It seems that the word Velite literally means skirmisher, however the designation was, as Fred Vietmeyer's article in the January issue says, that of cadet. The first were raised in 1804 in two battalions of 800 men, one attached to the Grenadiers the other to the chasseurs, each battalion formed into five coy's of 173 men. Although it seems that these velites had not the status as old guardsmen they received the same pay, the uniform was the same as their parent regiment. However they only were the three cornered hat for a short time, this being piped with yellow, the bearskin being issued for the coronation, the hat reserved for wear on the march. In 1805 the velites-a-cheval were raised, eight companies of 100 men. Four went to the Grenadiers-a-cheval and four to the chasseurs-a-cheval. The uniforms were the same as the parent regiment, hats kept for the march etc. In 1806 the velites battalions were formed into regiments by the addition of another battalion. With the formation of the "Empress's Dragoons" new veliter. were raised by reducing the numbers in the other two mentioned horse regiments, each having now one squadron of 250 men each. Here again the uniform was the same as the parent regiment i.e. green coat, white breeches, etc. In the same year, the two second battalions of foot velites were disbanded, reformed as the Fusiliers of the Guard, the velites went into the first battalion and the N.C.O's and officers formed the cadres for the Fusilier8. The velite artillery were next to be raised giving the Horse artillery two Old Guard squadrons and one velite squadron, (the article from which this information was taken is a little vague, simply stating that a blue trimmed red uniform in the style of the horse chasseurs was worn, safe to assume identical to the parent regiment again). From 1807 the recruiting of Velites began to stop, and those in existence gradually found their way mostly into Young and Middle Guard regiments. I hope this smattering of information is of use, perhaps Mr. Viatmeyer can help me with information on the standards of the "Rhinebunde" States? Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 101 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1970 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com