Brunswickers and the Corsican Hat

Dated: November 28, 1998.

Here's an article sent in by a frequent visitor on the Brunswickers and the Corsican hat.

It is actually quite interesting what one can find about the Corsican hat. Indeed many authors have given entirely wrong depiction of it. The biggest mistake is to be found in the famous book on the Waterloo campaign written by Haythornthwaite, which contains most uniforms of the battle. The Corsican hat depicted there has the brim turned up the wrong side and the brim is also far too small. In that sense, the Osprey Men-at-Arms book on the Brunswickers is much better and more authoritative, since it contains some photographs of remaining hats.

The use of the Corsican hat seems to go back to at least 1794, with the Hanoverian light troops shown wearing it. This hat was then also worn by various armies throughout the Napoleonic period and it includes the light-infantry of Lippe (1808), a small German state, which was part of the Confederation of the Rhine and the Oldenburg light infantry (from 1808 to 1811). More obscure troops such as some Spanish units that fought on the French side and the Legion of Catalonia (also on the French side) wore the Corsican hat, or very similar headgears. Both troops were raised by the French to fight the guerillas. Other units in other armies wore similar hats, with either a shorter brim, or the brim on the front rather than the side, etc.. I think it is fair however to say that it was mostly light infantry units that wore that special headgear.

However of course, the most famous troops wearing the Corsican hat were indeed the Brunswickers. It was worn by the Light-infantry troops which included the Gelernte Jaeger (as seen in the HäT models) and by the Avant-Garde troops, which wore the same black uniform as the infantry, but with the Corsican hat.

When wargaming and history are mixed together, there are sometimes heavier casualties among armies than those inflicted during battles: entire armies and their involvement seem to disappear, as if they had been wiped out in one blow!

This is what happened to the Austrian army.... We all know the Austrians with their helmets, but who will remember the Austrians with their double-peaked shako and, most of all, those Austrians with the Corsican hat? Yes, indeed, the Corsican hat was worn by virtually all the Austrian light troops and also by all the Landwehr (militia) troops.

Both the Austrian Landwehr and the light troops were very heavily engaged in the 1809 campaign in Austria, and of course throughout the 1813 campaign and Germany and finally in 1814, in France.

For those interested in battles, it is of course the Brunswick Gerlernte Jaeger and Avant-Garde infantry who are remembered most, as they participated in the last battles of the Empire, Quatre-Bras and Waterloo. The Gelernte Jaegers were almost all recruited from former hunters and men known for being good shots: The Gelernte Jaegers were almost all very good marksmen, and therefore difficult to train or to replace. Though well trained by "nature", these were all very new recruits with little or no war experience.

If the casualties sustained by both units were light among the Gelernte Jaeger and the Avant-Garde in comparison to those by other Brunswick units, it is simply due to the fact that they were armed with short muskets, and used as skirmishers rather than infantry-men. It would have been indeed very inappropriate to use them in a frontal battle against French infantry, where they would almost certainly been routed or destroyed. Most casualties were suffered at Quatre-Bras, where they contributed in holding back the French advance throughout most of the day and fought in the centre of the Prince of Orange's army.

By the time Wellington arrived on the battlefield, it was only the Brunswick Hussars and the Leib-Battalion who were in disorder. This is quite contrary to the belief (mostly perpetrated by English historians!) that the Brunswickers were almost routed and ceased to exist as a fighting unit. All other Brunswickers were still fighting hard, and that includes the Gelernte Jaeger and the Avant-Garde.

HOW TO USE THE HäT BRUNSWICKERS:

The HäT Brunswickers are really quite versatile and can be used for almost all the troops mentioned above. This means therefore:

• Brunswick Gelernte Jaeger (HäT Brunswickers, as they are)
• Brunswick Avant Garde (HäT Brunswickers, with laces painted on the chest)
• Oldenburg light infantry (HäT Brunswickers with breeches rather than trousers)
• Austrian light infantry (same as above)
• Austrian Landwehr (they wore a coat, like other Landwehr units. So you can use the HäT Brunswickers' head and glue it on the body of the HäT Prussian Landwehr)

  End of article
  By Phillipe Petolon

  The following are some scans of some converted Brunswicker figures (previously seen somewhere else on this site.)

  This is the Brunswicker without any changes. He is actually a Gelernte Jäger of the Avantgarde in 1815. You could make him a 1809 Gelernte Jäger by giving him a green tunic with red facings and white trousers.

  This is him painted up as an Oldenburger. The state of Oldenburg was one of the small German states that was passed around by Napoleon and the other big players like tokens in a big Monopoly game. This particular Oldenburger was a fusilier at a time when Oldenburg was allied with Napoleon as a member of the Confederation of the Rhine. He wore a uniform in the Prussian style: blue tunic with red facings, the Corsican hat with a white plume and grey breeches. The voltigeurs had the Corsican hat with a green plume and the grenadiers had bearskins.

  This is him painted up as a Brunswicker light infantryman of the Avantgarde in 1815. He is painted in black with green facings. The lacing on his black tunic has been painted on.

  This last one is an Austrian Jäger dressed in pike green with green facings. His Corsican hat is garnished with the distinctive Feldzeichen or sprig of green leaves. Other Austrians could be Upper Austrian Landwehr Jäger dressed in mid-grey with red facings, members of the Austro-German Legion with sky blue tunic with yellow facings and white pants and various miners, sappers and pioneers, all of whom wore the Corsican hat.

  All painted figures by Eric Williamson.

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