De Watteville's Regiment

De Watteville's Swiss Regiment
Active	1801 - 1816
Allegiance	United Kingdom (1801–1816)
Branch	British Army
Type	Line Infantry
Role	Infantry, mercenary
Patron	Louis de Watteville
Colors	Red Coats with Black Facings
Engagements	Napoleonic Wars War of the Third Coalition Invasion of Naples (1806) Peninsular War War of 1812 Pemmican War
Battle honours	Battle of Maida Siege of Cádiz Battle of Fort Oswego (1814) Niagara campaign Siege of Fort Erie

De Watteville's Regiment was a Swiss regiment founded by Frédéric de Watteville 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. 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. In 1812 Louis de Watteville took over as Colonel and propriotor of the regiment from his uncle Frédéric de Watteville. 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. The unit was retired at the end of the war and soldiers were given tracts of land in Canada. 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.

References

Works cited

• WO25/679 Regimental description and succession book and Regiment book 1801-1815, held by The National Archives (United_Kingdom) , Kew

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