Nansouty's report dated October 13, 1813, clearly shows that there were some problems in uniforming the Guards of Honor and some of the Guards sent with the war squadrons were not yet uniformed or even equipped. That state of affairs is confirmed by numerous reports from other sources. All kinds of problems plagued the organization of the regiments. The contractors were late, the quality of the uniform cloth varied from good to bad, their color uneven with all possible variations of green, some shakos were too large, etc. The light cavalry sabers were to he manufactured by Spol, a contractor of Metz, but the delivery was so slow that 900 sabers had to be quickly ordered from the Klegenthal manufacture. Finally, very few Guards had the regulation carbine, saber, and two pistols. One can imagine the lack of uniformity of the uniforms (that followed the guidelines of the Hussar uniforms) of a corps that was to have such a short military existence. Shako: Larger than that of the Line, the shako was made of leather covered with red cloth piped white on the top. The front plate was an eagle made of silvered copper as per the decree of 1812. The green plume was 560mm long with the top in the distinctive color for the regiment: red for the 1st, light blue for the 2nd, yellow for the 3rd and white for the 4th. (The top color was 1/5 of the plume length.) In addition, a pompon identified each company which was only worn with the plume. In the undress uniform, a pompon to the regiment color was worn. In the field, the shako was covered with the standard oil cover used by the rest of the army. Dolman: The dolman was made of green cloth. The collar and the facings were red. On the front were eighteen rows of white tresses. The false pockets and the piping on the sleeves and collar were also white. 98 silvered copper buttons were used in a dolman: 72 for the two rows on each side and eighteen large ones for the center row and one medium for the left shoulder strap. Sash: The sash was made of 44 red braids and twenty white knots and had a length of 2.6 meters. It was worn on top of the dolman and made three turns. Pelisse: The pelisse was green with black fur in the hussar fashion. There were eighteen white tresses as for the dolman with five rows of white buttons. Waistcoat: The waistcoat was red and sleeveless piped white on the collar, the false pockets and around the waist. It was decorated with eighteen rows of white tresses held by five rows of buttons. Culotte Hongroise: It was the Hussars' regulation culotte Hongroise made of red cloth with white lace ornaments. Charivari: On campaign, the culotte Hongroise was covered up by the classical green charivari with eighteen buttons sewn within a red stripe similar to that of the Hussars (see description in EE&L #5, page 61). Boots: The boots were similar to that of the light cavalry with some non-regulation exceptions. Giberne: Similar to that of the hussars. Sabretache: The sabretache was made of varnished black leather (325mm high by 290mm wide) with only an eagle and the regimental number, both of silvered copper. Great coat: The great coat with sleeves was made of green cloth with a straight collar and closed as shown on the drawing. Weapons: Regulation armament consisted of the light cavalry saber of the Year XI with a white sword knot, the cavalry carbine Year IX with its bayonet, and a pair of pistols Year XIII. Webbing: All the webbing, swordbelt, slings, musketoon, and cartridge pouch belts were white. Horse furniture: The horse furniture was as per the hussar regulations. The shabraque was made of white sheepskin edged green. Officer's uniform: It was similar to that of the troopers but of better quality. The piping was usually made of silver. The officer's shabraque was usually made of green cloth cut in arrow fashion. Trumpeters: This is a difficult subject to cover. However, the standard trumpeter uniform, at least in the beginning, was the standard Imperial green livery of the line regiments, but later on it appears that each regiment made an attempt to distinguish its trumpeters with a special uniform 1st Regiment: There are two known variations of the trumpeter's uniform. In the first one, the trumpeter is wearing a white colpack with a red flame, blue plume with a third of it red. Pelisse in red cloth, white tresses, gold buttons. The trumpeter of the second version wore a red shako, green plume with a third of it red. It had a sky blue dolman with white tresses, golden buttons, collar and facings red. Pelisse of red cloth with black fur, white tresses, golden buttons. Red trousers. Trumpet knots blue. 2nd Regiment: A painting by J. Rousselot shows a trumpeter of the 2nd Regiment in field dress with the Guard blue dolman. 3rd Regiment: Red shako, red dolman, blue pelisse with white fur, green charivari with red stripe, black sheepskin shabraque with green wolf teeth. Trumpet knots red. 4th Regiment: An anonymous gouache of the Marmottan Museum shows a squadron of the 4th Guards of Honor escorting Napoleon at Leipzig. The trumpeters wear a red dolman and red trousers with a yellow or golden stripe and a red shabraque also piped yellow or gold. Were the Guards of Honor Part of the Guard? Were the Guards of Honor part of the Imperial Guard? It appears that it was only a gimmick to motivate the young elite to join the new units. There is no doubt that the Guards of Honor fought with the Guard and at least enjoyed a special status. They received the pay of the Old Guard but the administration of the Guards of Honor was handled by the offices of the War Department (Bureauxde la Guerre) like the line troops. Nansouty in his report dated October 13, 1813, asked the same question: "It is necessary to find out if the Guards of Honor are part of the Guard or of the Line! They have the pay of the Old Guard, hence they should also receive the other advantages of the Guard, but the inspectors do not appear to be aware of their formation." If we believe de Segur, the following took place in early 1814. In his book, de Segur says, pp. 101-102: "I do not know what went in Napoleon's mind to choose such a poor moment...to inform the Guards that they had been expelled from the Guard....I burned the dispatch and did not inform the Guards of their exclusion from the Guard...." This raises a number of questions. If the Guards of Honor were not part of the Imperial Guard, why did Napoleon find it necessary to exclude them from the Guard in the dispatch to de Segur? Why was no one (especially the inspectors of the War Office), including Nansouty, aware that the Guards of Honor were not part of the Guard? In addition, why did they receive the Old Guard pay? Any ideas from our readers? As perhaps the last word, Lachouque, an author who deserves our full attention, in his Anatomy of Glory, does not raise the question of the Guards of Honor not belonging to the Guard. Sources De Segur, General Count Philippe de, Du Rhin a Fontainebleau, Paris, date unknown. Uniformes Magazine, issue No. 47, Janvier-Fevrier, 1979: "Les Gardes d'Honneur de la Garde imperiale" by Christian Blondieau. Lachouque, Cdt., and Brown, Ann, Anatomy of Glory, Hippocrene Books, New York, 1978. Bowden, Scott, Napoleon's Grande Armee of 1813, The Emperor's Press, Chicago, 1990. Lucien Rousselot's color uniform plates. Napoleon's Correspondence. Misc. notes and documents, some from the French Archives. The Guards of Honor History Footnotes [1] For a good study of the raising of Napoleon's army in 1813, see Scott Bowden, Napoleon's Grande Armee of 1813, The Emperor's Press, 1990. [2] Napoleon's Correspondence No. 19437, January 9, 1813. [3] The prefets were the departments' administrators. [4] It's interesting to note that de Segur, after the attempt against his life, handled the situation so well that he gained the respect and devotion of his Regiment. That is some achievement when one considers that his unit included names like Charette, Sapineau, and d'Elbee (see EE&L #3, "La Vendee," pp. 8-13). Charette had even gone as far as plotting the assassination of Napoleon. [5] There is an old French saying: "L 'habit nefait pas le soldat, mais il y contribue," i.e., "The uniform does not make a soldier, but it contributes to it." 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