Tuesday 16 February 2010

Lauzun's Legion

This colourful French unit of the American Revolution are the subject of a new album of images by Thomsomfeld.
Wiki on the legion
An in-depth and interesting article on the activities of the Legion in America and beyond here
quoting this article it says
The rank and file included subjects of 15 European countries, from Ireland to Russia and from Denmark to Hungary. Just a third of the men were French. Fifty-five percent came from Alsace, Lorraine, and the myriad states of the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation. The officers hailed from Sweden and from France, from England and Ireland, from Poland and from sundry German states. Among them they spoke eight tongues, but by tradition and heritage the unit cursed in Hungarian. They were part of the French armed forces, yet by ordonnance of the Ministere de la Marine their language of command was German. They were light infantry and cavalry, but took their orders from the naval minister.
Lauzun Legion reenactors here

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