Estremoz Artillery
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Origin and History
On December 28 1640, a decree created the rank of lieutenant-general of the artillery. The first lieutenant-general was Rui Correia Lucas.
The regiment was raised in 1708. It originated in the troop of artillerymen of the province of Alentejo created in 1706. In 1718, the Portuguese artillery was reorganised.
By 1762, the regiment counted 2 battalions, each of 14 companies. Each company consisted of 55 men each, for a total of 1,540 men for the regiment.
During the Seven Years's War, the regiment was commanded by:
- since July 1757 to March 8 1762: Jean Alexandre de Chermont
- from April 29 to September 1762: James Pattisson
- from October 20 1762 to March 17 1789: Guillaume Louis Antoine de Valleré
On May 19 1806, the regiment became the 3rd Artillery Regiment.
Service during the War
No information available yet about the service of the regiment during the Seven Years' War
Uniform
Traditionally, since about 1660, the Portuguese infantry wore dark blue uniforms. During the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) almost all infantry units wore alvadia (light gray uniforms). These new uniforms were introduced for economic reasons, this type of fabric being much cheaper.
It is now believed that, from 1750, there was a progressive abandon of alvadia uniforms and a return to more traditional Portuguese uniforms. However, it seems that most of the changeover took part sometime after 1759 since, till this date, cloth orders indicated white as the most common colour.
At the outbreak of the war in 1762, there was neither enough uniforms nor cloth for recruits in military warehouses, so it was necessary to use all cloth available. Besides, as there was no central warehouse, every colonel was responsible for the ordering of uniforms. Therefore the fabric was bought from contractors who would cut and turned it into uniforms "more or less" along the official lines.
It must also be noted that the use of gaiters was introduced into the Portuguese infantry only in 1762.
This regiment changed its coats from white to green in 1754. Not much is known about the 1762 uniform. Here, we assumed that it had retained the main characteristics of the 1754 uniform which consisted of a green coat lined green and of a red waistcoat... However, we do not know the button colour, our description assumes white buttons. The other parts of the description are based on the other Portuguese uniforms.
Privates
| Headgear |
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| Neckstock | white | ||||||||||||
| Coat | green lined green with one white button on each side in the small of the back
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| Waistcoat | red with white buttons | ||||||||||||
| Breeches | green | ||||||||||||
| Gaiters | white | ||||||||||||
| Leather Equipment |
|
Armaments consisted of a musket and a bayonet.
Officers
N.B.: the following description is not based on a direct source. It is rather an educated guess based on the usual officer uniform compared to privates of the same regiment.
The officers wore a uniform very similar to the one worn by privates with the following distinctions:
- a silver laced tricorne
- a thin silver lace at the collar
- red waiscoat laced silver with white buttons and very narrow white buttonholes
- officer stick
- sword
Musicians
No information available yet
Colours
The exact pattern of the Portuguese colonel colours during the Seven Years' War is unknown.
The ordonnance colours were chosen by the colonel of the regiment. For the moment, we have found no source depicting specific colours for this regiment.
Please refer to our article on the Portuguese Line Infantry Colours for more information.
References
Amaral, Manuel, O Exértico Português em finais do Antiguo Regime
Kirby, Mike, The Portuguese Army - Seven Years War, Seven Years War Association Journal, Vol. XII No. 3
Pereira Sales, Ernesto Augusto; O Conde de Lippe em Portugal, Vila Nova de Famalicao: Publicacoes da Comissao de Historia Militar, 1936, pp. 57-58
Ribeiro Rodrigues, Manuel A.; 300 Anos de Uniformes Militares do Exército de Portugal 1660-1960, Exército Portugués and Sociedade Historica da Independéncia de Portugal, 1998
Acknowledgement
Manuel Ribeiro Rodrigues and Joseph O'Neil for the initial version of this article.
