The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803-15

10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 189 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–151 NICHoLAS DuNNe-LyNCH The Irish Legion had a brief life, from 1803 to 1815, during which it underwent many changes of name and organization. Starting as ‘La Légion irlandaise’, the corps was known successively as the ‘Irish Battalion’, the ‘Irish Regiment’, the ‘3rd Foreign Regiment (Irish)’ and, finally, the ‘7th Foreign Regiment’.2 Its short life was, however, longer than that of other foreign regiments of the epoch, all of which were formed later and disbanded earlier than ‘le 3ème Régiment étranger (irlandais)’.3 Many readers will be familiar with The Memoirs of Miles Byrne,4 which are coloured by the author’s Irish republican nationalism, since Byrne was a zealous united Irishman and a leading rebel. This approach also characterizes Napoleon’s Irish Legion by John G. Gallaher,5 who shares neither Byrne’s background nor his experience, but draws heavily upon him in mood and matter. other studies, though informative and thorough, present overviews.6 CoNTeXT The idea of a new Irish corps in the French service existed in the minds of many long before it came into being. Since the demise of the old Irish Brigade after the French Revolution and, because of royalist sympathies, the defection to the British of the greater part of its cadres, the idea had much currency. Its first manifestation came in the form of a so-called ‘Irish Brigade’ that sailed with Hoche in 1796. Although it contained some native Irishmen and descendants of Irishmen, this force seems to have been Irish in name only.7 A proposal for a new force was rejected by Napoleon in 1800, and any hopes that 1 Author’s note: This article is based on research to date. Numerical data particularly is the latest available, but research continues. 2 Sometimes more than one of these titles were used simultaneously. 3 The sister regiments of the 3eme Régiment étranger (irlandais) were the 1er Régiment étranger (la Tour d’Auvergne), the 2eme Régiment étranger (d’Isenbourg, and the 4eme Régiment étranger (le Prusse). All had been disbanded by 1815. Many other foreign units had longer service. 4 Miles Byrne, The memoirs of Miles Byrne, 2 vols (Dublin, 1907). 5 John G. Gallaher, Napoleon’s Irish Legion (Carbondale, IL, 1993). 6 See Guy C. Dempsey, Napoleon’s mercenaries: foreign units in the French army under the Consulate and Empire, 1799–1814 (London, 2002), and Lt.-Col. Pierre Carles, President du Centre d’Histoire de Montpelier, ‘Le Corps irlandais au service de la France,’ Revue Historique des Armées (1976/2), 25–54. 7 Carles, p. 26. Also Service Historique de la Défense, Vincennes (SHD), Carton Xh17. 189 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 190 190 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch he might change his mind faded with the peace of Amiens, the breakdown of which, on 22 May 1803, opened the way for the formation of the Irish Legion.8 The presence in France of exiled united Irishmen and fugitive rebels of 1798 and 1803 was a major impetus for creating the new Irish force. The vision of Irish liberty, shattered in Ireland, was alive among these exiles, who longed to try again with the help of growing French military power. At the very least, such a corps would give employment to political refugees, and be a source of irritation to London and Dublin, but the prospects of military success under the Consulate seemed far better than they had been under the Directory. The prime movers were Arthur o’Connor and Thomas Addis emmet, both recently arrived in Paris, each claiming to be sole emissary of the Directory of the united Irishmen in Dublin. The contest was academic, since that body no longer existed in any form that either would have recognized. A mutual hostility between these two men, however, long preceded their arrival in Paris and marred the early days of the Legion. The conflict even predated their incarceration at Fort George as state prisoners (1798–1802). While emmet represented more cautious elements, o’Connor, a confederate of Lord edward Fitzgerald, was more militant.9 Commissioned to examine the feasibility of a new Irish corps, former Irish Brigade officer Alexandre Dalton,10 aide de camp to the Minister for War Berthier,11 charged o’Connor and emmet separately with sounding out Irish expatriates, since he realized that there could be no cooperation between them. In Dalton’s absence, Irish-born General oliver Harty, a former captain in Berwick’s regiment,12 asked Captain James MacGuire, a veteran of the Hardy expedition, to explore the issue.13 Based on the response to the various enquiries Bonaparte decreed the formation of the Légion irlandaise on 31 August 1803. That the First Consul acted for any reason other than the necessity of the moment is unlikely, and the belief that he respected the Irish seems to be a myth.14 8 25 March 1802–22 May 1803. 9 See Jane Hayter Hames, Arthur O’Connor, United Irishman (Cork, 2001). In attributing, as a possible irritation to emmet, the ‘privileged treatment’ that o’Connor received at Fort George in that ‘Mrs o’Connor and their children’ were allowed to remain with him, Gallaher seems to be confusing Arthur with his brother, Roger, also a State Prisoner: see Gallaher (pp 17–29) Arthur was unmarried at that time. 10 Alexandre Dalton (D’Alton-Shee), 1776–1859; Lt (Berwick’s Reg, later 88th Line), 1791; Adj. Cdt. 1803; Brig. Gen. 1809; Maj. Gen. 1815; Baron 1810. 11 Louis Alexandre Berthier (1753–1815), Napoleon’s chief of staff, duke of Wagram, 1st duke of Valengin, 1st sovereign prince of Neuchâtel, Marshal of France. 12 Brig. Gen. oliver Harty, 1746–1823, Baron Harty de Pierrebourg. 13 Harty to MacGuire, 8 July 1803, SHD XH16c. 14 Carles, p. 27, and edouard Desbriere: 1795–1803: Projets et tentatives de débarquement aux Iles britanniques (Paris, 1900) iii, p. 593. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 191 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 191 eARLy yeARS The intention was that, when the Legion landed in Ireland with a French invasion, the officers would raise, train and lead volunteers. We will look at these officers later. To begin with, the Legion was based in the small Finisterre town of Morlaix and attached to the force intended for an invasion of the British Isles, under General, later Marshal, Augereau.15 During its early years, the Legion moved to other Finisterre towns, such as Carhaix and Lesneven. Augereau had begun his military career in the old Irish Brigade and was keen on the Legion’s success, though his chief of staff, General Donzelot,16 directed matters. Newly raised to the rank of lieutenant general and now on the general staff,17 Arthur o’Connor supervised the Legion, while Harty was more directly involved as brigade commander. There were, perhaps, too many midwives for a trouble-free delivery. Later, the interest of these men was superseded by that of Henri Clarke, duke of Feltre and minister for war,18 of Irish descent and another former old Irish Brigade officer, whose patronage would damage the unit, and who was destined to become its undertaker. In the quiet atmosphere of the small Breton towns, the Irish unit lacked an immediate role and the officers had few troops to supervise. Since it was intended to be the framework of a force raised in Ireland, the Legion was not actively recruiting. All this combined to bring about the problems of the early days, which included duelling, provoked by political, national and personal differences, both among themselves and with local antagonists. Though such behaviour probably arose out of the deep frustration of exiled and dispossessed men, it damaged French interest. A new outbreak of war with Austria and the British naval victory at Trafalgar in 1805, made a landing in the British Isles less feasible, and almost killed off the corps. The Legion languished until 1806 with about seventy-five other ranks passing through. Since recruits were initially limited to the Irish or those of Irish descent, and few of either came forward, the intake was very low, the first volunteers coming as deserters from the 18th Foot, later the Royal Irish Regiment, based in the Channel Islands, or from naval prisoners of war. The British Army was 15 Charles Pierre François Augereau, 1757–1816; marshal of France, 1804; duke of Castiglione. 16 Brig. Gen. François Xavier Donzelot, 1764–1843. 17 o’Connor’s commission as général de division (lieutenant general) is dated 24 Feb. 1804. The rank of lieutenant general existed before the Decree of 21 February 1793 by which it was replaced by général de division. under Napoleon, the higher rank of général de corps d’armée became equated with lieutenant general, as it is today. The rank of lieutenant general returned with the Restoration. See o’Connor’s naturalization dossier at Archives Nationales de France (ANF) 5635B2 BB/11/149/2. 18 Henri-Jacques-Guillaume Clarke, 1765–1818; Count Hunebourg, 1807; duke of Feltre, 1809; marshal of France, 1816; minister for war, 1807–14, and in 1815. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 192 192 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch not active in europe, so the only Irish prisoners of war who volunteered came from the Royal Navy. Country of birth Number % Ireland France Not given 35 28 13 46 37 17 Total 76 100 Figure 1: National origins of Irish Legion volunteers up to october 180619 Any suggestion that the Irish flocked to the Legion would be an exaggeration. Those who joined at Morlaix as officers in 1803 and 1804, added to recruits between 1803 and 1806, with Irish places of birth, amounted to less than a hundred. In addition, the archives contain letters from about fifty Irishmen and others seeking admission to the corps, either as officers or in the ranks. Most of these were declined, or did not accept the rank offered.20 o P e R A T I o N S 21 In 1806, the Legion was deployed in Germany and, at last, recruiting actively. The first surge came at Mainz with a contingent of Prussian prisoners of war, among which were many Irish rebels of 1798 and 1803 who had been inducted into the Prussian army as an alternative to transportation,22 though it is widely held they were sold into slavery in the salt mines.23 19 SHD 23yC207 (1803–1806). 20 SHD Xh16b, 16c and 16d. Chief among these was James Joseph MacDonnell, a rebel leader at Castlebar in 1798, who held the brevet of general from Humbert and later turned down the rank of captain in the Irish Legion. 21 Space allows only a very sketchy summary of operations. See Byrne, Gallaher, Carles and others for greater detail. 22 Byrne estimates that 1,500 prisoners from the Prussian army joined, but does not specify the number of Irish. one officer, Charles Mullany, born Co. Donegal in 1777, who had served under Humbert, may have joined with this group. See Byrne, ii, 26–7. Mullany’s enlistment date is given as 27 November 1806. See his naturalization dossier, ANF BB/11/136/1 1505B4. A gap in the registers of troops at SHD seems to exist for late 1806. 23 Letters exchanged in 1798 and 1799 between Viscount Castlereagh, chief secretary for Ireland, and Captain Schouler of the Prussian Army discuss military service only, Schouler insisting on able-bodied rebels and no common criminals. See National Archives of Ireland (NAI), Rebellion Papers 620/18a/2/1–11, etc. Rebels were to serve ten years in the Prussian Army, but were liable be sent to the salt mines for breaches of discipline. See Freeman’s Journal, 1 June 1799. The king of Prussia gave them leave to return home. See Waterford Mirror, 6 April 1806, seven months before 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 193 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 193 Now a functioning military unit, the Legion was deployed in coastal defence along the estuary of the river Scheldt, in malaria-infested marshlands. Coincidentally, on the english side of the Channel, in a similar role, stood a brigade commanded by Major-General Sir Arthur Wellesley,24 including the Connaught Rangers,25 destined to become his shock troops in the coming war in the Iberian Peninsula. In November 1807, the Legion was strong enough to allow the transfer to Spain of a provisional second battalion of 800 men under Louis Lacy, a Spanish captain of Irish descent.26 This contingent was outside Madrid when ‘The Second of May’ uprising broke out, and was deployed to restore order. While demoralized by the sudden disappearance of their commander, Captain Lacy, the provisional second battalion was reinforced in late 1808 by 600 men under Captain Jeremiah FitzHenry,27 who was soon raised to lieutenant colonel and appointed commander of the contingent in Spain, now the 2nd battalion. The officers and men were yet to receive a serious blow to their morale – they discovered that Lacy had defected back to his former compatriots, the Spanish.28 Far worse was to come. The former Irish rebels would have relished an encounter with Sir John Moore, whose army was in retreat across the north of Spain in the midwinter of 1808–9. Though Moore had participated in the suppression of the Irish Rebellion in 1798, the Irish respected him because of his humane treatment of civilians and captured rebels.29 The battalion was, however, diverted to Burgos, where assignments included garrison duty, construction of defences, escorting prisoners and fighting irregulars, a task the Irish executed very well, though very much against their inclinations. The newly formed 3rd battalion of 800 men under Lieutenant Colonel J.F. Mahony arrived in Spain 1810.30 Intended to support the 1st battalion, which they joined the Irish Legion in November 1806. 24 First duke of Wellington, b. Dublin, 1769. 25 The 88th Foot, about which Wellington would later declare, ‘Whenever anything very gallant or very desperate is to be done, there is no corps in the army I would sooner employ than your old friends, the Connaught Rangers.’ See Sir James MacGrigor, The autobiography and services of Sir James McGrigor (London 1861), p. 259. 26 Louis Lacy was born in Andalusia in 1776. His father, Patrick, was colonel of the Irish ultonia Regiment in the Spanish service. Lacy resigned his own commission in the ultonia after an incident, and went to France. 27 Gallaher seems to be confusing Jeremiah with northern rebel John FitzHenry, who was born in Co. Derry in 1768 and died at Landernau in 1805. See Gallaher, p. 119. For comparative details, see Nominal Roll, 20 Floréal, yr 12 (8 May 1804), SHD Xh14. Byrne refers to John FitzHenry as John MacHenry. See Byrne, ii, p. 300. 28 Lacy later became captain general of Catalonia, but was executed in 1816 for alleged republican activity, the king posthumously creating him duke of ultonia. 29 Byrne, ii, 51. 30 More frequently referred to as ‘Mahony’ than by his correct name, ‘o’Mahony,’ which is given in his Legion of Honour file, as ‘le Comte o’Mahony, Jean François.’ ANF L201803. up to 1814, his usual signature reads ‘J.F. Mahony,’ See Mahony to the King, Antwerp, 23 April 1814, SHD Xh16b. The Declaration of Loyalty to the King dated 1 January 1815 is signed ‘Le Chevalier de Mahony,’ See SHD Xh16a. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 194 194 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch had been fighting a British sea-borne attack at Walcheren, the 3rd battalion was diverted to Spain when Flushing surrendered on 15 August,31 and almost the entire 1st battalion went into captivity,32 the Legion’s first operational disaster. Though a handful of officers and men avoided capture, including William Lawless, who would later command the regiment,33 the majority remained in captivity until 1814. under FitzHenry, the 2nd battalion managed to keep an active force in the field in the Peninsula, mustering between 500 and 550 effectives from April to December 1810 – a respectable number when compared with other foreign units.34 Though the Irish Legion became ‘The Irish Regiment’ in May 1809, and Colonel Daniel o’Meara was appointed commander,35 FitzHenry remained commander in Spain until o’Meara’s arrival. However, o’Meara’s dismissal for incompetence by Junot,36 placed FitzHenry again at the top in Spain, but the unit was shocked by a second defection in early 1811, that of FitzHenry himself, this time to Wellington. By December 1811, the demoralized and reduced battalion had been recalled to France, beginning its withdrawal on Christmas Day. The Irish who had joined at Mainz in 1806, and who had gone to Spain with Lacy in 1808, transferred with their non-Irish comrades to the Prussian regiment. The rest of that Irish contingent had fallen again into British hands at the surrender of Flushing. Thus, the Legion lost its most significant Irish element. Never again would the Irish account for more than about 10% of the rank and file. Although they had taken part in the assault on Astorga (for which the corps received three awards of the Legion of Honour),37 in Massena’s pursuit of Wellington to the Lines of Torres Vedras, and in the rearguard of Massena’s retreat back into Spain, acquitting themselves well in a desperate situation, the Legion had never engaged the British in pitched battle in almost four years in Spain and Portugal. At Fuentes de onõro, for example, they had to 31 Vlissingen, Zeeland, The Netherlands. 32 The Flushing prisoners were transported to Norwich, england, and to Scotland. 33 Those who also avoided captivity were Capt. William Dowdal (d. of wounds), Capt. Patrick MacCann (d. of wounds), Capt. William Barker, and Lt. Terence o’Reilly. The wounded Lawless and o’Reilly saved the regimental eagle. Lawless’ replacement as battalion commander, brevet Lt-Col Joseph Koslowski, b. Poland 1776, arrived back at Antwerp in october 1809 after only two months of captivity. See Koslowski to Minister for War, received 22/11/1809 (SHD Xh16c). Dublin-born Lt. Charles Ryan arrived back in 1812. (Ryan to Minister for War, 27 May 1812, SHD Xh16d). Capt. Arthur MacMahon also escaped. 34 Carles, p. 37. 35 Son of John o’Meara, of the Clare Regiment, Daniel Joseph (b. Dunkirk, 1764) was a twin brother of former Legion officer William. Daniel began his career as a cadet in Dillon’s Regiment and retired from the army in 1811. 36 Jean-Androche Junot (1771–1813), duke of Abrantes, commander of the 8th Corps of the Army of Portugal. 37 John Allen (b. Dublin, 1777) captain of the light (voltiger) company, who led the assault, Adj. Maj. James Perry, and a drummer who went on drumming with both legs broken. Byrne, ii, 74. Legion of Honour dossiers: John Allen, ANF L0023016; James Perry L2016285. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 195 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 195 stand by while the Connaught Rangers, which had received hundreds of rebel prisoners into its ranks after 1798, led Wellington’s Third Division in the final assault. Nor did the Legion receive a single battle honour for its efforts, while, on the opposite side, the Connaught Rangers topped the Irish regiments with twelve.38 The greater part of the Legion’s losses were due to desertion, and not a single officer fell in combat,39 while the Rangers lost twenty-seven.40 one might well wonder whether the Legion had been in the same war. At the beginning of 1811, the newly formed 4th battalion had been absorbed by the reformed 1st battalion, under Antrim-born Presbyterian, Lieutenant Colonel John Tennent. The returned cadre of the 2nd battalion was now the framework for a new 2nd battalion, while the surplus officers of the old 3rd battalion were also rebuilding. Meanwhile, recruiting for a new 4th battalion was in progress at Landau. Despite attempts to put itself into marching order, the regiment once again languished in 1812, perhaps fortunately so, while the Grande Armée invaded Russia. In early 1813, Napoleon’s shattered army rebuilt itself as he embarked on his Saxon campaign. The 1st and 2nd battalions of what was now the 3rd Foreign Regiment, went into action. Ringing hollow was Napoleon’s remark that he preferred the unit in coastal defence to save his line troops such arduous duty. In the Irish ranks were the veterans of many fine armies, and they were seen as experienced and dependable among Bonaparte’s green levies. The campaign of 1813 was a disaster. Acquitting themselves favourably in combat at Goldberg, Lowenberg and elsewhere, the Irish battalions suffered serious casualties including the first battalion commander, John Tennent, killed, and the regimental commander, William Lawless, losing a leg, with as many as 400 all ranks killed in action. Soon after, fighting under the wounded Hugh Ware, the Legion was let down by its generals and trapped with Puthod’s division against the flooded Bober river, with all bridges cut. In a devastating Russo-Prussian surprise attack and bombardment, as many as 1400 men, the bulk of the two battalions, were cut down, drowned in the retreat across the river, or captured.41 The debris, mustering about 30 officers and less than 100 men, limped back to Bois-le-Duc. The Legion was to see some action in the defence of Antwerp, but the Bober would remain the most costly engagement. 38 Battalions 1, 2 & 3/27th, The Inniskillings; 2/83rd, later the County of Dublin; 2/87th, the Prince of Wales own Irish, later the Royal Irish Fusiliers; and 1 & 2/88th, the Connaught Rangers. 39 Capt. Patrick Brangan died of wounds at Bejar, estramadura, in late 1811, but it is not clear how he sustained them. See Byrne, ii, 294. 40 Between 1808 and 1814, Wellington’s Irish battalions suffered, on average per battalion, 600 battle casualties and 10 officers killed. Compiled from C.B. Norman, Battle honours of the British army (London, 1911). 41 These figures require further investigation. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 196 196 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch Besieged by the British, the unit stayed hemmed in at Antwerp until Bonaparte’s abdication in 1814, apart from one sortie under Hugh Ware. Although the officer corps declared loyalty to the Bourbons,42 the Bonapartists among them hid the eagle they had been ordered to destroy. Now the 7th Foreign Regiment and under Ware, the unit saw no action during ‘the Hundred Days’ campaign, and the duplicitous action of the Bonapartists certainly contributed to their disbandment in September 1815,43 with their former patron and minister of war, Henri Clarke, wielding the axe. THe oFFICeR CoRPS The officer corps of the Legion was very diverse, with origins in over eighteen countries. The early officers were overwhelmingly Irish, but this changed over time. of those who joined during the six months beginning December 1803, Bernard MacSheehy, the first overall commander, had come to France for his education in the 1780s. James Blackwell, the first battalion commander, for the same reason, and William Barker had come in the 1770s. William Lawless and John Tennent, among others, had been members of the united Irish movement and escaped from Ireland before the rebellion of 1798.44 All of these men had served in the French army before they joined the Legion, some before the Revolution, such as Blackwell and Barker, the latter having served with the old Irish Brigade. officers who joined the French army between the rebellion of 1798 and that of 1803 included prominent united Irishmen William Corbet, in 1798, and both John Tennent and William Lawless in 1799.45 While Lawless was to become the Legion’s most famous colonel, and Tennent probably its most 42 officers to King, 1 Jan 1815. SHD Xh16d. 43 Byrne blames ‘Lord Castlereagh and the english influence on the French council’ (Byrne, ii, 173) for the unit’s disbandment. However, if Castlereagh was to blame, why he had not acted after the first Restoration in 1814? The regiment had done nothing militarily to attract attention during ‘the Hundred Days’, and it is hard to imagine that the British were in the least concerned, since the Irish contingent was very small. 44 Commentators have remarked upon the anomaly of having a lieutenant colonel or chef de bataillon (Blackwell) and an overall commander, an adjudantcommandant (MacSheehy). In fact, there is no anomaly. MacSheehy outranked Blackwell, as his rank was was considered to be between colonel and general of brigade, though William Corbet was promoted to chef de bataillon in 1813 and adjudant-commandant in 1814, well before his colonelcy. It is probable that MacSheehy was intended to command a multi-battalion regiment, while Blackwell would command the 1st battalion. A second battalion was considered, but it not materialize until late 1807. See ‘Project d’organisation en Deux Bataillons’, (SHD Xh14), prepared by Adjutant-Majors Alexis Couasnon and edmund Saint Leger. Though undated, this document originates after 12 September 1804, since Lt. Col. Pettrezzoli had already replaced both MacSheehy and Blackwell. 45 Lawless joined with the brevet of lieutenant colonel on 9 September 1799, Corbet with that of captain on 4 September 1798, and Tennent with the brevet of captain in 1799. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 197 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 197 tragic officer, Corbet’s tenure was short, but he was destined to rise highest in the French army, retiring a major general. The names of at least three officers appear in the Fugitives Act of 1798,46 those of William Lawless, Arthur MacMahon and Valentine Derry, associate of Fr Patrick MacCoigly, executed in england in 1798. In the Banishment Act,47 the names of at least six appear: Christopher Martin, Bernard MacDermott, Hugh Ware, Patrick MacCann, William MacNeven and Hamden evans.48 The second major category of Irish born officers were those who fought in one or both of the rebellions. Chief of these was Miles Byrne, who served in Wexford in 1798 and in the guerrilla war in Wicklow, before taking part in the rising of 1803. Byrne’s account is invaluable, if fanciful at times. other senior rebels were Austin o’Malley, brevet colonel under Humbert, Jeremiah FitzHenry, a field commander in Wexford, and Hugh Ware, a field commander in north Kildare.49 o’Malley escaped to France; FitzHenry was amnestied but exiled himself; Ware was compelled to surrender in the face of overwhelming odds. Avoiding the fate on the gallows suffered by prominent Kildare united Irishmen, he was imprisoned and banished for life in 1802. Notable also among this group were John Allen, Alexander Devereux, and Terence o’Reilly. Neat categorization is impossible, as the early officers had a wide variety of backgrounds, and many fall into more than one category, such as William Barker, who returned to Ireland after the disbanding of the old Irish Brigade, fought in the Wexford Rebellion, and went into exile afterwards. Most Irish officers came from the upper strata of Irish society. o’Malley, Ware and FitzHenry were landowners, o’Malley being a descendant of Gaelic heroine Grace o’Malley, known as ‘Grainuaile’. Austin’s cousin, George, would later command the Connaught Rangers.50 FitzHenry descended from 46 Fugitives Act (38 George III, c.78) calls on rebels to surrender on pain of being attainted of high treason. 47 Banishment Act (38 George III, c.78) pardons named individuals concerned in rebellion, subject to banishment; forbidding return to British dominions or passage to any country at war with Britain. France was not at war with Britain when they exiles took up residence during the peace of Amiens, 1802–3. 48 Arthur o’Connor and Thomas Addis emmet are also listed. The Hamden evans listed was also a State Prisoner at Fort George from 1798 to 1802, and was the father of an officer of the same name (b. Dublin, 2 oct. 1782), who appears for the first time on the nominal roll dated 5 May 1810. However, the senior evans appears, also a lieutenant, as a signatory on the process verbal of the formation of the Legion on 30 Jan. 1804 (SHD Xh14), but on no later document. The matter remains to be clarified. See Miles Byrne on the evans family. (Byrne, ii, 178, 324, 336 etc.). 49 While Ware’s rebel activities are documented both in the Rebellion Papers and contemporary historiography, FitzHenry’s are not, though there was great interest in him after his departure to France. His wife, Mary, was a sister of executed united Irishman and rebel, John Colclough of Ballyteague. However, neither is there significant reference to Miles Byrne who, according to his SHD dossier, commanded 1,500 men, 2,000 in some documents, though he himself does not mention such a figure. 50 Maj. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 198 198 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch King Henry I of england, and from Meillor FitzHenry, prominent among the first Normans in Ireland. others came from the rising middle class, such as James MacGuire, originally a tailor, and John Allen, a partner in a Dublin drapery business. The early officer corps contained several lawyers,51 doctors (William MacNeven and William Lawless), former officers of the British army (edward Masterson); the French army (James Perry, Bernard MacSheehy);52 the Spanish army (Louis Lacy); and the Portuguese army (Robert Lambert). Patrick MacSheehy had served in the Irish yeomanry cavalry during the 1798 Rebellion.53 There was at least one Presbyterian minister of religion, Arthur MacMahon,54 and one Anglican clergyman, John Richard Burgh,55 though no Catholic priests are reported.56 Several officers, many of them graduates or expelled students of Trinity College, Dublin, had been professors of english in French military academies.57 Two early officers had been condemned to prison terms in Botany Bay. The death sentence for treason on edward Gibbons was commuted to transportation for life, while Michael Sheridan was sentenced to transportation for distributing forged banknotes.58 Both escaped and made their way to France. Attempts by fellow officers to remove Sheridan on the grounds that he was a convicted criminal did not succeed, probably because, as Dalton notes, he had been a captain of insurgents under Humbert.59 Throughout the life of the regiment, the Irish-born officers came mainly from three areas of Ireland: Wexford, Mayo, and the area of the Pale, including the county of Dublin, which produced most, and parts of Kildare and Meath. A few came from ulster. The origins of the rest cover most of Gen. George o’Malley (1780–1843) commanded the 44th Foot under Wellington at Waterloo, and became colonel of the Connaught Rangers in 1825. His statue stands in Castlebar, while Austin has no monument. 51 Several had legal training, but Luke Lawless seems to be the only one who practised, and resumed his profession in the uSA after his expulsion from France in 1816. 52 Capt. Bernard MacSheehy (b. Paris 1783) a relative of the commander. SHD Xh16c. 53 A cousin of Adj. Com. MacSheehy, Capt. Patrick MacSheehy was born in Co. Kerry in 1770. Byrne, ii, 287. Byrne confirms his membership of the yeomanry. However, Commander MacSheehy does not mention this and states that, in 1798, his cousin ‘fought very actively against the english.’ up the 1798, he had been professor at an academy at Gorey, Co. Wexford. MacSheehy, Nominal Roll of officers, 27 Floréal, yr 12, (17 May 1815). SHD Xh 14. Some of the yeomanry defected to the rebels. 54 Born in Co. Down in 1755, Arthur MacMahon was minister of the parish of Hollywood in that county. His name appears on the earliest nominal rolls of the Irish Legion, and on the latest, though in his 70th year. For example, see Nominal Roll, 1 Sept. 1815 (SHD Xh16.) John Tennent was the son of a Presbyterian minister. 55 B. Dublin 1867. Donzelot, Inspection Report, 19 Vendémiaire, yr 13. (11 oct. 1804) SHD Xh14. 56 Valentine Derry is reputed to have been a brother of the Catholic bishop of Derry. 57 other professions include, land surveyor (Hugh Ware, mechanicien, probably an engineer (Joseph Parrot) and shoemaker (John FitzPatrick). 58 Donzelot, Inspection Report, Lesneven, 10 oct 1804, and Couasnon/St-Leger,’Project d’organisation en Deux Bataillons’, SHD Xh14. Couasnon had left by the end of 1804. 59 Dalton, Supplementary Roll, undated, but probably late 1803, SHD Xh14. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 199 199 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 Leinster and Munster, and the officers originating there were Catholic or Anglican, the Connaught men were mainly Catholic, and the northerners, mainly Presbyterian.60 No reports of religious disharmony appear in archived documents. In fact, religion is hardly mentioned. Leinster Munster Ulster Dublin 18 Wexford 7 Kildare 6 Louth 4 Kilkenny 3 Carlow 2 Wicklow 2 Meath 1 Cork 11 Kerry 5 Tipperary 3 Clare 1 Waterford 1 Down Antrim Derry Donegal Totals 43 21 Connaught 4 1 1 1 7 Mayo Galway 6 4 10 Figure 2: Counties of origin of the Irish born officers. 80 originate as listed above. The county of origin of some officers has yet to be established. unrepresented counties are omitted. To move on to the French born of Irish parentage or descent, and to those with a mixed nationality who espoused Irish nationalism, even if their commitment was less fervent than that of the Irish born, a difference that was to cause some friction. This group included those who simply wished to attach themselves to an Irish military unit, and those who were sent to the Legion because of their Irish origins, however tenuous. Leading among this group at the formation was old Irish Brigade officer William o’Meara, who left France after the Revolution and served in the Irish Brigade in the British service, returning to France during the peace of Amiens.61 His twin brother, Daniel, who had remained in France, would become the first regimental commander of the Irish Legion when it became the Irish Regiment in 1809. Another Franco-Irish commander who had served in the British Army was Jean François o’Mahony, who joined in 1809, only to become a very unpopular commander of the regiment in 1813. others of Franco-Irish parentage include Henry Mandeville, a relative of the Henri Clarke, later minister for war,62 and Louis Tournier Dupouget, both having 60 Catholics included Bernard MacSheehy, William Lawless, Jeremiah FitzHenry and Austin o’Malley, Presbyterians, Arthur MacMahon, John FitzHenry and John Tennent, and Anglicans, William and Thomas Corbet, John Richard Burgh. James Perry was probably agnostic. 61 William o’Meara later became colonel of the 2nd Foreign Regiment (d’Isenbourg), a command he held for some years. 62 Mandeville was serving as 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 200 200 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch served in the old Irish Brigade. In this group also is edmund Saint-Leger, the son on an Irishman, who was later followed by two brothers, Patrice and Auguste. Auguste osmont claimed Irish descent and was admitted, becoming a stalwart officer despite initial rejection by the native Irish. The first quartermaster was also named Bernard MacSheehy, who also experienced similar rejection but, unlike osmont, soon left the Legion. Typical in the next group, which was composed of French officers without Irish connections but who were attached to the Legion mainly to supervise training, was Alexis de Couasnon, adjutant-major in 1804. of the lower aristocracy, Couasnon had served at Versailles as a page to the queen, and as an officer in the King’s Artillery. o’Meara, Mahony and Couasnon had all served with the British army between 1794 and 1802. Mahony had fought against Napoleon in egypt and Couasnon against the French in the Low Countries. His commission is signed by Lord Cornwallis, later lord lieutenant of Ireland. Most of the officers of non-Irish birth but of Irish origins were born in France, notably the o’Meara twins, William and Daniel; Baron Patrice Magrath and his sons Achille and Louis; the Saint-Leger brothers, edouard, Patrice and Auguste; William o’Morand and J.F. Mahony. Louis Lacy and Alfred de Wall were born in Spain, and Thomas o’Sullivan in The Netherlands. The fathers of the last three were serving or had served in the armies of those countries after quitting the French army on the dispersal of the old Irish Brigade in the early 1790s. The leading ten French departments and Irish counties from which Irish Legion officers of Irish birth or descent originated appear in Figure 3. The now defunct département de la Seine, which contained the city of Paris, produced an equal number to Dublin. The département du Nord, produced eight, behind Cork’s eleven, but just ahead of Wexford. Irish county/ French dept No. % of total Irish county/ French dept No. % of total Dublin Seine Cork Nord Wexford 18 18 11 8 7 6.5 6.5 4.0 2.9 2.5 Mayo Pas de Calais Kildare Kerry Tipperary 6 5 6 5 3 2.2 1.8 1.8 1.8 1.1 Figure 3: Leading ten counties or departments of origin of Irish or Franco-Irish officers63 a second lieutenant in the 111st Line regiment. His father was killed in action with the old Irish Brigade. See SHD Xh14. 63 Figures 3 and 4 are based on a total of 280 officers throughout the life of the Regiment, although the provenance some has yet to be established. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 201 201 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 If 41 out of the 46 original officers were Irish or of Irish origin (88%), this percentage declined over the years, and Figure 4 shows the leading eight out of eighteen countries of origin of officers over the Legion’s life. Origin No. % of total Officers France Ireland German States Prussia 102 87 24 10 36.0 31.0 8.5 3.0 Poland Italy Scotland england No % of total 7 6 4 4 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.5 Figure 4: Leading 10 countries of origin of Irish Legion officers, 1803–15 However, when the wider category of Irish parentage or origin is employed, the table changes and the combined Irish category moves up, but it never reaches 50%. In other words, more than half of the all the officers who served in the Irish Legion had no Irish connection. The initial surge of Irish officers soon peaked as the pool of exiles was exhausted,64 and promotions from the ranks, such as that of Patrick Macegan and Francis eager, filled some vacancies. younger men trickled in, such as Dublin-born Samuel Stephens, who made his own way from Ireland in 1808 at the age of 18, starting in the quartermaster’s department, before being commissioned and transferring to a company. Anthony Setting, also Dublinborn, seems to have been scarcely fourteen when he enlisted and, having ‘passed through all the grades,’ was a sergeant major of the light company when he was commissioned at barely 17. Auguste Saint-Leger and Arthur Barker joined directly from the Irish College in Paris after at least one rejection on the grounds of age.65 SaintLeger, who followed in the footsteps of two older brothers, one of whom died at Flushing, managed to be accepted and was already a lieutenant at 18.66 Born in 1797, Arthur Barker would have had no recollection of the rebellion, but he wanted to follow his late father’s example.67 The regiment thus took on the characteristics or a more mature corps, mainly because it had entered the minds of many Irish as the successor of the old Brigade. However, the shortage of Irishmen soon told.68 64 one of the factors that contributed to this shortage was the amnesties of Lord Cornwallis, which reduced the number of refugees. 65 Le Séminaire Collège des Irlandois, Anglois, et Écosses réunis. Today, the Irish Cultural Centre, rue des Irlandais, Paris. 66 However, archive sources disagree on the date of birth of Auguste St. Leger. A memorandum of 12 April 1810, signed by Col. o’Meara and Gen. Solignac, gives 3 Jan. 1791, while a service record of 1 Feb. 1814 signed by Col. o’Mahony gives 4 Jan. 1794. Dates of birth given in archived documents are often inaccurate, with the exception of those signed by the individual. 67 William Barker, b. Co. Wexford, 1759; d. Ghent, 1811. 68 The family groupings are too numerous and too complex to allow a full discussion here. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 202 202 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch The vacuum caused by that shortage was filled in the main by Frenchmen, Germans, Prussians and Poles. unlike the French, many of whom resented being in a foreign regiment since it retarded their promotion prospects, the Prussians had a strong loyalty.69 By 1814, the dominance of the Irish officers in general was under serious threat, and the transcript below of a nominal roll of 1 March 1814 demonstrates.70 Rank Colonel Lieutenant colonel Adjutant-major Commander (lt.-col. or capt.) Captain Lieutenant Second-lieutenant Captain Lieutenant Second-lieutenant Total Posts Held by Irish 2 Staff 5 7 Battalions 4 Companies 24 24 24 Grenadiers 16 4 6 2 4 3 4 5 6 2 3 1 0 Figure 5: Irish representation among the officer corps in 1814 The two colonels listed, William Lawless and J.F. Mahony, were both Irish, the former Irish-born but no longer on active duty, and the latter of Irish parentage and in command. Though four out of the five lieutenant colonels on the staff are Irish, only three out of four adjutants have Irish birth or connections. Further down the staff, among the quartermaster, pay-officer and so on, there are no Irishmen. However, the four battalions have Irish commanders, only two of whom are lieutenant colonels. of 24 posts of company commander, 5 are vacant and 5 are held by Irish captains, while 14 are held by French or Germanic officers.71 out of 24 posts 69 Having been transferred out in early 1814 as their country was at war with France, a number of Prussian officers, supported by their former Irish comrades, petitioned the ministry of war. They were reinstated three months later. The disbandment of the other foreign regiments – the Irish being spared – brought a wave of officers, which further diluted the Legion’s waning Irish character. 70 Nominal roll of officers, 1 March 1814, SHD Xh16. 71 officers whose origins fell within the present Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublik Deutschland ) and the Republic of Austria (Republik Österreich), or those with Germanic names whose provenance lay within the Austro-Hungarian empire. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 203 203 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 of lieutenant, only 6 are held by Irishmen and 4 are vacant. Among the second lieutenants, only two officers are of Irish birth and one of Irish origin, the other 22 having mainly Germanic origin. Among the grenadier companies, only 3 Irish captains out of 16 of that rank are present. only one of four lieutenants is Irish, but none of the six second lieutenants. The actual breakdown by nationality over the life of the unit, given in Figure 4, above, does not tell the whole story. The Irish dominated the officer corps from start to finish, but, at the end, it was in the senior ranks only. Though it was necessary to bring in some non-Irish officers at the formation and, later, an abundance, even at higher ranks, the unit never lost its Irish aspirations or character. The following table shows that the Irish or those of Irish origin served longer, and, the top Irish officers on the roll on 1 January 1815, had almost eight times the length of service of other senior officers. Officers Awarded the Legion of Honour72 Officers on roll 1 January 1815 Nationality Months of service in IL Nationality Months of service in IL Irish origins others 100 51 Irish origins others 115 15 Figure 6: A comparison of length of service between officers of Irish and others Not a single officer of non-Irish birth or origin, who had joined during its first year, was still present when the corps was disbanded, and the vast majority of officers of non-Irish birth or origin were transient. The core of dedicated Irish nationalists who were there at the beginning, survived, for the most part. Miles Byrne is the best known. yet, the 40+ officers of Irish origin at the formation of the regiment in 1803–4 had dwindled to less than 10 by September 1815. THe CoMMANDeRS In all its designations, the Legion had six commanders, in three of whom it was fortunate and in three others unfortunate. We will look at these in order. 72 officers who served with the Irish Legion who won the Legion of Honour, before, during or after their service. At least 35 officers received that decoration. There may have been many more. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 204 204 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch From To Dec. 1803 Officer Rank Unit Designation Sept. Bernard MacSheehy 1804 adjutantcommandant la Légion irlandaise Sept 1804 July edouard Antoine 1809 Petrezzoli lieutenant colonel ” April 1809 May Daniel o’Meara73 1810 colonel May 1810 Feb. No overall commander 1812 in fact. Junot had placed o’Meara on his staff, but Clarke still considered him commander, which the archived documents reflect, until he appointed Lawless. Feb. 1812 Dec. William Lawless 1813 colonel 3e Regiment étranger (irlandais) Dec. 1813 April Jean F Mahony 1815 colonel ” April 1815 Sept. Hugh Ware 1815 major74 7e Regiment étranger le Régiment irlandais ” Figure 7: Commanders of The Irish Legion in all its designations. Adjutant-Commandant Bernard MacSheehy75 The first commander, Bernard MacSheehy led the corps from December 1803 to September 1804, had been deputy to Wolfe Tone when the latter was 73 Junot dismissed o’Meara in May 1810. Feltre appointed William Lawless on 8 February 1812. 74 Napoleon raised Ware to colonel during ‘the Hundred Days’, but he reverted to major after the Second Restoration. He again raised in 1831. The anomaly is significant, as the grade of major was normally reserved for a lieutenant colonel on depot duty as distinct from field or overall commander. 75 MacSheehy’s 500-word entry in 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 205 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 205 serving as adjutant-general in the Army of the Sambre. Although Tone seems to have felt that MacSheehy was prone to self-aggrandisement and intrigue, he recommended him to Hoche for a fact-finding mission to Ireland, a task the young MacSheehy seems to have conducted well.76 77 However, Tone’s opinion of MacSheehy was very low, and he was not happy with him as deputy.78 When he sent him to Paris to collect his trunk, Tone wrote to Matilda, ‘He is a blockhead, but be civil to him.’79 When Tone was at last free of MacSheehy, he declared, ‘if ever there was a rascal in the world, devoid of all principle, he is one.’80 Miles Byrne echoes Tone’s opinion and blames MacSheehy for retarding his military career.81 However, other factors may have caused Byrne’s failure to advance.82 Whatever MacSheehy’s administrative and organizational talents, he lacked the qualities necessary to command the Irish Legion,83 and his inability to manage the internecine nationalist factions marred the early years. Lieutenant-Colonel Edouard Antoine Petrezzoli Italian-born Petrezzoli replaced MacSheehy as regimental commander. The greatest asset in the eyes of his commanders was that he was not Irish and knew nothing about the political conflict that wracked the corps. He may have been a ‘kill it or cure it’ remedy for the squabbling Irish. A veteran of the Italian campaigns who had come up from the ranks, a tough light-infantry commander and an able tactician, he had to deal with devastating malaria, intrigue, unwillingness to cooperate and outright disobedience. Always making sure he had the backing of his commanders and the minister for war, he pensioned off incapable officers, dismissed troublemakers, and even had William Lawless, Thomas Markey and other recalcitrant officers sent into what amounted to internal exile ‘en mission’ to the maritime prefect at Brest, where they languished a full two years.84 Danielle and Bernard Quintin, Dictionnaire des Colonels de Napoléon (Paris, 1996) makes no mention of his 10 months as commander of the Irish Legion. 76 Marianne elliott, Wolfe Tone: prophet of Irish independence (New Haven, 1989), p. 320 and endnote 41 to chap. 23. Also C.J. Woods, ‘The secret mission to Ireland of Captain Bernard MacSheehy, an Irishman in French service, 1796’, Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Soc., 78 (1973), 93–108. 77 elliott, p. 319, and Partners in revolution, pp 334–6. 78 Cited by elliot, TCD MS 2049/359, see also fos. 131v, 136v and 154 for similar complaints. Dr elliot notes that ‘none of these criticisms appeared in the published Life. Matilda came to know MacSheehy well in Paris’: elliott, Wolfe Tone, endnote 36, Chap 24. 79 elliott, Wolfe Tone, p. 347. 80 elliott, Wolfe Tone, p. 370, and endnote 12 to chap. 28. 81 Byrne, ii, 8. The question remains as to how well Byrne knew Mathilda Tone before he met MacSheehy, and whether Mathilda influencd his opinion. 82 Several officers failed to advance, notably Lt. Col. James Blackwell and Capt. James MacGuire. However, others accelerated past Byrne, such as Terence o’Reilly, edmund St Leger, James Perry, Patrick Macegan, all of whom were younger. James Perry was a sergeant when Byrne was a lieutenant, but made lt. col. a full 12 years before Byrne. Macegan was a corporal at 17, in 1804, but had become captain adjutant-major by 1815. 83 Byrne, ii, 6. 84 Alexander 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 206 206 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch Almost universally despised by the Irish officers, who saw him as a foreigner, and an oppressor because of his strict command, he managed to turn the fragmented unit into an effective light infantry battalion, becoming the Legion’s longest serving commander, only ceding command a few months before the surrender of Flushing in 1809, in which he was taken prisoner. His nearly five years of effort were all in vain, as almost the entire unit went into captivity with him. Resuming his army career on his release in 1814, he became a French citizen in 1819.85 Colonel Daniel O’Meara Daniel o’Meara’s main qualification to command the Irish Regiment was that his wife was a sister of the duchess of Feltre, wife of the minister for war, the man who appointed him. His second asset was that he was of Irish descent. The fact that he had little experience of field command did not escape the commander of the 8th Corps, General Junot, who dismissed him in May 1810, after less than a year in command and about two months in Spain. Assertions that he was too old are hardly credible as he was the same age as the man he replaced, Pettrezolli.86 The reason was simply incompetence and a lack of experience. Junot asserted that he was not fit to lead ‘a squad of ten men.’ Clarke would not learn from this experience. Promoting o’Meara over the head of the very popular and experienced Jeremiah FitzHenry was deeply resented by the battalion in Spain. Colonel William Lawless Lawless survived his confrontation with Pettrezzoli and was reinstated to the Legion in 1809, first as a battalion commander at Landau, and then, after Pettrezzoli’s transfer to the 43rd regiment, as commander of the 1st battalion at Flushing, which he managed to enter regardless of the siege. universally popular with his officers and troops, and former professor of surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Lawless was unfortunate in his superiors. A courageous leader and highly effective administrator, he rebuilt the regiment after its fragmentation in the Peninsula. The campaign of 1813 was an utter disaster. Not only did he lose his brother-in-law, Captain Devereux and John Reilly were also sent to Brest. Pettrezzoli saw these officers as conspirators who were damaging the unity of the corps. Markey wrote several letters to both ministers of war, Berthier and his successor, Clarke, denouncing Pettrezzoli. The first of these provoked a major inspection by Gen. Donzelot in 1805, which, contrary to Markey’s intention, revealed that the Irish officers were abusing their French comrades, which had resulted in a duel between Lt. Patrick o’Kelly and Lt. Denis Thiroux, and the resignation of the latter. Later letters by Markey to Clarke, minister for war from mid1807, show an great resentment against the Italian, and, playing the Irish nationalist card, may have resulted in the removal of Pettrezzoli in mid-1809. Clarke’s reasons for co-opting Markey on to his staff can only be guessed at. 85 Pettrezzoli’s naturalization file: ANF BB/11/175, 1140BS. 86 Pettrezzoli and o’Meara were both 45 in 1809. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 207 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 207 Hamden evans,87 he was also so severely wounded that his army career was cut short, and perhaps his life.88 He lost his command at Lowenberg and his two senior battalions on the Bober river. Denied the title of baron of the empire conferred by Napoleon, he retired as an honorary major-general.89 Colonel Jean François Mahony Feltre’s appointment of French-born Mahony over the head of the acting commander Hugh Ware defied all reason, just as his earlier promotion of o’Meara over FitzHenry had done. Mahony had been dismissed by Junot for incompetence as a battalion commander in Spain, and was reviled by the Legion officers, especially the Bonapartists, mainly because of his British service against France, but also because of his politics, character and behaviour. Mahony was a declared royalist, and was even arrested during the siege of Antwerp in 1814 for collusion with the enemy. Colonel Hugh Ware ‘Brave to a proverb,’ according to his obituary in The Times, Hugh Ware was ‘humane almost to a fault.’90 Wounded at Lowenberg, he assumed command of the Legion when Lawless fell wounded. Ware commanded at the disaster on the Bober river, where he was again wounded, but the affair was out of his hands. Passed over in favour of J.F. Mahony in December 1813, he became commander in April 1815. A man of outstanding military talent, Ware had the ideal qualities of a soldier and leader, excelling as commander of the elite units.91 His divisional commander in Spain, General Solignac, rated him among the finest officers he had ever met.92 It seems ironic that the only Legion commander to have held a significant rebel field command was to be its last, and that such an active and courageous officer was forced to pass his tenure in frustrating inactivity. His obituary in The Times demonstrates how widely he was respected. ReCRuITMeNT oF TRooPS The great shortage of Irish volunteers forced the Legion to recruit among deserters and British prisoners of war of all nationalities, and this is 87 A. Martinen, Officiers Tués et Blessés pendant les Guerres de l’Empire 1805–1815 (Paris 1889), p. 494, reports the death of evans, as does Byrne (Byrne, ii, 130.) However, a letter from evans’ wife to the minister for war dated 10 June 1814 suggests he had been taken prisoner, or that she believed that to be the case. SHD Xh16b. 88 Lawless died on Christmas Day, 1824, aged 52. 89 ANF BB/11/99/1 3245 B2. 90 obituary, The Times, London, 27 March 1846. 91 Ware succeeded FitzHenry as captain of the Carabineer (Grenadier) company, of which he had been lieutenant since 1803. 92 Written above Solignac’s counter signature to o’Meara’s promotion proposal for Ware, Perry etc., dated 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 208 208 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch mentioned in letters and memoirs of British soldiers. A sergeant in the Gordon Highlanders writes of encounters with recruiters during his captivity, which began in 1809. It may not have been easy to attract recruits at first, perhaps out of loyalty to their own units and officers, or suspicion of the French. However, after a taste of captivity, and a long march across Spain and France, recruits were easier to win over. A Scots Highland prisoner of war writes, ‘17th to Gap.93 Met a large party of British who had volunteered out of the depot into the Irish Brigade of the French service.’ Still at Gap, the Irish recruiter’s pressure is unrelenting, and the Highlander’s irritation shows: ‘we were beset by those harpies of the Irish Brigade, Capt Reilly and Sgt-Major Dwyer,94 offering us brandy and telling us all the evils of a French prison; they got three of our party to join them.’95 unable to find enough recruits among British prisoners, the Legion was forced to try further to the east. In time, this changed the national profile of the troops, so that, by 1813, the Irish character had all but disappeared from the ranks, as the tables below demonstrate.96 1st Battalion Origin Hungarian German Irish French Austrian No. of troops % total Origin 99 77 65 57 52 16.39 12.75 10.76 9.44 8.61 Prussian Polish Silesian Saxon Westphalian No. of troops % total 42 40 29 21 19 6.95 6.62 4.80 3.48 3.15 Figure 8: 3rd Foreign Regiment (Irish), 1st battalion. National origins of troops in 1813, showing the leading ten of twenty-six nationalities (604 men) The Irish were even less well represented in the second and third battalions, as demonstrated by Figures 9 and 10. 12 April 1810. SHD XH15. 93 Dept. of Hautes-Alpes, eastern France. 94 This would have been Capt. Terence o’Reilly, one of the Legion’s most active recruiters, and, probably, Sgt. Anthony Dyer or Doyer, b. Cork, 1775 or 1783, and commissioned in 1812. 95 Daniel Nicol (ed. Mack), The experiences of a Gordon Highlander during the Napoleonic wars in Egypt, the Peninsula and France (Glasgow, 1853), p. 217. 96 Figures 8, 9, and 10 are based on returns in SHD Xh16. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 209 209 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 2nd Battalion Origin Polish Austrian Hungarian Westphalian French Irish 3rd Battalion No. of troops % total Origin 163 124 113 83 52 9 24.36 18.54 16.99 12.41 1.94 1.35 Prussian Polish Rhinean French Irish Figure 9: 2nd battalion. A selection of the national origins of troops in Nov. 1812. The Irish are eight out of 14 nationalities (669 men) No. of troops % total 262 42 40 19 12 51.27 8.22 7.83 3.72 2.35 Figure 10: 3rd battalion. A selection of the national origins of troops in Nov. 1812. The Irish are ninth out of 14 nationalities (511 men) Figure 11 further demonstrates declining Irish recruitment, but this may be partly accounted for by the fact that the military situation had changed drastically. After the First Abdication, the total numbers are too small to enable any conclusions. Epoch Total recruits Number of Irish recruits % total Bober disaster to 1st Abdication Ist Restoration The Hundred Days 2nd Restoration to Disbandment 200 (s) 100 (s) 78 (t) 26 (t) 4 3 6 1 2 3 8 4 Figure 11: Irish recruitment towards the end of the life of the Irish Legion. (‘s’ = sample, ‘t’ = total)97 DeSeRTIoN Desertion plagued the Irish Legion almost from the very start, and a high proportion of the recruits who joined up to November 1806 deserted.98 From the first 76 names on the muster rolls, of which 70 were effectives, 12 out of 13 deserters, or 92%, were Irish-born. Ten were apprehended, courtmartialled, and sent back to their units, but two deserted again. 97 Compiled from Registers of Troops, SHD 23yc 205 & 206. 98 Register of Troops SHD 23yc 207. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 210 210 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch Family Name Given name Nationality Rank Deserted Carrotte o’Brien Born o’Connor Fitzgerald Goodchild Aldwell Mulauney Gallagher Harragan MacGuicken Malley Moore François Daniel Andrew Michael Thomas Thomas John Francis John John Hugh John John French Irish ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” ” Drummer Corporal Private ” ” Sergeant Corporal Sergeant Corporal ” ” Private ” 1804 1804 1804 1805 1805 1806 1806 1806 1806 1806 1805 & 180699 1806x2 1806 Figure 12: Deserters recorded in the first Register of Troops of the Irish Legion (1803–06).1 Desertion grew worse, and the contingents sent into Spain suffered greatly along the way, losing as much as 60%,2 a persistent figure. out of an 1809 sample of 100 recruits of all nationalities, 63% deserted.3 From a cluster of 11 recruits who gave their nationality as Irish, from the depot of deserters on 8 August 1809, 6 deserted (55.5%), 2 by the end of August and 4 by the end of September.4 of a random sample of 60 men recruited from among deserters and prisoners of war between 25 october and 21 November 1813, 37 (62%) are given as Irish-born and 18 (49%) of these deserted, 7 by the end of 1813 and the rest by the end of May 1814. In yet another random sample of all nationalities, 66% deserted. Some of these deserters, both non-Irish and Irish, joined the Irish Legion simply to return to their own units, or to escape the rigours of captivity, deserting as soon as possible. The outflow from the Legion through desertion was, thus, very high, and came to the attention of the enemy. A British officer wrote in 1810: 99 Probably Hugh Boyd MacGuekin, about whom there is considerable correspondence in SHD Xh16c & d. Rated as ‘neither good for officer nor soldier,’ he was discharged in December 1806 with permission to immigrate to ‘America’. 1 SHD 23yc 207. 2 estimated desertion from the contingents going into Spain are: Lacy (1807–8) 60%, FitzHenry (1808) 35%, o’Mahony (1809) 60%, osmond (1810) 60%. 3 SHD 23yC 208, numbers 601–700. 4 At least one Irishman of the Legion was executed for desertion. Joseph Howard (b. Belfast, 1789), was recruited in Spain on 8 August 1809, probably from 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 211 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 211 Deserters still continue to come in […] 45 arrived here last Monday, some of whom are Irish. They report that they belonged to the Irish Brigade, one regiment of which, composed of 900 english and Irish, entered Spain a few months since, and they had not crossed the Pyrenees six weeks before it was reduced by desertion to 500.5 This describes the arrival of the third battalion in Spain under Lieutenant Colonel Mahony. Numbers in the battalion were certainly falling, but such loss en route through desertion was extremely high, and would get worse, as an officer commanding outposts for the British Light Division, observed: At the beginning of June 1810, a sergeant who had deserted the enemy’s Irish Brigade gave information that the brigade was then in Junot’s corps and was commanded by Gen Torny and that the battalions had about 350 men each.6 The sergeant’s information agrees with a return of the same month giving the total strength in Spain at 735 men and 36 officers.7 That figure appears to have declined little by February 1811. However, when Byrne declares that the Irish Regiment, with just under 700 men, ‘still mustered one of the strongest in the army’, he neglects to make clear that the second battalion had very recently absorbed the debris of the third,8 and the cadre he mentions was the surplus officers and NCos returning to France.9 yet, there is some dispute in the archived sources. In reporting to Napoleon on 11 February 1811, Berthier puts the post-merger strength of all ranks at 505, some 200 fewer than Byrne’s figure. Before the merger, desertion had reduced the third battalion to the strength of one company.10 prisoners taken at the battle of Talavera (27–28 July 1809). Deserting on 23 March 1810, Howard was caught, found guilty and executed on 28 May. SHD 23yc 208, #694, p.114. 5 John Aitchison, An ensign in the Peninsular War: the letters of John Aitchison, ed. W.F.K. Thompson (London, 1983), p. 93, Letter to his brother William, Vizeu, 6 April 1810. The desertion given is 56%. 6 Sir James Shaw Kennedy, Diary of Gen. Craufurd outpost operations in 1810, in Rev. Alexander H. Craufurd, General Craufurd and his Light Division (London, 1892), p. 289. The ‘Gen Thorny’ mentioned is Brig. Gen. Thomieres. 7 SHD Xh15b. 8 In compliance with the Imperial Decree of 28 october 1810, the 1st bn absorbed the 4th, and the 2nd absorbed the 3rd, the latter not until February 1811, as both battalions were in action. 9 Report to the Minister, Bertrier, 11 Feb. 1811, SHD Xh15; Report on 8th Corps of the Army of Portugal, 11 Feb 1811, SHD C7 28; Report 1 Jan. 1811 SHD C7 26. Also Byrne, II, pp 78–9. 10 Berthier to Napoleon, 11 Feb 1811. Many documents mention desertion, e.g. The History of the 3rd Battalion, which states that most PoWs enlisted ‘to escape’ rather than from ‘a desire to serve His Majesty the emperor,’ SHD Xh14. This document seems to have been torn from a register of troops, such as 23yc 208, which covers the early recruitment of the 3rd battalion. An undated and unsigned note in SHD Xh15 gives the strength at Bois-le-Duc on 15 February 1811 as 557 men and 22 officers, with that in Spain in Sept. 1810 at 992 men and 35 officers. However, 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 212 212 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch Byrne also neglects to mention that total strength had dropped from 1050 rank and file in April 1810, a loss of 33 per cent, mainly through desertion, though losses at Astorga must be taken into account.11 THe DIFFICuLTIeS The Legion’s major difficulties were both built into its make-up and caused by external agents. Better management might have prevented most of these. Barred from normal recruiting in France or the areas controlled by France, the unit was forced to fall back on deserters or recruits from prisoner of war depots, many of whom deserted again. The liberation politics of Ireland caused the early disputes, and the inability of the first commander, Bernard MacSheehy, to manage the conflict seriously damaged the unit. The second conflict was the reluctance of many Irish officers to accept a commander or officers that were not Irish born. Italian commander Pettrezzoli suppressed all conflict with extreme measures. However, interference from Minister for War Clarke, son of an Irishman and former officer in the old Irish Brigade, became a kiss of death for the regiment. This interference of Clarke played a part in provoking the worst crisis in the short life of the Legion, the defection of Jeremiah FitzHenry, commander in Spain, who became the fallen angel in the eyes of his comrades. Junot predicted that the loss of FitzHenry would be the end of the Legion in the Peninsula. Nothing the Legion suffered pierced its very soul as did FitzHenry’s defection to Wellington, and for this Clarke’s interference, nepotism and vindictiveness were in part at least to blame, as it impossible to attribute his defection to a single cause.12 As Junot had predicted, on Christmas Day 1811, the remaining men of the 2nd battalion transferred to the 4th Foreign Regiment (Prussian), and the the numbers may have been transposed, as a return dated 12 Aug. 1810 gives the strength at Bois-le-Duc at 981 with 26 officers present. See Return signed Lawless, 12 Aug 1810, SHD Xh15. 11 Most of the 80 men killed at Astorga were from the Irish Regiment’s Light Company (Voltigers). 12 other factors probably include FitzHenry’s eight-year separation from his wife and family, and the recent death of his father. Born in Co. Wexford in 1774, he is probably the only Irish-born officer of the Legion to die in his birthplace or to be buried in Ireland. His defection will be examined on another occasion. I gratefully acknowledge the research of Lorcan Dunne regarding FitzHenry’s career after his defection. William Napier is in error in writing, ‘Colonel o’Meara and 80 men of the Irish Brigade were taken by Julian Sanchez; the affair having been, it is said, preconcerted to enable the former to quit the French service’: William Napier, A history of the war in the Peninsula and in the south of France, from the year 1807 to the year 1814 (7 vols, London 1834), iii, 504. However, the substitution of o’Meara’s name by either Napier or Wellington, may have been to protect FitzHenry’s reputation in Ireland. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 213 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 213 officers and NCos set out on the long winter march to the depot at Bois-leDuc.13 Though Byrne puts a brave face on it, there is simply no way to varnish such dishonour. on 17 September 1815, the last recruit enlisted, an englishman, John Leoye, aged 20, a blacksmith by trade. on the 29th, the last day in the life of the Legion, now the 7th Foreign Regiment, he transferred with hundreds of his new comrades to the Royal Foreign Legion at Toulon. The register was closed, no doubt with the utmost solemnity, and signed by the Administrative Council in the following order, Staff Sergeant Gugelot (French), Captain owidsky (Polish), Lieutenant Colonel Braun (German), Captain Miles Byrne and, finally, ‘le Major President,’ Hugh Ware.14 The rebel core had held out to the end, but, of the Irish, only Ware and Byrne would stay to obliterate the last vestiges. It must have been with deep chagrin that they watched the burning of the regimental eagle that Ware and his Bonapartist comrades had so reverently concealed on Napoleon’s first abdication, the eagle he Ware had saved on the Bober and that Lawless and o’Reilly had rescued from the debacle at Flushing. THe IRISH LeGIoN AND oLD IRISH BRIGADe To compare the Irish Legion with the old Irish Brigade is valid; to equate them would be to ram square pegs into round holes. Legion officers who attempted such an equation probably did more harm than good in reminding the king of the loyalty of the old brigade he had been forced to disperse, contrasted with the disloyalty, as it would have appeared to him, of the Irish Legion.15 Though a few Legion officers had served in the old brigade, very few of these were either Irish born or first-generation French, and cannot be described as Wild Geese. The Irish-born officers of the Legion were very different to the Wild Geese, who had fought to support a legitimate monarchist cause and a status quo. They were the exact opposite: rebel, republican, anti-monarchist and, later, Bonapartist and anti-Bourbon. They had little in common with the majority of the old-brigade officers who had defected in 1792 under a royalist ‘farewell banner,’ proclaiming an eternal and ubiquitous fidelity to the king.16 These officers had sworn allegiance to the 13 S’Hertengebosch, Noord Brabant, The Netherlands. 14 SHD 23yc206, p. 112. The signatures are immediately below Leoye’s recruitment details. 15 For example, The Declaration of Loyalty, dated 1 Jan. 1815 and signed by eighty officers, makes this comparison, organized by royalist Jean François o’Mahony, who may not have been aware that the regimental eagle still existed, in defiance of orders to destroy it. Later attempts to prolong the life of the regiment by evoking the service of the Irish regiments under the ancien régime could only have served to irritate the king. 16 ‘Semper and ubique fidelis.’ 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 214 214 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch king of France and to him alone; the Legion officers were sworn to the emperor Napoleon. Not one Irish-born officer of the Legion defected to the royalists, whereas several French-born officers did so during ‘the Hundred Days’.17 Some former old-brigade defectors of 1792 rose high in the British army, and one of these may have dealt the French the most severe blow of all in the Peninsula. ‘The fate of the campaign, and probably of the whole Peninsula, was decided […] by Colonel Nicholas Trant,’ who, with a detachment of Portuguese Militia in March 1810, held the line of the Mondego river against the retreating and desperate Massena.18 ePILoGue As the sun went down on the Irish Legion, it also set on Irish recruitment to the French army. The trend that had gone on for centuries, surging with the Wild Geese, had dwindled to a trickle. The number of Irishmen who transferred to the newly formed Royal Foreign Legion is hardly worth discussing, and it appears that not a single Irish-born Legion officer was among them. The sum of all the Irishmen who had enlisted throughout the twelve-year life of the Legion had been scarcely enough to fill a single battalion to battle strength.19 The British had won the struggle for Ireland’s military corpus, if not its very soul. A new wave had begun in 1793, the mass recruitment of the Irish into the British Army. The duke of Wellington is reported to have declared that it was to his Irish Catholic troops that the British owed their military ‘pre-eminence’.20 They contributed greatly to his victories in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. ‘It is not too much to assert,’ wrote Home Secretary Sidmouth, ‘that the supply of troops derived from Ireland turned the scale on the 18th of June.’21 The irony is inescapable. By mid-century, the Irish troops made up more than 40% of the British army, the new symbiosis playing a cardinal role in consolidating the British 17 These were all French-born, through three were of Irish parentage and descent, and one had served in the Irish Brigade. See Appendix. 18 Michael Glover, The Peninsular War (London, 1974) p. 144. Descended from a Co. Kerry Wild Geese family of Viking extraction, Trant served as a colonel on Wellington’s staff, and, acting as a military agent, he assumed command of several battalions of militia. His contingent acquitting itself very well in several actions, he was raised to major-general in Portugal and, later, in the British Army. 19 Carles, p. 35. 20 opinion differs as to whether Wellington ever made such a statement. John Cornelius o’Callaghan, The history of the Irish brigades in the service of France (Glasgow, 1870) note to pp 615–16, asserts he did, but the balance of the evidence suggests he did not. I gratefully acknowledge the research of Steven H. Smith on this matter. 21 Sidmouth to Whitworth, 24 June 1815, National Archives, Kew, H.o. 100/184 f.204. 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 215 215 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 empire, and it was held that the two best things that happened to that army during the ninteenth century were the breach-loading rifle and the Irish foot soldier, who could march all day without tiring and bear extremes of heat and cold like salamanders. Far away from Dunkirk and Belgrade, Irish troops served under a very different banner among the wild hills of India or in the sweltering heat of Africa, a universe apart from the vision of Tone, o’Connor and Fitzgerald, and, indeed, from that of Lawless and his comrades. The talented men of the Legion who sought to make that vision a reality were scattered across the world and lost forever to Ireland. Fugitives from home, they have been neglected by their own country, and, at first exploited by France, they were all too soon forgotten. The Irish Legion of Napoleon was the inglorious, the bitter swansong of a great movement. APPeNDIX 1 List of officers of the Irish Legion (The Irish Regiment, etc.), 1803–15 Ahern, John, Ireland Allen, John, Ireland Aubier, Antoine, France Avenariu, Guillaume, Germany Balthasar, Louis, France Barker, Arthur, Ireland Barker, William, Ireland Behr, Georges Henry, Germany Belaerts, Jacques, Holland Benisch, François, Bohemia Bernhold, Sigismund, Germany Berthomé, François, Ireland Blackwell, James, Ireland Bohnen, Stanislas de, Sweden Bosilio, Maurice, Italy Bourguignon, Jean-Louis, France Brangan, Patrick, Ireland Braun, Antoine, Germany Brelevet, Jean-François, France Brown, Thomas, Ireland Buchwald, Henry, Austria Buhlmann, Jacques, Germany Burghess, John, Ireland Burke, William, Ireland Butler, Alexandre, France Byrne, Miles, Ireland Cabour-Duhay, edouard, France Campbell, John, England Canillot, Jean-Baptiste, France Canton, Thomas, Ireland Cardaillac, Louis, France Carotte, François, France Cesack, Charles, Bohemia Chatelin, Jean Martin, France Conway, Thomas, France Corbet, Thomas, Ireland Corbet, William, Ireland Cordier, Victor, France Cosgrove, John, Ireland Coüasnon, Alexis de, France Cummins, John, Ireland Dantrass, edouard, France Debonnaire, Charles, France Decarne, Louis, France Delaheese, Charles, Prussia Delaney, James, Ireland Delaney, Matthew, Ireland Delaplaigne, Adolphe, France Delavieuville, Adolphe, France Delhora, Falian, Prussia Demeyere, Jean-Jacques, France Démon, Jean-Louis, France Demonts, Jean, Germany Derry, Valentine, Ireland DeVerteuil, Stanislas, France Devreux, Alexander, Ireland Dillon, Auguste, France Dowdall, William, Ireland Dowling, Jerome, Ireland Doxal, René, Switzerland Dubourg, Louis, France Dupont, Gilles, France 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 216 216 APPeNDIX Nicholas Dunne-Lynch 1 (contd) Dupouget, Louis, France Dyer, Antony, Ireland eagar, William, Ireland eckhardt, Chretien, Germany eliot, Jean, Lituania engelhard, Philippe, Germany erbling, Joseph, Germany erdely, François, Romania esmonde, Laurent d’, Ireland evans, Hampden, Ireland Farquharson, John, Scotland Ferguson, –, Scotland Ferrary, Dominique, Spain Finney, John, Ireland FitzHenry, Jeremiah, Ireland FitzHenry, John, Ireland Fitz-Patrick, James, Ireland Foyard, Louis, France Gaboulbene, Joseph, France Gaillot, Charles, France Gallagher, Patrick, Ireland Gefort, Jean, France Gerber, Godefroi, Germany Gibbons, Austin, Ireland Gibbons, edmund, Ireland Gibbons, John, Ireland Gilmer, Joseph, England Giraud, Jacques, France Glashin, Daniel, Ireland Glashin, Jean, Ireland Goetz, Jean-Philippe de, France Gordon, Robert, Scotland Gorrido, Vincent, Spain Gossling, George, Germany Gougis, Charles, France Gourgas, Bernard de, France Gourlay, François, France Gregoire, Victor, France Hamman, Jean, Prussia Heraud, Honoré, France Hertig, Charles, Prussia Hoyne, William, Ireland Hughes, John, Ireland Hupert, Frederic, Germany Igydowitz, François, Italy Jackson, Thomas, Ireland Jeetze, Charles de, Prussia Keller, Godefroi, Prussia Keller, Guillaume, Prussia Kienlin, Louis, France Klembt, Jean, Poland Klopstock, Jean-Henry, Italy Koning, Jean Pierre de, Belgium Koslosky, Joseph, Poland Lablairie, olivier, France Lacy, Louis, Spain Lalande, François, France Lambert, Robert, Ireland Landy, Michael, Ireland Landy, Richard, Ireland Lawless, Luke, Ireland Lawless, William, Ireland Lefort, Jean, France Lerreuse, Bague, France Levacher, Claude, France Lossell, Patrick, France Lynch, Patrick, Ireland MacCann, Patrick, Ireland MacCarthy, James, Ireland MacDermott, Bernard, Ireland Macegan, James, Ireland MacGawley, William, Ireland MacGuire, James, Ireland MacMahon, Arthur, Ireland MacNevin, William, Ireland MacSheehy, Bernard (1), Ireland MacSheehy, Bernard (2), France MacSheehy, Patrick, Ireland Magrath, Achille, France Magrath, Louis, France Magrath, Patrick, France Malisieux, François, France Mandeville, Auguste, France Marcelin, Joseph, France Maréchal, François, France Markey, Thomas, Ireland Martin, Christopher, Ireland Masterson, edward, Ireland Menzer, Joseph, Germany Metz, Charles, Germany Milleville, Bartholme, France Montagu, Maurice, France Montbert, Ragnar de, France Montrand, François, France Morrison, Fecorbert, Ireland Mougenot, Henri, France Mullany , Charles, Ireland Mundt, Charles, Prussia Murray, Paul, Ireland Noel, Félix, France 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 217 217 The Irish Legion of Napoleon, 1803–15 APPeNDIX 1 (contd)1 Nugent, Charles, France o’Brien, Jean, France o’Gorman, Thomas, West Indies o’Kelly, Patrick, Ireland o’Mahony, Jean-François, France o’Malley, Austin, Ireland o’Meara, Daniel, France o’Meara, William, France o’Morand, William, France o’Morand, edouard, France onslow, Maurice, France oppermann, François, Germany o’Quin, Patrice, France o’Reilly, Terence, Ireland osmont, Augustin, France osmont, edouard, France o’Sullivan, Thomas, Holland owidzky, Patrice d’, Poland Parrott, Joseph, Ireland Peeters, Philippe, Belgium Perry, James, England Petrezzoli, edouard Antoine, Italy Pickert, Leopold, Denmark Plunkett, Christopher, Ireland Poleski, François, Poland Powell, Patrick, Ireland Prevost, Louis, France Ramm, Pierre, Germany Raymond, –, Switzerland Read, Thomas, Ireland Regnier, François, France Reiff, Joseph, Germany Reiffe, Matthieu, France Reilly, John, Ireland Reynolds, Matthew, Ireland Robiquet, Jacques Charles, France Roche, Hercule de, France Ross, Daniel, Scotland Royal, Nicholas, England Ruff, Gottlieb, Prussia Russell, Michael, Ireland Ryan, Charles, Ireland Saint-Leger, Auguste, France Saint-Leger, edmond, France Saint-Leger, Patrice, France Salomez, Daniel, France Salomez, Jean Henry, France Sanford, François, Germany Schmidt, Johan, Germany Schroeder, Dominique, Germany Schroeder, Jean, Germany Schurmann, Joseph, Germany Segaud, Jean Pierre, France Serisy, edward, France Setting, Antony, Ireland Sheridan, Michael, Ireland Smith, James, Ireland Souillard, François, France Ste-Colombe, Maurice de, France Stephens, Samuel, Ireland Sturm, Frederic, Germany Swanton, Armand, France Swanton, Robert, Ireland Sweeny, John, Ireland Tennent, John, Ireland Thiroux de St Cyr, Denis, France Thompson, Henry-Jean, France Thuillier, Louis, France Thumerel, Augustin, France Towne, David William, England Tréssan, Louis de, France Tuillier, Jacques, France Tyrrell, Nicholas, Ireland Wagner, Hermann, Moravia Wagter, Godefroi, Germany Wall, Alfred de, Spain Wall, Richard de, Ireland Walsh, John, Ireland Ware, Hugh, Ireland Weichenheim, Charles, Germany Weiss, Michel, Poland Wolff, François, Germany Zapssell, Joseph, France Zelinski, Jean, Poland Zobinsky, Charles, Prussia 1 This above is the first comprehensive list of Irish Legion officers to be published. This data is derived from a wide variety of documents at le Service Historique de la Défense at Vincennes, and les Archives Nationales de France. Some names have been omitted pending further study. The information is provisional, and must not be cited as a reference or reproduced in any form. © Nicholas Dunne-Lynch 2008. enquiries should be addressed to [email protected] 10new:D&MW Part II.qxd 22/05/2009 10:57 Page 218 218 Nicholas Dunne-Lynch BIBLIoGRAPHy Full-length works Miles Byrne, The Memoirs of Miles Byrne, 2 vols (Dublin, 1907). All full editions of this work are out of print, but the 1907 edition is now downloadable on Google Books. Demi-Solde Press, San Diego, CA, has produced a facsimile of vol. II, which deals with Byrne’s life in France and his military career. http://www.demisoldepress.com/irish.htm John G. Gallaher, Napoleon’s Irish Legion (Carbondale, IL, 1993). The only in-depth study of the unit. eugene Fieffe, Histoire des Troupes Etrangères au service de la France (Paris, 1854) 2 vols. A. Martinien, Tableaux par Corps et par Batailles des officiers tués et blessés pendant les guerres de l’empire 1805–1815 (Paris, 1899). Danielle & Bernard Quintin, Dictionnaire des Colonels de Napoléon (Paris, 1996). Chapters Guy C. Dempsey, Napoleon’s mercenaries: foreign units in the French army under the Consulate and Empire, 1799–1814 (London, 2002). Relies heavily on secondary sources. Articles John G. Gallaher, ‘Irish patriot and Napoleonic soldier – William Lawless’, Irish Sword 18 (1992), 225–63. John G. Gallaher, ‘William Lawless and the defense of Flushing, 1809’, Irish Sword 7 (1989), 159–64 e.W. Ryan, ‘A projected invasion of Ireland in 1811’, Irish Sword 1 (1950–1), 136–41. P. o’Snodaigh, ‘The flag of Napoleon’s Irish legion’, Irish Sword 18:72 (Winter 1991), 239. Thomas Bartlett, ‘Last flight of the Wild Geese? Bonaparte’s Irish legion, 1803–15’, in Thomas o’Connor and Mary Ann Lyons (eds), Irish communities in early modern Europe (Dublin, 2006). Lieut-Col. Pierre Carles, President du Centre d’Histoire de Montpelier, ‘Le Corps irlandais au service de la France,’ Revue Historique des Armées, no. 1976/2, 25–54. Based mainly on archived sources. Website articles The Napoleonic Association: Capt. Frank Forde, Napoleon’s Irish Legion, with translations of the Irish Legion Historical records by Lieut.-Col. Brian Clark, is available on http://www.napoleonicassociation.org/research/articles/Napoleons%20Irish%20Legion. pdf (6 May 2008) Sympatico: Virginia Shaw Medlen, Legion Irlandaise (Napoleon’s Irish Legion) 1803–1815, is available on http://www3.sympatico.ca/dis.general/irish.htm. (6 May 2008) Both website articles provide interesting and comprehensive summaries of the regiments history and operations. Derived mainly from Byrne.