Napoleonic Era Awards Of All German States

[Wild Card]

Date detail, which is quite worn down.

[Ulsterman]

Very,very cool. I had no notion that Wurtemberg issued these medals.

:cheers:

[VtwinVince]

I recently picked up an example of the Hessen-Kassel Waterloo medal. Does anyone have any idea as to number of awards for this medal?

[Ulsterman]

...Hesse Cassel troops weren't at Waterloo. They were part of the North German Federation "Army" under the very ill General von Kleist. In reality the "Army" was more of a Corps and actually never more than @ 18,000 strong under Prussian control and leadership. Established by the Prussian king in late March, Hesse-Cassel's troops formed the majority of the Corps with two of the Corps' three Infantry divisions and two elite Hussar regiments, a staff and a battery of guns. The third Division was made up of Lippians, Reuss, Anhalt, Schaumbergian-Lippians, Oldenburgers, Mecklenbergers, Sonderhauseners etc. etc..

Hesse Kassel troops, famous mercenaries for over a century (indeed, several officers in 1815 had served at Trenton!!) formed the core of the famous Confederation of the Rhine troops-the Westphalians. Westphalian troops were superb, fought in Spain, Russia and Germany and a hard core remnant @ 3000 or so, remained loyal to (King Jerome) Bonaparte until just before Paris fell in 1814.

The North German Army took quite a while to assemble and organize and it didn't actually make it over the border until AFTER Waterloo. Before then they were in bivouac in the Ardennes.

The Mecklenberg contingent did not actually catch up with the Corps until July!

The Hessians spent most of 1815 skirmishing and attacking forts on the frontier. There were some spectacular smaller battles, with earthworks overrun and retaken at bayonet point, massive gunfights in the streets of smaller towns and lots of company-sized skirmishes.

The final actions took place in late August, long after Napoleon was on his way to St. Helena and mostly concerned small forts on the Dutch border that the Dutch and local French forces (soon to be Belgians) both were eager to claim.

Estimates vary and there is much confusion as to the makeup of the regiments (as a confederated forces troops drifted in weekly and seem to have been assigned sometimes where they were needed), but it seems as that about 50% of the Hessian contingent was comprised of veterans on 1811/12/1813/14- who had fought hard and well, FOR the Emperor.

Who knows, it may even be that you own a medal that was once worn by a veteran of Trenton and Brandywine!

Hurrah!

Oh and its estimated that there were NO More than 8,000 of the Hessian medal made.

[eitze]

I wanna show you my latest finds.

First:

Hessen-Kassel Feldszugsmedaille for combattants. Already shown in this thread, but I think it is such a beautiful medal, you can not show it often enough

[eitze]

And another medal for my Brunswick Waterloo collection:

Heinr. Oberbeck

3. Lin. Bat.

Casualties at Waterloo after Siborne:

- 10 NCO/Men killed

- 2 Officers and 51 NCO/Men wounded

greetings

eitze

[Wild Card]

Ulsterman,

Thank you for your explanation in post #154 of the status of the Hessen-Kassel troops with regard to Waterloo.

I have noticed that the Kriegs-Denkmünze 1814-15 medals (see below) of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg are being

referred to as “Waterloo Medals” in recent years; and yet, I do not recall having ever seen any evidence of

Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg troops being present at Waterloo or any of the related conflicts such as Quatre Bras.

If this is so, I assume that their status would be the same as that of those from Hessen-Kassel. Is this correct?

Best wishes,

Wild Card

[Ulsterman]

I believe the SGA troops were -as a contingent-part of the same corps the Hessians were in. However, there were some odd units in Bluchers' army. Several actually went into battle wearing their old Confederation of the Rhine uniforms from 1813/14. I'll double check.

[David M]

Several actually went into battle wearing their old Confederation of the Rhine uniforms from 1813/14. I'll double check.

Woooow that must have been a life-threatening situation for them and confusing for both sides as well....Imagine seeing imperial troops facing their enemy in former ally uniforms!(Please don't think I do not trust your recollection, I am just imagining what it must have looked like)

[VtwinVince]

Nice ones, eitze, and I agree with you about the Hessen-Kassel medal. I just picked one up, and they are great looking.

[Ulsterman]

Well, Saxe Gotha troops definitely went into the North German confederation troop contingents. However, Saxe-Gotha Altenbrg. doesn't show up anywhere as a separate military entity.

This makes me really wonder who got these and how and when. My guess is that they were lumped into Saxe Gotha, but given the size of the population of SGA at the time (85,000 at best), you have to wonder how many of these there really were.

Whether SGA's contingent was also part of the Saxon army is also in interesting avenue of inquiry. The Saxons revolted against Prussian control and openly rioted in the streets before they were suppressed. About 40 soldiers were shot by firing squads and a number of very experienced and very pro-Bonaparte officers were cashiered. The two Saxon brigades were sent EAST into Germany- out of Belgium a mere fortnight before the campaign kicked off.

Westphalian Landwehr troops served in the Waterloo campaign and all sorts of odd people were in some of these units: ex POWs etc.

It's a mystery-but one well worth researching. Anyone know if there a SGA Court Handbuch out there?

[eitze]

In time for Christmas I got probably the last Brunswick Waterloo Medal for this year, from a fellow collector.

It comes with a different suspension as you can see.

CHRST. KUHLMANN

HUS. RGT.

Casualties at Waterloo after Siborne:

- 1 Officer and 27 NCO/Men killed

- 5 Officer and 45 NCO/Men wounded.

Merry Christmas to all

greetings

eitze

[Beau Newman]

Here is a rather unusual Brunswick Waterloo I came across. The size and weight are as expected. It has a magnetic split ring suspension. However, the reverse is 180 degrees rotated from the obverse, similar to what is normally seen on coins. There is no engraving on the rim. Any thoughts?

[Beau Newman]

The reverse:

[eitze]

Hello Beau,

that is a nice example.

I think it is one of the few mint mistakes, which were not immediately melted down again.

greetings

eitze

[Beau Newman]

That is what I thought. Although it's not an issued piece, the price was right and I'm not likely to find an issued piece in as nice condition.

[Beau Newman]

My other example - Well worn with a scrap of original ribbon. Named to: "LUDW . HARTUNG . 1 . LIN . BAT ."

[Beau Newman]

The reverse:

[Ulsterman]

Sweet!!! :jumping:

[Owen]

Hello All - I am very new to both this forum and to collecting medals, but have been fascinated and impressed by your depth of knowledge and wide ranging information on this area of developing interest for me. I have enjoyed looking back over this thread and feel inspired to join in!

I have long had an interest in the Peninsular Wars (retired army officer) and in Waterloo particularly. Having bought a British Waterloo Medal recently and fully researched that...my interest in the medals of the allies (and of the French) was piqued. I have bought several (including Dutch Commemorative Silver Cross, an Austrian Cannon Cross and a Ste Helene Medal in original box of issue) but, with respect to the German States, I now have a Brunswick Medal (issued to a Surgeon...Christian Krug of the 1st Line Battalion) and a Nassau Silver Medal (sadly without any recipient details). Hopefully the pictures migt be of some interest to you:

BTW, if anyone has any idea how I might begin to research the medal to the Brunswick Surgeon - Christian Krug - I woud be very grateful indeed.

Brunswick Medal to Company Surgeon Christian Krug of the 1st Line Battalion (I believe that everything is original, including the ribbon):

Nassau Silver Medal (ribbon is not original):

[Ulsterman]

The Brunswick rolls I believe are still extant.

[Owen]

The Brunswick rolls I believe are still extant.

Many thanks - do you know how I might see/get hold of a copy? Googleing etc doesn't seem to offer any help.

[GuyNic]

Hello everyone. I am another newbie to the forum and have joined to support my family's research and the retrieval of posessions lost to us over the years. I have many avenues to explore, but I thought I would begin with this discussion and I hope the information will be of interest. I would like to start by introducing Lieutenant-General Sir William Nicolay KCH CB, Governor of Mauritius, St.Kitts and Dominica (if you don't know of him already). The reason being that his father and grandfather were formerly of the Ducal state of Saxe-Gotha and came to England in 1736. William also commanded 5 companies of the Royal Staff Corps at Waterloo and led the 1st Light Batallion of the Kings German Legion at Corunna. We have a portrait of William in his finery, which has prompted us to being a search for his medals. I concede however, that this will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Great website and all fascinating stuff by the way!

[Ulsterman]

Hmmmm...Dix Noonan might be able to help with your ancestors medals. I think they track Napoleonic medal sales.

Christian Krug Surgeon. Well, nothing about him directly I know, but thee is a GREAT letter by one of his comrades in the new Glover book (The Waterloo Archive: German Sources") which describes well the hellacious conditions the Brunswick medical corps (all 20-25 of them) experienced in June, 1815.

[GuyNic]

Hmmmm...Dix Noonan might be able to help with your ancestors medals. I think they track Napoleonic medal sales.

Thanks Ulsterman. I will certainly contact them and see what they have to say