Hi Theron
The Napoleon series website has some good info and sources I quote
from
http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/organization/c_corses.htmlalthough you have probably seen this.
Also I suspect there was only 1btn. That's all I have ever read on it. Austerlitz being their most famous action. They were added to the 11th Legere it would seem in 1811 which means Eylau, Jena and Wagram histories are probably other sources to look at
"Uniforms
Most sources have the Tirailleurs Corses wearing brown legere uniforms with green facings, cuffs, turnbacks, and collar. There was no piping on the collar or cuffs. Uniform cut, buttons, and equipment was the same for regular French light infantry regiments except for the cartridge box. It was worn on a waist belt in the front, instead of on the side. Two sources (Bucquoy and Knotel) show the belts and straps for the voltigeurs as white in 1809, but buff for the chasseurs in 1808 and 1810.
Epaulets: Chasseurs wore green epaulets, with yellow tops, while voltigeurs had yellow ones. Carabiniers probably wore red epaulets. Officers wore silver epaulets.
Headgear: Carabiniers wore a bearskin. Chasseurs wore the normal light infantry shako with green trim, cording, and pompom. Voltigeurs wore the same, except for yellow cording, trim, and plume. Shako plates were the 1806 diamond shaped regulation plate, made of white metal, with an eagle over a hunting horn. There was number stamped in the center of the horn.
Note: There is some contention in the color of the uniforms. Although most books give the uniform as being brown, Rigo states: "From the time of its creation on 15th March 1808 the Battalion was dressed in blue, faced with green. Notes preserved in the CARL Collection and also in the Military Alphabet give chestnut brown faced with green in 1809. We should not like to throw any doubt on the word of our distinguished predecessor, but on the other hand we know that no chestnut brown cloth is mentioned in the clothing returns dated 15th March 1808 at DEUX-PONTS which is preserved in the Vincennes Archives in file Xk 4. It is for this reason we have depicted our Sergeant-Major Standard-Bearer in the dress of 1804-1805." This is interesting. . . a close examination of the Bucquoy plates and the Knotel plates in Etling's book show very similar figures as if they used the same source to paint them. For example both have plates of a voltigeur for 1809, and a chasseur in 1808 wearing a brown uniform with red facings; yet neither show a carabinier. This leads to some possible speculation. Corsican Legion units were dressed in blue uniforms in the early 1800s but eventually switched to brown. . . Did this lead the original source (the ones Bucquoy and Knotel used) to assume that the Tirailleurs Corses also wore brown uniforms? The Tirailleurs Corses had their origins as the 3rd Battalion 8th Demi-Brigade and only became a separate unit on 5 December 1804.10 Did they change their uniforms when they became a separate battalion?"
PS I got them overkilled in my current game of Austerlitz.
NWC
Login
FAQ
