Hessian Landgrenadierregiment
Hierarchical Path: Seven Years War (Main Page) >> Armies >> Hesse-Kassel Army >> Hessian Landgrenadierregiment
Origin and History
A militia unit was created in 1707 as the Landgrenadierregiment. In 1760, this militia unit was converted into the Grenadierregiment initially intended to serve as garrison to free up the regular troops for service.
The regimental Chefs were:
- in 1761: Blome
- in 1762: von Wülkenitz
- in 1763: Müller
Service during the War
In the spring of 1758, Hessian militia were assembled and used, along with Hanoverian jägers, to guard the roads of the country.
On July 31 1760, the battalion took part in the Battle of Warburg where it was deployed in the second line of the centre between Ossendorf and Menne.
Uniform
Hessian troops wore a uniform in the Prussian style including the grenadier and fusilier hat.
Privates
Copyright Frédéric Aubert
| Headgear |
| ||||||||||||
| Neck stock | black (maybe red) | ||||||||||||
| Coat | dark blue with 6 large brass buttons arranged 2-2-2 on the chest; 2 smaller brass button on the right side at the waist; 1 brass button on each side in the small of the back
| ||||||||||||
| Waistcoat | straw | ||||||||||||
| Breeches | straw | ||||||||||||
| Gaiters | black fastened with small brass buttons | ||||||||||||
| Leather Equipment |
|
Troopers were armed with a sword (brass hilt), a bayonet and a musket which was fitted with a leather carry strap.
Other interpretations
Brauer illustrates a grenadier mitre with blue back piped white. For 1769, Bornemann depicts a similar mitre cap. Other sources (Thalmann, Böhm and various Handschrift) illustrating grenadiers of this unit between 1769 and 1787 depict a mitre cap with blue back and a red headband all piped white.
Officers
Officers wore the same uniform as the privates with the following distinctions:
- a black tricorne laced gold
- a white neck-stock
- a dark blue coat without shoulder strap and turnback
- a gilt gorget
- a silver silken sash with red flecks
NCOs
NCOs wore the same uniform as the privates but had no shoulder strap and a golden edging on each cuff. They carried the Prussian style partizan. The standard staff was black.
Musicians
By the Seven Years War the convention of wearing reversed colours had disappeared. The Garrison regiment drummers now wore a simpler version of the usual drummer uniform. They had the same dark blue coat but only white and red livery lace placed around the 'swallows nests' on the shoulder.
Drum barrels were of polished brass and were decorated with the Hessian Lion. The drum cords were white and, for this regiment, the rim was a pattern of alternating red and white diagonal stripes with a thin sky blue stripe edging every diagonal.
Colours
To the present day, a definitive reconstruction of the Hesse-Cassel colours during the Seven Years' War is non-existent. All existing publications are mostly speculative. The Leib (colonel) colour was probably white.
References
Böhm, Uwe Peter: Hessisches Militär: Die Truppen der Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel 1672-1806, Herausgegeben im Auftrag der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Heereskunde e.V., Beckum 1986
Uniformen von Hessen-Cassel, 1769 unter Landgraf Friedrich, nach gleichzeitigen colorierten Zeichnungen vom Hauptmann Bornemann in der Bibliothek des Hessischen Geschichtsvereins
Thalmann, G.F.: Abbildungen und Beschreibung des Fürstes Hessen-Casselschen Militair-Stantes unter der Regierung Landgraf Friedrich des Zweiten bis zum Jahre 1786 (Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg, no. E195/2)
Witzel, Rudolf: Hessen Kassels Regimenter in der Alliierten Armee 1762, Norderstedt 2007
Acknowledgements
Michael Zahn for the research and Frédéric Aubert for the plates
