course the accoutrements were in line with their mounted status.

Phillipoteaux's illustration shows a trooper in the campaign dress wornafter 1808-9. Prior to that time, the coat worn in the field was the undress nine-button surtout, but after 1808 this was replaced by a second coat identical to the full dress version except that it had plain blue round cuffs in place of the latter's red cuffs with white cuff slashes (identical to the foot grenadiers), although that detail is hidden in this illustration, as it was at the time, by the cuff of the white gauntlets. The aurore wool contre-epaulettes and, on the right shoulder, the aiguillete are identical to those worn in full dress-indeed it is more than possible that they were in fact the same items. The coat tails, which again are not visible here, are long with vertical pockets piped in red and red turnbacks bearing an aurore grenade on a white, shaped patch. The brass buttons are, of course, of Imperial Guard pattern.

For service dress the full dress white breeches were replaced with more serviceable overalls buttoned at the outside of each leg and the boots, whilst identical to those worn in full dress, were in fact made of a more supple leather between ankle and knee-cuff.

The bearskin should have been of the same regulation height as that of the Foot Grenadiers but was invariably some two or three centimeters taller. At the back was a red patch which at the start of the Empire had borne two strips of aurore lace in the form of a cross and although some authorities state that this was changed to a white grenade around 1808/9 this is uncertain and it may well be that although new members of the Regiment wore the revised patch the veterans clung to their old headwear. Not easily visible here are the brass/copper chinscales which were introduced around 1806 and the tricolour cockade on the left side which was worn even in service dress when the tall red plume which surmounted it on parade was not. The other ornamentation omitted on campaign were the aurore wool cords and raquets although the small central tassel was often retained.

The illustration shows the shabraque and pistol holsters of the Horse Grenadiers in use from about 1808-or at least that is when the regulations were issued, although it is a certainty that the older design was used in the field until they wore out. This latter shabraque may well thus have still been present in 1812 and differed in having aurore grenades in the rear corners and only two-tier holster caps. Interestingly, Phillipoteaux shows the pre-1808 pattern portmanteau-after 1808 the inner ring of lace was omitted thus showing a much larger blue end-piece.

It is a fascinating fact that despite all the thousands of words written on the uniforms of the Imperial Guard many details remain open to debate. This is no less true for the Horse Grenadiers, thus I cannot state with any certainty what embellishment was worn on the cartouche box [4] -- different authorities give designs as varied as: a brass grenade, a brass eagle, a diamond-shaped plate (identical to the Guard Dragoons), or the same eagle and grenade combination used by the Foot Grenadiers. My own guess is for the Eagle but there is little consensus even on contemporary illustrations.

Principal Sources

The Anatomy of Glory: Henri Lachouque, London 1978

Grenadiers a Cheval de la Garde Imperiale: Michael Head, London 1978

Napoleon's Guard Cavalry: Emir Bukhari, London 1978

Guide a l'usage des artistes et des costumiers: H. Malibran, Paris ND

La Garde Imperiale: L. Fallou, Paris 1901 [1] This prejudice is still prevalent and the Horse Grenadiers get far less "publicity" than other Guard Regiments, one excellent example of this is simply the fact that the Regiment is missing from the Bucquoy card collection altogether!
[2] The Horse Chasseurs, Foot Grenadiers, Foot Chasseurs, and Horse Artillery all owe their origins to the same Decree.
[3] Excluding the Depot and the cadres who had already left Posen to return to France.
[4] Phillipoteaux cleverly avoided this controversy in his plate by "hiding" the cartouche box on his rear view trooper in the background.

Larger version of Horse Grenadier illustration (slow)