57e Regiment d'Infantere Ligne Fusiliers

     The 12 fusilier companies of the 57e Ligne in 1809 were the backbone of the regiment. These men were conscripted into the war battalions by the thousands to fill the gaps of countless years of war. Shown below are images of the regiment depicted by artists such as Boersch (Petits Soldats de Strasbourg) Rigo, Bucquoy, Tanconville, Boisselier, a modern depiction by Y. Ogarkova, a naive german drawing closer to the time period of a fusilier drummer, and a portrait of a wounded officer. Trying to figure out who is correct in their depiction is tough, but giving the details and allowing the reader to make their own decision is my goal.
        
        Some details on the Petits Soldats de Strasbourg (Petits Soldats d’Alsace) collection painted by Christian Boersch from Frederic Berjaud's site on the history of 57e Ligne, "Before going into detail, a few words first about Boersch (after L. de Beaufort, the Briquet). Born in Strasbourg before the Revolution, a baker in his state, he had married the niece of the painter Benjamin Zix. Installed in his shop, which overlooked Strasbourg's main street, he followed all the troops passing through the city with his eyes. Sometimes he invited the soldiers to visit him in his shop. He dutifully recorded the details of their uniform, which he then reproduced on cardboard cut with a knife and then mounted them on wooden studs. This notation lasts several generations since it is completed under the Restoration." The reason we have so much information on such regiments as the 3e Ligne, 18e Ligne, 57e Ligne, and 17e Legere is that these regiments had their depots in Strasbourg. Mr. Boersch would have seen these regiments daily and able to record the changes he saw. Commandant Bucquoy states, "The types of this series were taken mainly in the Boersch collection, an Alsatian collection established by a contemporary and which was the basis of many later collections. It is of all the known collections that have the best chance of being accurate and we will have several times the opportunity to draw interesting documents from them. The outfits that our collaborator Mr. Henri Boisselier represented from this source are those of the end of the Executive Board, which remained under the Consulate and the Empire until the adoption of the shako." http://frederic.berjaud.free.fr/057edeligne/57e_de_ligne.htm

      Below you will find the troop controls or roster of the troops. These show their height, age, where they were born, their overall facial features, and their parent's names. Next shows if they volunteered, were conscripted, or a replacement for another (usually often a well off) citizen and what year they joined the corps. Also, details of the soldier's service record which includes the battalion and company he served, his rank, and the outcome of his service (wounded, mortally wounded, killed, died in hospital, retired, left the corps for any reason, or moved onto another regiment). These are fascinating even if at times hard to read, but still, this allows us an insight into the rank and file of the regiment.

Troop controls. This depicts three different soldiers who all shed their blood at the Battle of Thann. Our first soldier N.2996 Pierre Antione Houdain joined the regiment in 1805 as a replacement for another citizen and was retired in 1810 due to wounds received at the battle. He served in the 3rd battalion/ 3rd Company. Jean Gagne was mortally wounded at the battle and died two months later in the military hospital located in Strasbourg in June 1809. He served in the 1st Battalion/ 1st Grenadiers. Pierre Francois Lattu was killed outright at the battle and served in the 2nd Battalion/ 1st Company. When both Gagne and Lattu were entered into the rolls one after the other in 1805 as conscript N.3014 and N.3015 neither could have known they would meet the same fate four years later in Bavaria. These men were all veterans of the 1806,1807, and 1809 campaigns.
(SHD/GR 21 YC 474) 57e demi-brigade de ligne, 14 brumaire an XIV [5 novembre 1805]-8 avril 1809 (matricules 2 977 à 6 084)

Fusilier Tambour and Fusiler from Petits Soldats de Strasbourg and a Fusilier Tambour painted by Henri Boisselier

Portrait of a 57e Ligne Fusilier from Bucquoy Plates

  Illustration by Y. Ogarkova. Posted in the book: Dolgov I.A  Dolgov 1812 The Army of Napoleon. Davout's 1st Corps - M.: Publisher workshop & 15th camp " M., 2011

57e Ligne I.Batt. Officer in Full Dress uniform c.1807 from Suhr Manuscript. The officer's shako plate is different than the lozenge shako plate depicted c.1809.

Wounded Captain of the 57e Ligne wearing a surtout with the Legion d'honneur award.

Rigo's article showcasing the uniform of the 57e Ligne in 1809 fusilier tambour and sapeur of the 4e &5e Battalions.

Fusilier Tambour from a german naive drawing of the 57e Ligne. Note the sky blue turnbacks with the 5 on the left and 7 on the right turn back. Also, the shako plate seems to be the 1812 plate with an eagle over crescent.

57e Ligne in 1809 Grenadier and Fusilier Tambours from Bucquoy Plates based on Les Petit Soldats de Strasbourg. Note how Bucquoy plates show drummers with white turnbacks and orange piping.

Tanconville plate showing the 57e Ligne in 1805 in underdress uniform in Strasbourg. The plate depicts from left to right a Voltigeur Officer and Fusilier Officer in surtouts, Fusilier Sergent-major, Grenadier drummer, Chef de batallion on horseback in surtout, Aide chirurgien, and Chef de Musique.