Mounted Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard
The Mounted Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard constituted a light cavalry regiment in the Consular, then Imperial Guard during the French Consulate and First French Empire respectively. They were the second senior "Old Guard" cavalry regiment of the Imperial Guard, after the Grenadiers à Cheval. The regiment had its origins in the Guides raised by General Bonaparte during his Italian Campaign of 1796. It was the Chasseurs that usually provided personal escort to Napoleon, and he often wore the uniform of the regiment in recognition of this service. The regiment was not only known for its lavish uniform, but its combat history as well.
The Charging Chasseur, 1812. Painting by Théodore Géricault at the Musée du Louvre.
Chasseur à Cheval of the Imperial Guard
General Nicolas Dahlmann who died at the battle of Eylau, leading the Chasseurs of the Guard.
Chasseurs à cheval (on the left) protecting Napoleon at the Battle of Friedland, while cuirassiers salute him before their charge.Napoleon is again in his green colonel uniform of the Chasseurs à Cheval.
The Consular Guard, also known as the Guard of the Consuls, was a French military unit responsible for the protection of the members of the Consulate, the executive government of France during the late First Republic. It was created by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte in 1799, after the Coup of 18 Brumaire, and renamed the Imperial Guard in 1804, when Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor of the French.
Marine, musician of the grenadiers and grenadier of the Consular Guard
Officer of the Guard of the Convention and cavalryman of the Guard of the Directory
Eugène de Beauharnais in the uniform of colonel of the Consular Guard's Mounted Chasseurs, c. 1802
Charge of the Consular Guard cavalry at Marengo, 14 June 1800: the Mounted Grenadiers and Mounted Chasseurs led by Bessières (in the foreground) rush on the Austrian cavalry
