De Watteville's Swiss Regiment
Active1801 - 1816
Allegiance United Kingdom (1801–1816)
BranchBritish Army
TypeLine Infantry
RoleInfantry, mercenary
PatronLouis de Watteville
ColorsRed Coats with Black Facings
EngagementsNapoleonic Wars
War of the Third Coalition
Invasion of Naples (1806)
Peninsular War
War of 1812
Pemmican War
Battle honours

De Watteville's Regiment was a Swiss regiment founded by Frédéric de Watteville[1][2] and recruited from regiments that served between 1799 and 1801 in the Austrian army but in British pay. The troops then signed on as mercenaries, to be paid by the British.[3][4] They fought in the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), mainly around the Mediterranean, and were based in Malta and then in Egypt from 1801 to 1803, fighting in Sicily and Naples. The regiment fought and won the Battle of Maida, in Italy in July 1806. From 1811 to 1813 the unit served under Wellington in the Peninsular War in Spain, and defending Cadiz in the Siege of Cádiz.[3][4] In 1812 Louis de Watteville took over as Colonel and propriotor of the regiment from his uncle Frédéric de Watteville.[5] The regiment sailed to Canada in 1813 to fight in the War of 1812, including the Battle of Fort Oswego (1814) and at the Siege of Fort Erie.[3][4] The unit was retired at the end of the war and soldiers were given tracts of land in Canada.[4] Some of its soldiers also served at the Red River Colony. Some 150 recently discharged soldiers from both the recently disbanded De Watteville Regiment and Regiment de Meuron, still retaining their uniforms would participate in the Pemmican War.[4]

References

Works cited

Sources

  • Biography of Louis de Watteville at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
  • Chartrand, René (2000). Émigré and Foreign Troops in British Service (2) 1803–15. London: Osprey. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-85532-859-4.
  • Barthorp, Michael (1992). Napoleon's Egyptian Campaigns, 1798–1801. London: Osprey. p. 38. ISBN 978-0-85045-126-9.

Citations

  1. ↑ Braun. "Franz Friedrich vonWattenwyl". Historischen Lexikons der Schweiz (HLS) (in German). Retrieved 2022-03-11. Nach dem Frieden von Lunéville 1801 Aushebung eines Regiments für Grossbritannien aus dem schweiz.
  2. ↑ WO25/679 Recordbook page 41 (71 in pdf)
  3. 1 2 3 kingstonspast (2015-08-11). "De Watteville's Regiment". Spectres of Kingston's Past. Retrieved 2021-12-05.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "THE WAR OF 1812: European Traces in a British-American Conflict" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-12-05.
  5. ↑ WO25/679 Recordbook page 51 (92 in pdf)


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