rom: mserafin@freenet3.scri.fsu.edu (Mark Serafin)
Subject: Re: HIS: Pre-Austerlitz French bicorne
Date: 7 Aug 1994 13:48:46 -0400

SANTOSUOSSO@sscl.uwo.ca wrote:

: Does anyone know the colour of the tuft on the bicorne of the French
: line units before Austerlitz? Thanks.

        Most of my sources don't even show a tuft.  However,
Elting/Knotel's Napoleonic Uniforms, in Plate 12 of the line infantry
section, show a light blue tuft on an 1805 uniform.  The text does not
specify if this was universal for all fusiliers, or if the colors
varied by company, as they did later.  The Funken books (Arms and
Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars) show fusiliers with blue and orange
tufts on their bicornes (1805), which also suggests they varied by
company, but I don't totally trust this source.  I cannot find a
source listing the progression of colors for the companies for this
period, but after the change in organization in 1809 it went:

 1st: green
 2nd: sky blue
 3rd: orange
 4th: violet

        Of course, in the French army of this period uniform
regulations were often more honored in the breach than in the
observance, so you might be able to paint them the whatever color you
want.

Hope this helps.
Mark Serafin