The Voltigeurs were French military skirmish units created in 1804 by Emperor Napoleon I. They replaced the second company of fusiliers in each existing infantry battalion. The voltigeurs moniker late
Cornet in imperial livery and officer of the line voltigeurs (1812)
French line infantry grenadier (left) and voltigeur (right) c. 1808
A voltigeur with the Garde Nationale, 1809
A voltigeur from the French-client state Kingdom of Naples
Chasseur, a French term for "hunter", is the designation given to certain regiments of French and Belgian light infantry or light cavalry to denote troops trained for rapid action.
Voltigeur
…voltigeurs declined as the new units lacked the experience and training to set them apart from their "non-elite" compatriots in the regular light infantry chasseur companies. The hastily reformed regiments of 1813, numbering up to 19, were not up to the same standard as the elite units of the Voltigeurs before the…
Illustration of a French Imperial Army chasseur in 1804
c. 1812 painting of a Mounted Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard officer
Memorial in Charleroi to the chasseurs à pied who fought in World War I
A French chasseur à cheval in 1812