The Irish Legion

by J.Lochet
illustration by Mike Gilbert

The "Legion Irlandaise" or Irish Legion, was raised as a light infantry battalion by the Decree of 3 April 1803 from the almost endless stream of enthusiastic Irishmen that appeared any time there was an Englishman to be shot. The Legion was raised with the intention of using it in the proposed French invasion of Ireland, a project which was under very serious consideration in 1803.

Initially, only a single battalion was raised under the direction of Adjudant general Bernard Macsheehey, a French officer of Irish birth and many years of service in the French army. The organization of the battalion was completed on 31 August 1803 in Brest. It had a complement of five companies, each company having the following structure:

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Eventually, the battalion was raised to the standard nine company organization of all French battalions. This gave it eight chasseur companies and a single carabinier company. Later, like in other French army infantry units, one company of chasseurs was changed to a company of voltigeurs.

Since the Irish Legion initially had only a single battalion it did not have a full regimental staff. Its staff consisted of:

The Decree of 10 March 1804 ordered the raising of a second battalion and the title "Regiment" was given to the legion. In February 1807, when the 1st Battalion had a strength of 900 men, the regiment received both a standard and an eagle. The flag had the distinction to be of a special pattern.

After the French victories over the Prussians in 1806, a number Irish were released from Prussian captivity and added to the regiment. It appears that a number of Irishmen who were involved in the insurrections of 1798 had been sold by the British to the King of Prussia as miners. Many were recruited into the Prussian army and after the destruction of that army it was natural that many would pass into French service.

On 25 October 1807, the Irish Legion was directed to form a provisional battalion with six 140-man companies. This battalion did not last long and was quickly reabsorbed into the regiment.

On 1 January 1808, the 2nd Battalion of the Irish Legion was serving in the 2nd Division of the Corps d'Observation des Cotes de l'Ocean (Coastal Observation Corps) in Spain and it contained eight officers and 518 men. By 1 June its strength had risen to 654 officers and men. On 15 November it was serving as part of the garrison of Pampeluna and had a strength of 556 men.

Irishmen ... had been sold
by the British to the King
of Prussia as miners.

The Decree of 17 December, l808 reorganized the 2nd Battalion, then serving in Spain, to the six-company formation which had become the standard in the French army. It now had one carabinier, one voltigeur and four chasseur companies. The staff of the regiment consisted of:

Each company had:

This gave the battalion a total theoretical strength of 848 men. The actual strength of the battalion was 556 when this reorganization was completed in Burgos. However, despite the reorganization of the 2nd Battalion, the 1st Battalion, still in Flushing, retained the original nine-company organization.

The 1st Battalion was reorganized with six companies identical to that of the battalion in Spain shortly after the reorganization of the 2nd Battalion was complete. After the 1st Battalion completed its reorganization it was renamed the 2nd Battalion and the battalion in Spain became the 1st Battalion. After this redesignation was complete, the new 2nd Battalion received a reorganized staff that consisted of:

On 13 April 1809, a further three battalions were ordered raised. The 3rd and 4th Battalions were given the same organization as the first two battalions. The 5th Battalion, being the depot, had only four chasseur companies.

The 3rd Battalion was formed on 1 June 1809 in Landau and the 4th began organizing on l6 August 1809 in Antwerp.

When formed, the 4th Battalion went to Flushing where it became part of the garrison. The 5th Battalion was also formed in Antwerp and became the depot battalion. All three battalions were formed principally of foreign deserters of every nationality.

When the five battalion organization was completed a full regimental staff was established and consisted of:

This set the strength of the regiment at five battalions, one being the depot. It had 108 officers and 3,862 men, 3,970 total.

With the capture of Flushing by the British on 16 April 1809, the 4th Battalion was taken prisoner along with the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment de Prusse. Though the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment de Prusse was quickly reestablished from its depot, the 4th Battalion of the Irish Legion was not.

During 1813, the Irish were
finally able to come to
grips with the enemy.

Records indicate that in January 1810, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Irish Legion were serving in Spain in the 3rd Division of Junot's VIII Corps, under the command of Major General Solignac. As at Flushing, the Irish Legion was serving with its sister regiment, the Regiment de Prusse, another foreign regiment. The Irish Legion served in the siege of Astorga during April 1810, suffered a small number of casualties, and led an otherwise undistinguished life.

During June 1810, the Irish Legion found itself assigned to the Army of Portugal. It was still in Junot's VIII Corps and was assigned to the brigade of General Thomieres. Its next major combat effort was to be the siege of Ciudad-Rodrigo as Marshal Massena began his advance into Portugal.

The order of 1 May 1810 ordered the 4th Battalion reformed in Landau, but the strength of the regiment was so low that it was decided to reduce the strength of the regiment to two battalions. The Decree of 28 June 1810 reorganized the regiment and the 1st and 4th Battalions became the new 1st Battalion. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions, then serving in Spain, became the new 2nd Battalion.

On 1 January 1811, the 2nd Battalion, in Thomiere's brigade of the Army of Portugal, mustered 23 officers and 525 men. However, by 1 March, its strength had fallen to 273 men. Reinforcements appear to have arrived in the following weeks because by 15 March its strength had risen to 21 officers and 462 men.

On 4 and 5 May 1811, the Irish Legion was engaged in the battle of Fuentes de Onoro. Though the Irish Legion's Division was not on the field in the first day of battle, during the second day, Solignac's Division formed the reserve for the flanking maneuver that was to strike the British Light and 7th Divisions. However, as Solignac's Division was not engaged, losing only two officers killed, the Irish did not have an opportunity to display their military prowess.

The two battalions of the
Irish Legion were destroyed...

After the battle, Marmont assumed command of the Army of Portugal. The Division in which the Irish Legion's served was now commanded by Major General Brenniers and its strength formally recorded as a single battalion.

On 5 August 1811, as part of a general reorganization of foreign regiments, the Irish Legion was renamed the 3rd Regiment etranger. During February 1812, the 3rd Battalion was reestablished. In addition, the 2nd Battalion was withdrawn from Spanish service and sent north to be rebuilt and refit.

In 1812 the 1st Battalion occupied the islands of Goeree and Overflanque, the 2nd Battalion was in Berg-op-Zoom and the 3rd was in Willemstadt. On 2 February 1813, the first two battalions joined Lauriston's corps of the reforming Grande Armee in Germany and returned to their depot in October 1813.

During 1813, the Irish were finally able to come to grips with the enemy. Two of its battalions were assigned to Lauriston's V Corps, 17th Division (Puthod), 1st Brigade (Vachot). On 19 August 1813, facing the Army of Silesia, they were heavily engaged in the battle of Lowenberg, losing ten officers. It appears to have been engaged with Langeron's corps. On 23 August 1813 they were engaged again in the Battle of Goldberg where they lost 5 more officers engaging the Prussians under Prince Carl von Mecklenburg.

The Legion was not engaged at Katzbach, which occurred on 26 August, but on 29 August it was engaged in a savage skirmish on the Bober River. Its commander, General Puthod, had pushed his Division across the Bober River and was quickly trapped by a superior allied force. The two battalions of the Irish Legion were destroyed, losing 20 officers and all of its enlisted men. Many of these casualties were the result of combined attacks by Russian General Emanuel's cavalry of the Russian advanced guard and a detachment of the Prussian Leib Hussars of Major von Schenk and later infantry assaults, including a bayonet charge by five Russian Jaeger battalions.

The battle went poorly for Puthod's Division, and according to Prussian sources, of the 11,885 men he led over the Bober that morning, only 254 escaped. The rest were either captured or killed.

The portions of the Irish Legion that survived the Bober disaster also escaped the Decree of 25 November 1813 that disbanded most of the foreign regiments. However, this decree directed it to absorb into its ranks the Regiment de Prusse, also known as the 4th Regiment etranger. The result of this merger was the reestablishment of the Irish Legion as a regiment with five battalions, four field and one depot. The decree stipulated that there be no Russians or Prussians in this force and those that were in this new regiment were sent to join the newly forming battalions of "foreign pioneers."

This reorganized regiment went to Antwerp where it participated in the spirited defense of that city. On 19 December 1813 the regiment still had four battalions and a depot battalion, though its strength was reduced by combat and attrition.

When Napoleon abdicated, Louis XVIII began a general reorganization of the French army. The regiment was technically disbanded 26 May 1814, but the disbanding went slowly. By 1 September 1814, the regiment still consisted of three companies of chasseurs and a train unit.

Before the Legion had totally disbanded, Louis XVIII issued the Royal Ordinance of 16 November 1814 which raised a successor to the Irish Legion using the veterans of the original Legion. This newly organized regiment had a theoretical staff organization of:

Each company was to have:

This Royal Irish Regiment was disbanded by Napoleon's Decree of 2 May 1815. The Irish soldiers in it were assigned to the new 7th Foreign Regiment, but this unit never grew to a significant size under Napoleon and did not engage in any combat during the One Hundred Days.

Uniforms

During the period 1803 to 1814, the Irish Legion wore the basic French Light Infantry uniform in a striking light green color with pockets a la Soubise. The waist-coat and trousers were white in 1811 and the breeches may have been green prior to that date (1). The facing colors were yellow, i.e., collar, turnbacks, etc. They wore knee-length black gaiters, black shoes and white belts.

Initially, the carabiniers wore a bearskin bonnet with red cords, patches and plumes. This was eventually replaced by a shako with the same accouterments. The chasseurs wore a shako with white cords and pompons of the company colors: yellow, green, violet and light blue. The voltigeurs' shako had a yellow over green plume and green cords. All shakos had the Imperial Eagle plate.

The regimental sappers wore the same uniform as the carabiniers, but their bearskin had a primrose patch with a red grenade, plume and cords.

Commanders

The regimental commandants and colonels of the Irish Legion were as follows:

Commandants:

Colonels:

Of the regimental colonels, William Lawless led a most interesting career. He was born in Dublin Ireland on 20 April 1772. He entered French service as a chef de bataillon in 1799, no doubt one of the many Irish seeking an opportunity to fight the English. He served as part of the Legion des Francs du Nord, a light infantry formation. In 1800, however, he was subjected to a mandatory retirement. In 1803 he was returned to service and appointed as a captain in the Irish Legion. On 10 July 1806, he became a Chef de Bataillon, probably commanding the regiment's 2nd Battalion. He particularly distinguished himself during the l809 British invasion of the Scheldt at Flushing, where he was grievously wounded.

On 10 February 1810, he was promoted to Major in the Legion. He became regimental commander on 8 February 1812. During the battle of Lowenberg, in 1813, he was wounded again and his arm was amputated as a result. He was retired for a second time on 26 October 1814.

Bibliography

Belhomme, Lt. Col., Histoire de l'infanterie en France, Paris. Couderc de Saint-Chamant, H., Napoleon ses dernieres armees, E. Flammarion, Paris, date unknown. Fieffe, E., Histoiredes troupes etrangeres au service de la France, Librairie Militaire J.Dumaine, Paris, 1854. Friederich, R., Geschichte des Herbstfeldzuges 1813, Ernst Siegfried Mittler und Sohn, Berlin, 1904. Malibran, H., Guide a l'usage des artistes et des costumiers, Combet & Cie, Paris, 1904. Martinien, A., Tableaux par corps et par batailles des officiers tues et blesses pendant les guerres de l'Empire (1805-1815), Editions Militaires Europeennes, Paris, 1987.

(1) Malibran, H. Guide a l'usage des artistes et des costumiers, Combet & Cie, Paris, 1904, p. 314 gives the trousers as white in 1811.