Arrival and Departure

Marshal Victor's army in Spain included General Leval's "German Division," with troops from Hesse, Holland, and Nassau. The Hessian regiment was raised in Hesse-Darmstadt, where my paternal ancestors originate, so it is possible one of my forefathers served with them. The Nassaueurs are a bit more complicated. There were two areas controlled by the Nassau family: the Netherlands and a part of Germany near Hesse. Given the separate unit of Dutch troops, I would guess that the "Nassau" designation refers to the German component (which was part of the Confederation of Rhine). Whatever their origins, their uniforms are hard to miss, with green cloth and yellow leather.

Like most other forces in French service, they adopted the French tradition of denoting grenadiers with red, and voltigeurs (light infantry) with yellow over green plumes. Here is a shot with more detail.

The best thing about these units is that I get two for the price of one. Originally Nassau provided two regiments for the war in Spain, but after one deserted en masse in 1813 the French demobilized the other. In 1815, Nassau had swung completely to the allied cause, and these troops fought with Wellington at Waterloo. So I can use them as French in Peninsular battles, and British at Waterloo.