After conducting recently a brief research about the appearance of the Nassau troops in the 100 days campaign I thought I might share some results with the PF-Community. My focus was on the 1rst and 2nd Nassau Regiment - it should be noted that more Nassau Troops were present in this campaign as their King Wilhem I of Orange Nassau became King of the Netherlands in 1815.
My interest in the fate of the Nassau troops was sparked since I live in the former Kingdom of Nassau Weilburg and many of the recruits of these units were drawn from my immediate surroundings.


1. Uniforms and Equipment in 1815

The Nassau contingent comprised of two Regiments (beside some more units I mentioned above):
The first and the second Regiment. Both units had served with the French mainly in Spain with distinction. 1813 the 2nd Regt had defected the French in the Peninsula on orders and had finally returned home while the 1rst Regt was imprisoned by the French 1813 and in 1814 the survivors had returned but the Regt had to be rebuilt - their 3rd Battallion being recruited from homeguard (their new style uniforms displayed red pipings instead of yellow ones). So the 2nd Regt was at Waterloo the more senior Regt of both.

The Regiments were still formed upon French tactics and used mainly their former uniforms - new versions arrived after the Battle of Waterloo and were worn during parades at Brussels and back home causing lasting misunderstandings that are perpetuated till today (The Museum at Brussels showing a Nassau Grenadier with the red wings instead of the epaulettes or black shoulder boards which were worn by the Grenadiers of both units during the battle).

Each Regt comprised of Grenadiers, Fusiliers and Voltigeurs/Flankeurs. In the attached sheet you see the uniforms of the 1rst Regt in the top row - 2nd Regt in the second row and below the shako plates of both Regts, rank insignia and the versions of the Grenadier and Flankeur uniforms with the wings - introduced after the battle of waterloo. In the second picture you see some differences in the appearance of both Regts - 2nd Regt to the left and 1rst Regt to the right with linen shako cover and French Fusil (from stocks at Mainz provided by the Austrian governor as support for the reconstruction of the 1rst Regt at Wiesbaden) while the 2nd Regt had been already issued with British muskets in 1814.


1. Regt

They wore linen shako covers on top of their black shakos with a black rosette below a wollen pompon with a tuft (centre companies 1rst yellow, 2nd white, 3rd blue, 4th black - grenadiers red - flankeurs green). These "white shakos" drew French artillery fire when the 1rst Regt was deployed at Waterloo near the centre of the Allied line. Therefore the 1rst Regt removed the covers during the battle at around 3 PM.
The 1rst Regt was armed with French muskets and the supply of ammunition was therefore a constant problem - before the battle every soldier was issued just 10 - 15 rounds.
Their green uniforms were modernized by leaving out the green vest and lowering the front lapels of their jackets (with nine buttons) to the waist - but replacements were slow and therefore a mix of old style uniforms with the vest still in place and old jackets without vests and new ones should have existed. Although the troops depicted below are 2nd Regt their different uniform styles illustrate the mixed versions of their uniform.


The Grenadiers of the 1rst Regt. wore mostly black shakos (as stocks of their bearskin colpacks were extremely low - just 29 in the 1rst Regt!) and black shoulder boards edged yellow. The white field trousers were avoided by the Nassauers which definitely gave them together with the crossbelts (and old style epaulettes) a too French look that invited trouble. These field trousers were officially no longer distributed in 1815.

On the front of the grenadier shakos a grenade was fixed as a plate - the flankeurs wore a bugle with the no of their Regt in the centre and the centre companies a plate with the coat of arms and the number 1 or 2 (2nd Regt) in an oval and at the bottom a rectangular plate with a black N (for Nassau).

The trousers were green and had a yellow stripe running down the legs. In the field different trousers were worn - officers wearing private ones - in some cases with black and grey stripes.
Officers wore an orange sash and had special rank insignia.


2. Regt

Their shakos were covered with black oilskin. The rosette of the shako was orange in difference to the 1rst Regt.
The 2nd Regt was armed with British muskets - they were holding the crossroads and right flank at Quatre Bras and were defending Hougoumont farm - supported by the British Guards - see below.
Grenadiers might have worn colpacks or shakos and uniforms sporting the red epaulettes that later caused the Prussians at Papelotte to believe that they were opposed by French troops. The color sections with their guards wore colpacks - the colors of the 1rst and 2nd Batallion of the 2nd Regt were kept with significant battle damage (almost without the color - just their damaged staffs) to support their veteran status.
The colpacks were worn bare of their red decorations and the cloth bag. The following captions show the Colors and the uniforms of the color sections.



The attached sheets show the Grenadiers of the 2nd Regt, the centre companies, the Flanquers and the Volunteer Flanquers of this Regt. The soldiers of the centre companies were named Jäger/Chasseurs. Therefore the Nassau Regiments were later by some historians regarded as light Infantry. The green uniforms added to that impression. Nevertheless only the Flanquers and the Volunteer Flanquers were used and trained in the role of light Infantry and the Volunteer unit used partially private rifles.



Actions at Waterloo

After the 2nd Regt had been heavily engaged at Quatre Bras (they were the first units in the field and stopped the advance of the French) they were deployed at Waterloo on both flanks - the first Battallion of the 2nd Regt was sent to Hougoumont (seemingly by direct orders of the Prince of Orange who was not content to be second in command and did not involve Wellington in that matter) and the other parts of the 2nd Regt were positioned around Papelotte on the left flank of Wellington`s line.
The 1rst Regt was initially kept in the reserve North of Papelotte and later ordered into the line near the centre where they repulsed French cavalry attacks and dispatched two Flankeur companies to support the KGL at La Haye Sainte. The 1rst Regt suffered significant from artillery which caused them to remove the linen shako covers and later from cuirassiers when they tried to launch a bajonett charge against the French guns.



The 2nd Regt was a major factor in the defence of Hougoumont. The Grenadiers (a half company of Grenadiers? - most probably a centre company - sources are not clear about that) and Flankeurs were initially sent into the wood South of the farm to support the company of the Brunswick Jaegers and the Light Company of the Lüneburg Batallion and the other centre companies occupied the gardens along the wall and to the east of Hougoumont - according to a summary report that was published 1881 about the history of the 2nd Regt the Grenadier company occupied right away the Gardeners house above the South Gate (a position that was left by the light company of the 2nd British Guards after the Nassauers arrived before the battle began!). There is also a detailed report by Captain Buesgen - the CO of the 1rst Btl of the 2nd Regt - according to him the British Guards had prepared loopholes and defences inside the farm during the night but then left the farm and moved to the flanks into the gardens. Later they occupied the northern part of the farm and defended the North Gate when French infantry pressed on and forced an entry.
Two more attempts to storm the farm were stopped by the Nassauers - one at the South Gate and another through a small door at the western side of the farm when the barn was damaged by French artillery.

Around Papelotte the 2nd Battalion of the 2nd Rgt held out till the Prussians sent support that at first mistook the 2nd Rgt (and the 2nd Btl of the Oranien-Nassau Regt - another Nassau contingent with blue uniforms) as French Forces and engaged them.
More about the battle:
http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/BATTLE_OF_WATERLOO.htm
https://www.napolun.com/mirror/napoleonistyka.atspace.com/BATTLE_OF_WATERLOO.htm

These informations - although available for research since awhile are until now more obscure if you check the classic literature about the Battle. One reason might be the urge to make Waterloo a British victory in the direct aftermath and another the limited interest by the later Netherlands to comemorate the Nassauers from then Germany. I have found that the uniforms of the Nassau troops in many cases are illustrated based on misunderstandings that are passed on from one artist to the next. The reason might be that some very precise sources are still just available in German (Military archives at Wiesbaden and some small museums) and due to limited interest were never translated or published for a broader audience.
Hope that someone will find these informations useful - and who knows - maybe we see some Nassau Troops as models come to the market in the future?
Best wishes, Martin

Wow, fantastic stuff