Role of Women in the Imperial
Guard
Much has been written on the role of
women in the Grande Armee, but much of what ahs been written contains errors,
confusing Vivandieres and Cantinieres. This essay corrects these errors.
Anthony & Jane Dawson
Introduction
For as long
as man has gone to war, their women-folk and families have often followed them.
This was due to the fact that the army could be away fighting for years at a
time, with the only income for that family coming from the army, it was natural
that such women would follow that army.
In many
armies, the “tail” of such camp-followers grew to a massive scale and
introduced its’ own logistical night mare. Many camp followers made a living
by looting the dead, as well as from the surrounding countryside, selling their
macabre wares. Prostitution was also a favoured occupation of camp followers of
any sex.
The
French Napoleonic army, was, in many respects, revolutionary, not only in
formation, weapons and tactics but for its very existence and organisations.
Instead of swarms of women following their men to war, the Empire (and the
earlier republican governments) declared that only women of “good virtue, morals and known loyalties” could join and follow the army. Gypsies and other types were
rounded up and either shot as immoral or transported away from the army in an
attempt to promote discipline. Not only did Napoleon combat the problem of
hordes of women and children following the army, he used them to the armies’
advantage; he put only the “best” into uniform and muster lists of the army
and the children were put into the Imperial Orphanages and into the 8 battalions
of “Pupilles”, or boy-soldiers who would pass into the normal Line Regiments
when they were 18 years old.
Part 1: The
Cantinieres
Literally,
the term “cantiniere” means the person who runs a military canteen. The
cantiniere was the first regulated class of women in the Napoleonic Army and was
the most privileged.
However, due
to a lack of consistency of terminology – both during the Napoleonic period
and by later historians – great confusion has arisen with regards to women,
their roles and titles in the Grande Armee.
Historians,
and even contemporary writers, have confused the roles and attributions of these
military women - the Cantiniere,
Vivandiere and Blanchisseuses. The Cantiniere was originally a woman authorised
by the civilian authorities to prepare and serve the food for the
Non-Commissioned Officers; a circular of the 8th May 1808 authorised
the Cantinieres the use of military stables and livery and billets, or where it
didn’t exist housing with the civilians. The establishment was accorded by the
Military Governor and the Minister of War. Progressively, the Cantinieres moved
away from their original function and started to sell merchandise: food, laces,
wine, nuts, paper etc…This function was principally reserved for the
Vivandieres, who were charged with the distribution of essential and
none-essential food stuffs to the Other Ranks on campaign. Over time the two
functions became merged and synonymous. With regards to the washerwomen [Blanchisseuses]
there are several large commentaries dealing with them and their military
exploits, they having served with the army since the Anicen Regime.
At the start of the wars of the first republic, the number of women with the
army was uncontrolled but by a series of diverse regulations which proved very
practicable in most respects. On the 30th April 1793 it was
authorised that there would be four washerwomen per battalion, on condition that
they wore a distinctive mark relating to their job. Prior to the Campaign of
Italy an Order of the Day of 28th March 1797 re-affirmed the terms of
the 1793 regulation.
There were
often many flagrant breeches of these rules and to sort this out new regulations
were needed. The 12th Chasseurs a Cheval in 1800 were authorised to
have a cantiniere and washerwoman per squadron. In year VIII there were four
cantinieres or washerwomen per battalion (or two per squadron). In Austria, an
Order of the Day given by Berthier on the 6th September 1809 put
forward a new regulation for the mode of recruitment and organisation of the
vivandiéres and washerwomen. They were to be given a regulation “patente”
[pay book] in order to control their activities. It proved to be very
practicable and stopped women moving from regiment to regiment and they served
under strict military law. The regulation also stated that they [ these women]
were to be of good morals.
The Cantinieres and Vivandieres were not issued with
a regulation uniform. It was only with Louis-Phillipe and the second
Empire that they appropriated a form of their regiments dress. The Third
Republic ended these women and their pretty uniforms. In the Revolution and
Empire, Cantinieres and Vivandieres were dressed in civilian fashion/clothing
but with distinctive military flourishes or apparel. They were officially issued
with boots, gaiters, a forage cap and a pelisse [ or short jacket].
As early as 1793 the Convention decreed that only 6
cantinieres would be allowed to
serve each infantry battalion, along with six washerwomen (blanchisseuses). In
the cavalry only four cantinieres
per squadron sufficed with the same number of washerwomen. This provided an
establishment of 30 such women per Regiment(each regiment had four “war”
battalions and single “depot” battalion). In the cavalry, there would be
24(Elting p. 607).
All other women, including the wives were told to go home. The 1793 regulation,
therefore, meant that only “authorised” women were to follow the army to
war. In order to do this, the cantinieres would be issued with a certificate by
their Commanding Officers, which was then endorsed by their Divisional
Commissaire (Commissary). The certificate was then presented to the Provost
Marshal who would issue the cantiniere with her official paperwork, badge and
licence number. Their badge(figure 1) combined their unit details, number and
date of authorisation, usually stamped in tin or brass and fastened to the left
arm(Elitng p. 607 and 612).
However, this system soon deteriorated under ministerial chaos and a new
organisation was authorised in 1800. By this warrant, the number of cantinieres
was set at four per battalion and two per squadron, giving a total number of 20
per infantry regiment and 8 per cavalry regiment(Elting p. 607).
The cantinieres were now to be the wives of NCO’s or soldiers serving in their
own battalion and had to be “…on
active duty, energetic, helpful, well mannered and moral.”, and over the
age of 40, at least in the Guard, to reduce the risk of “temptation”. Any
prostitutes were rounded up and moved away from the army. (Subsequently
authorised military brothels were set up for officers and men with the
“ladies” being inspected weekly for VD.)
Each regiment selected its’ own cantinieres through its
Council d’Administration.
Every newly selected canintiere would be presented with a
“warrant”, on receival of which she would be sent to the Provost who would
place her on the regimental or battalion strength. At the same time she would be
given her registration number and issued a “Patente de Vivandiere”, which
specified that she must obey army regulations and discipline, and always carry
the articles required by the troops, and sell at a fair price(Elting p. 612).
The “Patente” also included a “livre” in which her name was inscribed
along with a description which included: origin, age, height , colour of hair,
eyebrows and eyes; and shape of her forehead, nose, mouth and chin. Also
included was a list of all her animals and vehicles which also had to be
registered. Each vehicle and animal had to carry a regimental and regulation
registration numbers as well as have the correct paper work belonging to
them(Elting p. 612).
From July
1804 cantinieres were not allowed to take on the duties of a washerwoman and
vice versa. They were also to enjoy free treatment at the military hospitals,
something for which they had previously had to pay for(Elting p. 612).
Cantinieres were also on the ration-strength.
Later on, it was further decreed that a cantiniere could not
sell above the lowest prices in the rural villages in order to keep down prices
(and cantiniere’s profit margins) to save the soldiers’ pay. It was also
decided, by commanders such as De Brack, that
cantinieres could not be married to NCOs or men of their own battalion as they
were often setting up little tyrannies whereby the NCO’s of a unit would force
recruits to buy surplus articles from their wives(Elting p. 612).
Colonel Defrance of the 12th Chasseurs A Cheval stated that each
cantiniere had to stock worsted hair ribbons, hair powder, pomade, combs,
whiting and pipe clay(Elting p. 612).
A cantiniere was marked not only by her registration badge and unit brassard,
but also be her keg or “tonnelet”. Where ever possible it was to contain
brandy or any substitute if brandy were not forthcoming. It was for this reason
that cantinieres were nick-named vivandieres as brandy at this time was known as
“eau de vie”, or water of life, which was used to revive wounded or shocked
soldiers on the battle-field(Elting p. 612).
She should
also try to keep a good selection of wines, not only for the men but for the
officers! With the “tonnelet” a cantiniere may have a selection of drinking
cups and measures. These cups were to a standard regulation measure, to avoid
foul play and “short measures”(Elting p. 612).In addition to this, later
regulations decreed that a cantiniere was not to sell her wares to either
civilians or to other battalions other than her own. This brought a howl of
outrage(Elting p. 613).
The cantinieres’ main duty was to run the Battalion Canteen
– an earlier version of todays’ NAAFI. These were run from small two-horse
carts, often with a hooped canvas title which was usually stencilled with al
their required registration numbers and details.
Inside were lockers for storage; one such cart was described as being
filled with
“..barrels and salamis, the cheese and sausages are carefully placed to
balance each other…” (Blaze cited in Elting
p.613)
Bourgogne
remembers how the kitchen of the 61st Line was packed into the cart
of their “pretty” Spanish cantiniere, whom they had picked up during the
campaign(Bourgogne p. 4). She was under the protection of the Corporal of
Voltiguers in that regiment(ibid). She was the daughter of the Drum Major of
that regiment; he was killed at Almeida(Bourgogne p.12).
The 14th Legere had the “very pretty” Catherine Beguin as
their cantiniere, who was described as: “…attractive, alert,
cheerful, indefatigable on the march and heroic in action, a Bavarian who had
followed the regiment since Hohenlinden.”(Elting
p.6140). Italians, particularly those from the south were classed liked the
Spanish; lousy, dirty and unsuitable.
In 1811 all vehicles with the army were turned over to the new transport
service, the “Bataillon due Train des Equipages”(Lachouque pp206-7). The
vehicles and horses were put under the command of the Chief Commissary, Dufor,
and were detailed off on the following basis:
Ambulances:
4 wagons
1
Infantry Battalion: 2 wagons
Each
Battalion was allowed a single wagon for officer’s uniforms and were inspected
regularly. The cantiniere’s were
to move with the regimental equipment train, under the orders of the
Baggage-Master who directed their movements; their carts were regularly
inspected by the Provost-Marshall for stolen or looted goods and animals without
their correct paper work.Captain Blaze noted that on campaign:
“What good fortune indeed when you found
yourself in a ploughed field, wet to your bones, and thinking you must sleep
without supper, to find beside a good fire a slice of ham or
a bowl of hot wine, or better both…This was expensive sometimes, but
money is useful only to buy what you needed.”
Not only this, but the canteen often became the officers’ mess (unofficially),
as well as a café and bar for off-duty soldiers. Some could turn into gambling
dens, though an army version of Lotto was much favoured. Blaze describes such as
game in his memoirs:
“In the army the custom was to use only certain cant words to express
numerals. A fine was levied on those who did otherwise…”(Elting p. 615).
Cantinieres were also a “dab hand” at make shift medicine and remedies and
sometimes used their carts as ambulances.
These women were a hardy lot, many serving with their battalions for successive
campaigns over a number of years. One such woman was Marie Tete-du-Bois, who was
famous in the Battalion of Grenadiers A Pied de la Garde for her “…tart tongue and her bravery and kindness.” ; Buorgogne
remembers her as “Mother Dubois”(Bourgogne
p. 17).
She
had married a drummer in that Battalion, quite legally in Verona during the
Italian campaign of 1800. During the Marengo campaign of the same year she bore
him a son, who by 1814 was serving as a drummer in the Pupilles. On the 11th
February 1814 her husband was killed outright, which left Marie with nothing
left but her son, whom she hoped the Emperor would make Sergeant(Lachouque p.
354). Her son was killed at the defence of Paris. She subsequently married
Grenadier Chactas, who was killed at Waterloo. Marie served during the 100
days’ campaign with the Grenadiers, but when at 2 o’clock on the 18th
June 1815 the regiment was called into action, she was killed when a ricocheting
cannon-ball hit her in the chest and cut her in half. The entire regiment
stopped its march and proceeded to bury her there and then. Her remains were
buried in a ditch, marked with a cross made from two white sticks(Lachouque p.
483). Before marching off, a corporal wrote the following epitaph to her:
“Here lies Maria, Cantiniere of the 1st
Grenadiers of the Old Imperial Guard, dead on the field of honour, 18 June 1815.
Passerby, whoever you may be, salute Maria.” (Lachouque p. 483)
Poor Marie
had been the sweetheart, wife and mother of the Old Guard Grenadiers. ‘Tis
said from that moment on the Grenadiers marched into battle with “Canon Vid”,
that is with un-loaded muskets.
Though not strictly a “cantiniere” in the truest sense of that word, at the
Grenadiers’ barracks at Courbevoie was a certain Mere aux bouts (Mother of the
breakfast)(Bourgogne p. 178). Apparently she was:
“…an old women who came at six o’clock every morning to the
barracks at Courbevoie, and sold us, for ten centimes, a piece of pudding six
inches long. We feasted on this every day before our drill, and drank ten
centimes’ worth of Suresnes wine, to help us wait for the soup at ten
o’clock.”(ibid)
The Fusilier-Grenadiers had several cantinieres remembered by Bourgogne, namely:
a Hungarian woman who was the legal wife of Sergeant Guignard; “Mother”
Gateau as well as Marie or “Mother” Marie Dubois who came from Namur in
Belgium. Bourgogne relates her story:
“Marie came from Namur…Her husband belonged to Liege, a fencing master,
and a rather bad lot. Marie was a good sort, thinking nothing or herself,
retailing her goods to the soldiers – to those who had no money as well as to
those who had.
In every one of our battles
she had shown herself most devoted. One day she was wounded; it did not prevent
her from going on with her help, careless if the risks she was running, for the
bullets and grape-shots were falling all round her. Besides all these good
qualities, Marie was pretty…”(Bourgogne p. 279).
During the stay at Almeida her husband was shot for
looting and later re-married “…as
they marry in the army.” Ie with a form of Gypsy wedding(Bourgogne p.
280). She was later transferred to the Young Guard when her husband became a
Sergeant. She bore him an infant son in Russia but he soon died on the
retreat(Bourgogne p. 72). Marie re-appeared during the Waterloo campaign and was
taken prisoner(Bourgogne p. 280). Marie was still alive in 1867, in Namur and
was a holder of the Legion d’Honeur as well as the St. Helena Medal(ibid).
According to Bourgogne, all cantinieres met the same fate:
“…She lost horses, carts, money furs, and also her protector.”(ibid)
The
Fusilier-Grenadiers lost their “..provisions,
and our beautiful silver punch bowl..” which had all been packed in
Marie’s cart. The cantiniere of the Chasseurs A Pied (a Hungarian married to a
Sergeant Guinard) “lost everything [she]
had..”(Bourgogne p. 63)
During the first restoration in 1814/15 the cantinieres were suppressed,
possibly due to Bourbon “religiosity”, the new government viewing such women
with suspicion.(Elting pp632 to 633).
In terms of dress, the cantinieres were issued with uniforms, and frequently
adopted a military style of their own, using recycled soldiers jackets and
civilian clothes. Hussar’s dolmens were often sought after, which were often
worn with a “round hat” a short skirt, overalls/leggings and boots or
gaiters. A greatcoat or cloak may have completed the ensemble. Many wore the
hand-me-downs from their unit, which gave them a semi-military and semi-uniform
air; others wore civilian clothes. Her apron and barrel were almost universal.
More often, clothing was made up from regimental stocks, which also increased
their martial appearance.
Bourgongne relates the describes one such cantiniere:
“…dressed in a soldier’s grey cloak, with a sheepskin cap on her
head. She wears black gaiters, and she carried a basket on her arm.” As
well as a skirt, trousers and a knapsack(Bourgogne p. 131)
The military pharmacist, Sebastien Blaze records one such woman in Seville
in July 1812: “she carried behind her shoulder a small barrel. He dress was
of black velvet. Five or six gold chains she was suspended around her neck…a
headscarf covered her head. Laced boots completed her attire”.
In another military diary, Cadet de Gassicourt from the Service de Sante noted
one vivandiere at the start of the Austrian Campaign in 1809 “This
vivandiere was aged about thirty or thirty four. She was a bizarre sight but
highly proper: her accoutrements consisted of a skirt of painted cloth, a short
jacket in grey cloth, a waistbelt of leather, gaiters, an old cocked hat covered
her head and her hair was protected with a headscarf tied in the Moroccan
manner. She was a jolly person with a good
figure and nice expression.”
Martinet in a print entitled “Madame d’Eau-de-vie suivant
l’Armee”(plate number 117) which translates as Female seller of brandy to
the army. It shows a cantiniere in a dark blue skirt and jacket, wearing a black
“round hat”, with a grey greatcoat over her shoulders. She is also wearing a
coloured neck scarf and grey gaiters, as well carrying her “tonnelet” or
barrel(Dempsey p. 31 and p. 202).
The
cantiniere of the 15th Legere wore a Austrian Hussar dolman in
scarlet with white frogging; an ample white skirt and apron, a grey cloak and a
bonnet with a spray of feathers.
Part
2: The Blanchisseuses
The regimental washerwomen were organised with the same decrees as for the
cantinieres, cited above.
A washerwoman was not allowed to perform the duties of the cantiniere from 1804
and were not eligible to have free treatment in hospitals nor were they allowed
to have vehicles of any kind.
The system of blanchisseuses originated with the old Royal Army, with the system
being re-organised in 1793. In theory at least they were to be soldier’s wives
and of a “good reputation”(Elting p. 605). They, like the cantinieres, were
selected by the Council d’Administration and were to be properly
supervised(Elting p. 605), whilst on campaign they were to cook for the men(a
role replaced by the cantiniere and her canteen) and assist the regimental
surgeon and his aides in collection the dead and wounded(Elting p. 606). One of
these hard-bitten women became Madame le Marechale Lefebvre, Duchess of
Danzig(Elting op. 606); a second became the wife of Marshall Oudinot in
1812(Elting p. 610).
The blanchisseuse was also eligable for a pension as well as that of her husband
if he died, hence the fact that many such women were drawing several pensions at
the same time(Elting p 606)
It should be noted that the majority of the contemporary accounts rarely mention
the blanchisseuse in the field. This may be due to the fact that the troops did
not the actual terminology for such women, simply terming them all as
“cantiniere/vivandiere”, eventhough they did understand the differences
between the washerwomen and the cantiniere. Not only this, but it may be that
the blanchisseuses remained at the depot during a campaign.
Like the cantinieres, they were a hard lot. The blanchisseuse of the 51st
Ligne jumped into a river to save two of her drowning comrades. For this duty,
Napoleon presented her with a miniature civic crown suspended from a chain for
her actions(Elting p. 610).
Blaze remarked that they:
“…were as brave as veteran grenadiers…brought brandy to the soldiers
amidst balls and bullets….Don’t think she did this to make money…when we
were fighting she never asked for payment…”(Elting p. 605). Many, once
the fighting had started, would pick up a musket and standing in the firing
line, or risked death loading muskets and brining aprons full of cartridges from
the ammunition Caissons.(Elting p. 606)
Marshall Macdonald rebuked many of his Colonels for allowing their
blanchisseuses to become a ‘part time’ cantiniere, thus neglecting their
primary, and most important, function(Elting p. 612).
Part
3: Wives and Children
As previously
stated, the only women allowed to travel with the soldiers of the Grande Armee
were the officially regulated cantinieres and washerwomen. However, many men
often contrived to take their loved ones with them on campaign, the most
frequent regulation-brakers being the senior officers themselves.
For example, during the Spanish campaign, General Dorsenne, Colonel of the
Grenadiers A Pied de la Garde took with him the following family:
Countess
Dorsenne and her maid
A
seven year old boy
A
nurse
And a
year-old baby as well as 50 other females, who were mainly officers’
wives.(Lachouque p. 199).
Countess Dorsenne was apparently a “pain in the neck”, as she refused to
travel at a walking pace, thus causing much fatigue among her infantry escort
from the Gardes Nationale de la Garde (Elting p. 609).
Dour Andre Massena took his mistress, some Captain’s wife, to Spain with him, dressed as a Dragon(Elting p. 611). She was brave enough, but
lacked the endurance in the saddle to keep with the army(Elting p. 611)
General Xaintrailles took his mistress to war with him as his “wife” and
Aide de Camp(Elting p. 609). She became a legend with the army after she
stared-down the mutinous 44th Ligne over her pistol sights, often
risking her life to carry important messages and rescue the wounded(Elting p.
609). “Madame Xaintrailles” later became a Free-mason and was awarded with a
handsome pension by the Emperor(Elting p. 609).
Madame Petit-Pierre, the wife of the Commander of the Seville Citadel was
described as being: “…sweet, friendly,
fore-sighted…generous and compassionate, her heart and her door were always
open to the unfortunate.”(Elting p. 610).
The wife of Marshall Oudinot was a cantiniere who “conceived a passion” for
him(Elting p. 610). When he was wounded at Polotsk in 1812, the same year as
their marriage, she took him from the field to the hospital and nursed him back
to health(Elting p. 610).
On the other hand, Lefebvre married a blanchisseuse, who “shocked the court
ladies by talking of when she “did the washing”(Elting p. 606). She kept her
blanchisseuses’ apron in a small museum in her chateau, along with the
sergent’s uniform the Marshall had worn when they were married(Elting p. 606).
Many wives
were the regimental women, no matter what rank.
On some occasions, officer’s would put their wives’ down as “femmes de
troupe”, or regimental women in order to take them on campaign with them. This
was soon stopped when it was realised that there were some Battalions without
cantinieres or blanchisseuses and a lot of females who could perform neither
duty.
At one point, it was found that out of five battalions of fusiliers, there were
319 officers and NCO’s who commanded 342 OR’s. IN addition to this, all the
NCO’s and Officers had their wives with them. This evasion of official
regulation was later heavily frowned upon(Elting p. 607).
Any children that were born to a cantiniere or blanchisseuse were either sent
into the orphanages or kept in the regiment. Each company was allowed two
“Enfants de troupe”, who had to be 12 years old, and to have been born to a
cantiniere or blanchisseuse in legal wedlock(Elting p. 615). The father had
either to have been killed in action or died of his wounds and have been in the
same regiment as the mother(Elting p. 615). A officer, two sergeants and 4
corporals per battalion were to teach the children when in barracks and to look
after them whilst on campaign. The children were to be taught in “reading,
writing, arithmetic, running, ethics and military subjects”(Elting p. 616). An
Enfant drew half pay and wore a special half-sized uniform and briquet(Elting p.
616). However, there were certain stipulations on the future career of the
Enfant within the regiment, depending on age, character and education. At 14
years he could join the band with full pay, but were not allowed to be drummers
until sixteen, or older(Elting p. 616). At 16 all Enfants were classed as adults
and accepted into the company on full pay; others were apprenticed to the
regimental artificers, armourers and so forth(Elting p. 616). In the Guard, all
children were sent to the orphanages, there being no room for “Enfant de
troupe”.
From 1808 all officer’s orphans were classed as Enfants de Troupe, and in 1809
no Enfant was to go to war until 16 years of age. Others could serve in the
Pupilles from 12 to 18 and then join the Ligne battalions(Elting p. 616).
Part 4: Other Armies
In this chapter we shall examine the key differences between the
treatment and employment of women in other Napoleonic armies of the period.
In the British Army at this time, soldiers were generally discouraged from
marrying, but many were already married when they enlisted.(Fosten p. 18). To
this end, to prevent a huge train of camp-followers, the number of wives to be
taken on campaign was limited to five per company, who were placed on ration
strength. This was a covetted post as so few of the wives could actually go with
their husbands and those that did manage to do so against the regulation were
not fed or cared for by the army. Hence, if a wife lost a husband, she would
quickly re-marry within the same company in order to be kept on the ration
strength(Fosten p19).
Selection of the wives was by ballot at the port of departure. The unlucky ones
were to be sent back to their homes, with the protection of the local Justices
of the Peace, and would be assisted by the Overseer of the Poor through each
area she travelled with a bounty of 1 1/2d per mile up to 18 miles.(Fosten p.
18).
Those wives that did go on the ration strength performed the duties of their
French counterparts, but were not so well organised, carrying out the important
tasks of washing, cooking, for a handful of coppers. Like the French system,
those women who were on the ration strength and therefore in pay of the army
were put under Military Discipline under the stern eye of the Provost
Marshall(Fosten 19). However, this did not apply to those not on ration strength
who would often be moved away from the army or sent back to Britain.
The British Commissariat department strongly relied upon these camp followers to
supplement the men’s rations, by setting up un-official and loosely-regulated
“sutlers’ shops” which sold meat, liquor and “other
delights”.(Fosten 100). Not only this, but the local peasants, pedlars and
such like often followed the British Army, such as in 1815, adding to the tail
of camp followers and vehicles behind the army in order to sell their wares at
extortionate prices to the soldiers.
If no sutlers were
forth-coming, outside contracts would be issued to provide washerwomen and
sutlers to sell provisions and “extras” to the troops, a system that was
greatly frowned upon by the French for destroying moral and sapping the men’s
pay.
Non or little
provision was made for any children.
In the Russian army
there were women who followed the army, but these were no cantinieres. There is
also a record of there being at least one female dragoon officers.
The armies raised as
allies to the French adopted the system. The Polish cantinieres were described
by the Austrians as “devils in skirts” and those of the Dutch and Polish
Lancers on the retreat from Moscow in 1812 sold hot coffee and sweetened coffee
to the Guard. Many of the Poles recovered their wares from Russia.
The
Neufchatel Battalion, a “private army” raised by Prince Berthier from a
former Prussian Principality adopted the French system. A story is told of the
battalion’s cantiniere leaving Leipzig in 1813; the Battalion was attacked by
a “flying column” of Cossacks, who attempted to pick off the stragglers and
cause a panic. One Cossack attacked the cantiniere, but she drew her pistol and
shot him out of the saddle. She then picked up her baggage and continued with
the march.
Part 5 : Conclusions
As we have seen, many of the Napoleonic armies had women that followed them to
war, though non seem to have had a system as well regulated or as well
disciplined and organised as the French model. The British for their part did at
least try to regulate their women, with a woefully unfair and inadequate system,
having to rely on outside contractors and peasant women to serve the army.
The system of the regimental cantiniere was suppressed under the returned
monarchy in 1815, but was revived under the Second Empire. For the first time,
the cantiniere was issued with a uniform as well as pay. They were put onto the
regimental staff and their exploits are just as great as their Napoleonic
counterparts. The force as a whole was disbanded in 1870 with the coming of the
3rd Republic.
Sources and Bibliography
Bourgogne,
J B A(1897) Memoires
Dempsey
G (199?) Napoleon’s Army of 1807 to
1810 in the prints of Aaron Martinet
Elting
Colonel J R(1989) Swords around a throne
Fosten
B (1980) Wellington’s Infantry
Fosten
B (undated) Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars. British Foot Guards, June 1815
Fosten
B (undated) Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars, French Imperial Guard Infantry,
June 1815, vol. 5. Paris and Waterloo.
Lachouque
H and Brown A S K (1962) The Anatomy of Glory
Original
research carried out by Jane Dawson at La Musee de l'Armee
(back)