In a bloody saddle, a horse will carry me away, Gentle green maple from the battle fire.
The hussar mentic is burning, wide open in the shoulders, In the crimson yellow light, the light of the last ray.
Hussar ballad, 1962
Military affairs at the turn of the eras. Well, in our cycle about military affairs of different eras, it came down to the hussars. However, we have already talked about them here, including the Polish ones with "wings". But today we will begin our story with a description of the French hussars, participants in the Napoleonic Wars, many of whom, as it turned out, returned to Europe from the United States, where they fought again in the hussars against the British.
However, the first hussar regiments in France appeared shortly after the French Revolution of 1789, when the new republican government formed 13 hussar regiments between 1791 and 1795. For twenty years of war, the fate of all these regiments was more or less similar, but the history of the 7th hussar regiment was very different from all the others.
This regiment was founded in 1792 in Compiegne by decree of the Convention and was called the hussar regiment de Lamotte. The following year, he became the 7th hussar and in 1794 became part of the army of General Pitegru, who fought against the Anglo-Dutch troops of the so-called First Coalition.
We are very lucky today. Thanks to photographs taken in the 50s of the 19th century, when the participants in the Napoleonic wars were still alive, we can see them with our own eyes, albeit aged, but alive and dressed in the uniforms they have preserved. For example, Monsieur Mayor, who served in the 7th Hussar Regiment from 1809 to 1815. On the chest is the medal of St. Helena, released on August 12, 1857. This was received by all by that time surviving veterans of the wars of the Great French Revolution and Napoleon. He wears the full uniform of a Napoleonic hussar, and a fur-trimmed hat with a high plume indicates his belonging to the hussar elite
In that year, the cold came very early, the hostilities were suspended, and the troops went to winter quarters, and the British troops returned to England altogether. Well, we were at war at that time. In early November, the river Baal froze over, separating the two armies. But then the French commander received news of a possible revolution in Amsterdam; and without hesitation gathered his strength and crossed Baal on the ice. The race against time has begun; it was necessary to prevent the enemy from organizing resistance in Holland. The light cavalry units had more work to do than the heavy cavalry, and this was where they had to work. On the night of January 11, 1795, the 7th Hussar Regiment arrived at the anchorage of the Dutch fleet in Texel and saw that the fleet was anchored and at the same time was frozen into the ice. The hussars galloped on the ice and, surrounding the ships, forced their crews to surrender. So the 7th Hussar Regiment of France became the only cavalry regiment that went down in the history of battles at sea.
On September 20, 1806, during the war with Prussia, Napoleon formed a light cavalry brigade from the 5th and 7th hussar regiments, which then numbered 935 people, which he transferred under the command of General Lassalle, the most popular and "most hussar" of all French generals Napoleonic Wars. It was he who said: "The hussar who was not killed at 30 is not a hussar, but shit!" …
But before that, in pursuit of the Prussians, he and his hussars covered 1150 km in 25 days, or on average they walked 50 km a day per day. Finally, at the head of 500 men, he captured the fortress of Stettin, whose garrison numbered 6,000 men and 160 cannons. Napoleon then wrote to Murat, to whom Lassalle was directly subordinate: "If your hussars take the fortresses, then it remains for me to melt the heavy artillery and dissolve the engineers."
After the Russian campaign of 1807, the famous portrait of Lassalle was painted in the uniform of the 7th hussar regiment with general insignia on the sleeves; this was the very form in which he was killed at Wagram in 1809.
After the restoration of the First Empire in 1815, the 7th Hussar Regiment became the senior regiment in the Hussar Division of Colonel General de Hussars, which gave his cavalry the right to various privileges. But then he was disbanded anyway, as too loyal to the deposed emperor.
After being defeated by France in 1805, Austria could not recover from it for a long time, but in 1809, after an uprising against the French occupation forces in Spain and a national awakening in Germany, Austria nevertheless decided to start a war with Napoleon. Then the Prussian duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Brunswick entered into an alliance with the Austrians and assembled a detachment of infantry and cavalry, consisting of a thousand horse hussars and the same number of infantrymen. Due to the tragedy that befell his family (the death of his father, who fell on the battlefield) and his entire country, conquered by the enemy, the duke chose black for their uniforms and a skull with crossed bones as an emblem for their headdresses. By the way, this is where the name of this corps Schwarze Schar ("Black Gang"), or "Hussars of Death" came from. Equipment and weapons were purchased from the Austrian arsenals, and the hussar regiment had four squadrons full of squadrons and also a horse artillery battery of four guns.
As you know, the hostilities in 1809 ended in a new defeat for Austria, with which the duke, however, did not reconcile himself. He decided to break through with his troops to the Atlantic coast and sail from there to England. On its way stood the troops of Westphalia and the city of Halberstadt, which was defended by 3,000 soldiers. However, at night, the Duke's troops managed to take the city gates, after which the surviving 500 people of the hussar regiment, commanded by Major Schroeder, burst into the main square of the city in the dark. The enemy's reserve of several hundred people located there was forced to surrender, and the city, with the exception of a few centers of resistance, surrendered. Having rested and having recruited several hundred people in the city, the duke arrived in his native Braunschweig two days later. However, numerous pursuers chased him, and the sent messengers managed to warn the French garrisons about the advance of his detachment. Nevertheless, in spite of everything, a week later, after several small skirmishes, the "Black Squad" of 1,600 people still managed to reach the sea. With the help of various tricks, the hussars managed to lead the pursuers away from the landing site, so that they even had time to sell their horses before leaving. The Duke and his men boarded British ships and, after disembarking at Yarmouth and Grimsby, entered British service. The following year they took part in an expedition to Spain with the British, Italian and Spanish troops under the command of John Murray and fought there bravely.
The Black Hussars remained in British service until mid-1815. However, to participate in the campaign "Hundred Days", during which Napoleon was already completely defeated, the duke managed to assemble another regiment of "black hussars" numbering 730 people. So soon, under his command, there were already two hussar regiments dressed in very characteristic uniforms.
Well, now we will go overseas again and see how things were with the cavalry and with the same hussars there. And "there" it was like this: the War of Independence ended, the French hussars sailed away, but new … new ones were not brought there. Moreover, Congress left only 100 soldiers in the army, because the United States did not need more then! True, it soon became clear that in such a quantity the American army could not fight even with the Indians, and its number was increased to 3000 people. The cavalry of the young country was dragoon, wore Tartlon helmets, trimmed with bear fur on the crown, and even with a turban in the color of the squadron, of which there were only … four! Well, in 1802, the cavalry in the US Army was canceled altogether!
Then the war with England began in 1812, and the cavalry was needed again. Dragoon, again in helmets with a crest and tail, but in uniforms embroidered with cords with "Hungarian knots", which gave her a seductive hussar look. But the war ended, the cavalry was canceled again, and for as long as 20 years! Border patrolling was entrusted to militia formations of mounted rangers. They were hired to serve for a year. They were paid one dollar a day (a huge sum for that time!), But they did not differ in discipline or combat effectiveness. Well, of course, they didn't wear any uniform either.
Then the cavalry was again needed, and in 1833 the American Dragoon regiment was created again, in which there were 600 people. They got downright chic uniforms with an abundance of gold embroidery and high, like those of a hussar, shako with a visor and a sultan, and double yellow stripes on their trousers. On the shoulders of privates and officers were epaulettes, however, with a fringe, only officers. The uniforms were navy blue (the trumpeters had red!), The trousers were sky blue. The dress uniform was especially beautiful, and the regiment, fighting the Osage and Kiowa Indians, used it as a fighting one and with success: the simple-minded Indians (Osage, for example), amazed by the appearance of the Americans, immediately agreed to make peace!
The American cavalry looked about the same at the beginning of 1861, and then the Americans had enough cavalry. But after Bull Run, the first battle of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln called in the army, including cavalry, half a million volunteers. The federal government's ambitious plan to equip and train such a large number of people began to pay off within two years.
At the beginning of the war, the Union army could count on six regular cavalry regiments, but by the end of 1861 there were already 82. The following year, the Union had 60,000 soldiers, and almost 300,000 horses were purchased for the army. Since the regiments were formed in cities, counties or states loyal to Washington, they were named after these places: the 1st New York Cavalry Regiment, the 7th Ohio Cavalry Regiment, and so on. All allied regiments were then called simply cavalry, since when comparing them with similar European units, it would be easy for us to notice that they all performed the functions of dragoons. That is, they had to fight both on foot and on horseback.
By the end of 1863, both sides began to "lose momentum," and the war for the volunteers began to lose its appeal. In New Jersey, authorities decided to make cavalry recruitment more interesting and challenging, and posters were posted throughout the state that read “Horse and sword in hand” advertising recruitment to the US 1st Hussars. People are rather stupid, and the chance to become a hussar instead of a regular cavalryman soon provided the regiment with the necessary number of people. A beautiful uniform was sewn for them, similar to the Austrian hussar, and the state spared no expense for their equipment and weapons. In early 1864, the regiment, fully equipped in horse ranks, marched through Washington, and, as was the custom at the time, President Lincoln held him a review in front of the White House. His appearance in hussar uniform attracted the attention of the press, and reproductions of photographs appeared in all newspapers. In the army list, he was listed as the 3rd Volunteer Cavalry Regiment of New Jersey, and the number "3" was embroidered in a wreath on their caps, but they called him "the first hussar."However, it remained in the history of the American cavalry as the only regiment with the name of the hussar, and because of its rich form, its cavalrymen received the nickname "butterflies".
On September 13, 1864, at the Berryville Road, the regiment's hussars defeated a large force of Confederate cavalry and forced the 8th South Carolina Infantry Regiment to surrender, along with the banners and the commander. They also fought at Appomattox, Cedar Creek and Five Forks.
These "hussars" did not fight with the Indians. The severity of the Indian wars fell on the shoulders of the same dragoon cavalry. But we will talk about this in the next article.
