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The Irish Legion of Napoleon came into being, on paper at least, on 31 August 1803. Making it a reality took much longer. At the end of that year, the first officers, mostly Irish exiles, former rebels or United Irishmen, began to assemble at Morlaix in Finisterre, Brittany. It was to be over two years before the unit had a significant number of troops, and four years before the unit saw any action, and the unit whiled away the interim on tedious coastal or garrison duty. Dr Gallaher is at his best when describing these frustrating and traumatic formative years, when internal rivalry and political conflict was a major preoccupation, resulting in the death of one officer as the result of a duel, the transfer of the two most senior officers and the resignation of others. These years, as Dr Gallaher concedes, seriously damaged both the morale and reputation of the Legion.
The unit's initial purpose, to take part in the invasion of Ireland or anywhere in the British Isles, died as plans for that operation where shelved in the wake of Trafalgar. In 1807, a provisional battalion went into Spain. A further contingent followed in 1808, and the 3rd battalion in 1809, creating the basis of the Legion's two-battalion presence in the Peninsula which ended in 1811. In 1809, the first battalion, about 450 officers and men, was taken prisoner at the fall of Flushing, and a replacement battalion began assembling at Landau.
In 1813, two battalions took part in the Saxon campaign, but were lost in the disastrous attempt to cross the flooded Bober river in Silesia, when pressed by the Prussians, with as many as 1800 men dying or becoming prisoners. Upon the first Restoration, the unit concealed the regimental eagle, ready for Bonaparte's return, while declaring loyalty to the King. After further vicissitudes, the regiment was dissolved in September 1815. The number of Irishmen in the ranks was under 10% by 1813, and the final proportion of officers demonstrates the declining number of Irish so that they were only 8% among the junior officers.
Having been called officially over the years la Légion irlandaise, le Régiment irlandais, le 3e Régiment étranger (irlandais), le 7e Régiment étranger, the unit ended up Irish in name only, headed by a diminishing core of patriotic Irishmen, some of whom were deported for their alleged Bonapartist opinions. So few Irish soldiers passed into the new Foreign Legion just forming that they are hardly worth mentioning. It is the sad story of rebel exiles, a few of whom continued in the French army while the rest were dispersed around the world and they and their descendant have been lost to Ireland. Irish recruitment into the French army thus came to sad end and from then on the British Army, which had been recruiting the Irish in earnest since 1793, was now attracting them in hordes, so that on the eve of the Famine in 1845 more then 40% of the British Army was Irish while the population of Ireland had become less than 15% of the total population of the United Kingdom.
As the need for manpower for the Empire increased, the decision was made to expand the Irish Legion from a battalion sized unit into a regiment. Men were recruited first from Irish and Scottish Jacobite expatriates, whose families had been forced to flee following failed revolts. Prisoner of war camps were also a good source of soldiers. Recruiters for the Legion found that Irish Sailors who had been taken by press gangs, and forced into the British Navy before their capture, had no loyalty to King George. Once these men were taught the basic soldier skills, they proved good soldiers and hard fighters. Other men for the Legion came from German and Polish recruits -- forming a truly European force. While commands were given in French, the troops and officers spoke to each other in English or in their native tongues.] |
