Napoleon’s Light Infantry and Artillery: Uniforms and Equipment

This groundbreaking book offers a detailed exploration of the dress of the thirty-seven regiments of Light Infantry and other support troops in Napoleon's Grande Armée, including foot and horse artillery, sapeurs, musicians, and carabiniers. For the first time in two centuries, it accurately examines how these troops were clothed and equipped. Paul Dawson’s research draws from over 1,000 archive boxes in the Service Historique de l’Armée de Terre and the Archives Nationales in Paris. These documents reveal how the 1806 uniform regulations and Bardin regulations were implemented in practice, offering insights previously unavailable to the public. The archives focus on the annual inspections of regiments, where the condition of uniforms and equipment was assessed. Soldiers' uniforms were provided through stoppages in their pay, with a prescribed lifespan for each item. The regimental Council of Administration also drew funds for clothing renewals, repairs, and equipment. Dawson’s study demonstrates that the Bardin regulations, often seen as the standard, were largely a myth until the Waterloo Campaign. Through contemporary illustrations and photographs of existing uniforms, this book provides an authoritative understanding of the actual dress worn by Napoleon’s troops, making previous descriptions of the Grande Armée’s appearance obsolete.

About the Author :
PAUL L. DAWSON BSc Hons M. Res MIFA FINS has had a lifelong passion for archaeology and history, holding both a degree in archaeology, and a master’s degree in history. Over the last twenty-five years he has written almost fifty books, primarily on the period 1660 to 1831, exploring the relationship between political and religious dissent with the state, equine nutrition and biomechanics, as well as the history of his home city of Wakefield in West Yorkshire. Perhaps he is best known for his series of ground-breaking books on the Waterloo Campaign of 1815 and his studies of the uniforms and equipment of the French army 1792-1815. Outside of writing and research, he is a gifted equestrian, riding for film and TV, as well as competing dressage and teaching classical equitation. In his free time, he is a church musician – both organist, choir director and solo singer – and lay minister with the General Assembly of Unitarians and Free Christians. Following a severe traumatic brain injury, resulting in speech, cognition and some mobility issues, he is a campaigner for disability rights for others recovering from brain injury.