The Napoleonic era featured a bewildering array of military uniforms. In addition to the obvious differences between nationalities, there were also an incredible variety of uniforms worn by the different branches of the same army (infantry, artillery, cavalry). Even within units of the same category there were significant variations: French chasseurs a cheval of the guard had a different uniform than those of the line, and elite squadrons were distinguished within each regiment. Finding accurate sources for so many different uniforms can be a daunting task. We offer the following guide to help locate uniform references for collector's libraries.

Unfortunately, no single book explains the inconsistencies and apparent lack of system in the many decorations, colors, and other features of Napoleonic military dress. However, figure painters, collectors, wargamers, re-enactors, and historians all have a need for the exact details.

Large size (slow download--130K) of Napoleon figure at right.

Perhaps you'd also like to learn a little of the history of a unit, or what changes in color would turn a model figure into a soldier belonging to a completely different regiment.

It can really help to set up a uniform reference file before you do anything else. You'll find lots of information as you search. Keeping it organized is a major part of the undertaking. I started with a letter sized file folder and now have three file cabinets full with no end in sight!

One of the most frustrating aspects of uniform research is that there are many pictures of soldiers from the front, but few back views. Unlike today's uniforms, some Napoleonic uniforms had as many differences in the back as they did in the front. Another fact of life is that there were often two versions of every uniform, what the regulations said and what the soldiers actually wore. Good uniform data is available but it isn't always easy to find.

The best source of uniform information is, of course, the original article. You can visit a museum or see a private collection, but are these authentic examples the same now as they were when they were worn in Napoleon's time? Too often there is no way to be absolutely certain. Many color dyes were not "fast" and the uniform you see in a museum probably does not display its original color. For example, some dragoon uniforms in the French Army Museum (Musee de l'Armee) are blue today, although they were originally green.

Many artists who painted during the Napoleonic era or immediately after can't always be counted on for accuracy. A period painting of a battle or personality may have been done more to flatter the participants or an individual (and earn a nice fee) rather than to record the exact details for history. Today, the best sources of data on military uniforms are prints, postcards, books, magazines and other periodicals.

Original historical prints, or reproductions of them, including limited editions done by contemporary artists such as Keith Rocco and James Lancia, can be both a good investment as well as something nice to display on your walls. But prints can be an awkward uniform reference source because of their storage limitations, especially those produced in metric sizes.

Postcards can be inexpensive and surprisingly easy to locate, but the figures are small and uniform details can be difficult to make out. Books, even out of print and rare volumes, are much easier to store and use as compared to prints or postcards, but they can be very costly. Books usually provide the most data for the money. Magazine articles vary in quality, depending on the publication, author, etc.

Whenever possible, I prefer to use sources for uniforms from the country of the army depicted. Sometimes national bias can distort the way an artist portrays a subject, especially when they are painting the armies of traditional enemies. The results can be pretty funny. For example, there are Knotel prints (normally very good) depicting American soldiers. These are mostly accurate, but somewhat "skewed" in appearance. They look a little odd -- like Germans dressed up to look like Americans.

In 1953 a group of military enthusiasts formed the Company of Military Historians and started publishing a series of plates called "Military Uniform in America". No better source of data on American uniforms exists, including other nations that fought on the American continents (including British in the War of 1812). The Company publishes 16 plates per year and the best way to obtain these uniform plates is to join the Company and subscribe to the series.

One of the largest collections of Napoleonic military uniform prints is within the "Grosse Uniformkunde" series by Richard Knotel who died in 1914. His son Herbert extended the series between the First and Second World Wars. In the 1960's Jurgen Olmes of Krefeld, Germany reprinted some of these plates. The Los Angeles County Library has a very large collection of them.

Perhaps the best information on French Napoleonic uniforms are the prints published by M. Lucien Rousselot. Each Rousselot print was printed as a double-page approximately 12 and a half inches by 19 inches in size, making them difficult to store since there are no binders or folders made in the United States for this size of print. However, this is, of course, only an inconvenience, as there may be no better reference on French uniforms. Each print, and the text that accompanies it, covers one aspect of a French uniform. Plate No. 66, for example, gives details of foot artillery uniforms from 1804-1815 and is the first of two plates on this subject. Each plate shows enlisted men, officers, musicians and drummers. The plates illustrate these soldiers in all types of dress from those worn for fatigue duties to dress for Imperial revues. Rousselot plates of cavalry subjects show not only the uniforms but the horse furniture as well.

M. Rousselot had at his disposal the resources of the French Army Museum in Paris, and he also made use of the famous Brunon Collection of Napoleonic uniforms. In addition, he had access to the archives containing Imperial decrees, military bulletins, and contemporary descriptions. His French uniform information is simply impeccable. Rousselot published the first of his plates in the 1940's and continued issuing them for years. Text sheets, in French and English, accompany each plate. There is probably no better way to learn the French terms associated with military uniforms than to translate a page of Rousselot text.

Another fine source of Napoleonic French uniform data are the "Le Plumet" prints published by M. Albert Rigondaud who is better known as "Rigo". Each Rigo plate shows one, or sometimes two or three Napoleonic uniforms in exhaustive detail. The plate of the 17th Light Infantry shows the drum major and two musicians. It also shows a uniform button, the cord on the head gear, the coat, the vest, the cap (a Polish style czapka) and examples of musical instruments. On the back of the plate the text explains why the colonel of the 17th uniformed his band in this manner, and gives a brief history of the regiment. "Le Plumet" prints are meticulously accurate in their colors; you can tell Rigo's crimson from his red, rose, or scarlet.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, a series of plates by Dr. F. G. Hourtoulle was published by Editions graphiphot (14, rue du docteur-calmette, Clamart, Seine, FRANCE) called "Soldats et uniformes du premier empire". These showed troops in action, such as the battle at the grainery at Essling in 1809. Some Hourtoulle plates used metallic inks!

Other exceptional First Empire uniform plates were also done in the 1980's by Patrice Courcelle, and, more recently, by Pierre Conrad. One other important French source for Napoleonic prints is the series of postcards done in the 1930's by commandant Bucoy. These postcards, called "Les uniformes du premier empire", were reprinted in the late 1970's and early 1980's as a multiple volume series of books by Librairie des armes (27, rue du louvre, 75002 Paris, FRANCE).

Unfortunately, Rousselot, Rigo, Hourtoulle, and Courcelle plates were never published in book form and their uniform plates are now out of print and have to be found at used book and print dealers. [Le Cimier in France apparently has plates of all four artists for sale. Also, EHQ mail order has a limited number of Rousselot and Courcelle prints.]

By far and away the best uniform book on our period of interest is Col. John R. Elting's Napoleonic Uniforms. Macmillan Publishing Company of New York produced this two volume set in 1993 (ISBN 0-02-897115-9). It contains nearly 800 color illustrations of uniforms of the French and their allies from the 1790's through 1815. Each picture is an individual work of art by the great German illustrator Herbert Knotel. Although the books are expensive (about $250.00 for the set), when you calculate the cost on a per-plate basis this set is well worth the money.