History of the 4eme Hussards
War Record
Austerlitz 1805
Lubeck 1806
Liebstadt 1807
Mohrungen 1807
Alcanitz 1809
Belchite 1809
Siege of Lerida 1810
Sagunto 1811
Yecla 1813
Gross-Beeren 1813
Leipzig 1813
Ligny 1815
Wavre 1815
Known as the 5eme Hussards (Colonel-General) before the revolution, the regiment was re-numbered the 4eme upon the emigration of the Hussards de Saxe. The regiment fought in many battles during the revolution, mainly in the Army of the Sambre-et-Meuse.
At the battle of Austerlitz they fought in General Kellerman’s light cavalry division with a strength of three squadrons. During 1806/1807 they were attached to Marechal Bernadotte’s corps. Following the battle of Liebstadt, a Russian general wrote in his after-action report that he had destroyed “Bonaparte’s Red Hussars.” (The 4th Hussards had red pelisses and as the action was in January they were most likely wearing them.) Yet over the two-day period (Jan. 24th and 25th, 1807) the regiment’s officer casualties amounted to 1 officer killed and 1 wounded. Hardly crippling losses!
In the Peninsula campaign the regiment served in Delort’s brigade alongside the 13th Cuirassiers and the 24th Dragoons. The 4th Hussars were the first regiment of cavalry to join Napoleon when he returned from his abdication on the island of Elba.
Colonels during the Empire
Andre Burthe d’Annelet 1800 to 1810
Jean-Francois Christophe 1810 to1814
Louis Joseph Blot 1815