The EE&L Staff will be happy to answer questions related to their area of expertise. Please send your questions, comments, or answers on uniforms, tactics, and other subjects to the Editor Jean Lochet, 4 Kelly St. Metuchen, NJ 08840, USA. QUESTION 13-1: The Regiment of Nassau-Oranien entered into the service of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on November 8th, 1814, and it was numbered as the 28th regiment in 1815. What was the uniform of this regiment when it fought at Quatre-Bras and Waterloo? According to the the Osprey Men-At-Arms #98, page 20, "it wore the Nassau army uniform of shako (but with crowned 'W' in brass on the front) with orange cockade, dark green coat, with black collar and cuffs and yellow buttons and piping; dark green trousers; white belts, and black gaiters." In the Osprey Men-At-Arms #43, page 27, it says, "The Regiment Oranien-Nassau, like the 2nd Nassau Regiment, had been taken into Dutch service for six years from 8 November 1814. Even so, the Regiment Oranien-Nassau also wore Dutch uniforms." According to The Napoleonic Source Book by Philip J. Haythornthwaite, page 243, "The Nassau regiments retained their green uniforms worn under the Confedaration of the Rhine." According to the book Waterloo New Perspectives by David Hamilton-Williams, page 341, "The 28th Netherlands Line Regiment, were dressed in blue coats, grey trousers and white belting." As it can be seen, I am having troubles determining which uniform the Nassau-Oranien wore, or if the regiment changed over to the Dutch uniform before the Waterloo Campaign. PARTIAL ANSWER TO QUESTION 13-1: We are also quite puzzled by such contradictatory information. We have been under the impression that the Nassau troops still wore their green uniforms at Waterloo. We are asking Philip Haythornthwaite to clear that confusing mess for us. The late Ren‚ North in Regiments at Waterloo, Almark Publishing, London, 1971, p.24, shows the picture of a Nassau infantry private wearing the green uniform with buff belting worn while in French service. However, no mention is given if that applies to the Nassau-Oranien regiment. QUESTION 13-2: During the Hundred Days Campaign, were the officers of the Cuirassier Regiments wearing helmet plumes? Or did any of the regiments wore the plumes as a whole? PARTIAL ANSWER TO QUESTION 13-2: The scarlet plume was integral part of the Cuirassiers uniform, officers, NCO and troopers. However, the plume was to be worn in dress occasions only and consequently was not worn by the cuirassiers troopers in the field during the Hundred Days Campaign. (Officers in many cases did has they pleased.) QUESTION 13-3: According to Osprey Men-At-Arms #141, most of the French Line infantry regiments should have been wearing the short-tailed habit-veste shown on page 20, illustration D. My question is, were some of the Line infantry regiments still wearing the 1804-10 style coats, and did some of these regiments still have the red turnbacks? PARTIAL ANSWER TO QUESTION 13-3: In EE&L 1, pp.51-53, Scott Bowden debunken the myth that the 1812 uniform was worn by the French infantry during the Campaign of Russia and shows that one had to wait until 1813 and 1814 to see the new uniform and its short-tailed habit-veste in any appreciable numbers. He concluded: "Thus it can be argued that the only time the Imperial armies took the field in the so-called 1812 uniform was during the Hundred Days in 1815, and even then changes were inevitable." The repeated large levies of 1813 and 1814 completely depleated the stocks of the old long tailed infantry uniforms. The following commentaries were made by Houssaye in his 1815: "The government of the Restauration not only had neglected to restock the uniform army stores depleated by the huge armaments of 1813 and 1814, but they even neglected to provide for the upkeep of the existing troops. From May 1814 to February 1815, the War Department allocated only 4 millions for the clothing of the troops of which only 1 million was actually paid. The uniforms were in rags. In more than 20 regiments, the soldiers lacked shoes.... The Emperor increased to money to uniform the troops to 30 millions... Some factories newly created in Paris were able to deliver some 1250 uniforms per day, etc. Work on new uniform was also actively pursued in the depots, etc." In the light of the above, it is unlikely that the old long tailed coat was seen in the Imperial army at Waterloo. Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 2 No. 13 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Emperor's Headquarters 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