Flags of French Regiment Saintonge

 First raised under Louis XIV in 1684. 1 battalion.

Ranked 77th in 1756.

Flags carried 1684-1791.

The pattern of the colours seems a bit variable depending on the source; I have chosen to use the 1721 French manuscript volume as I feel it is probably more authoritative than many.

Saintonge was called, in 1755, to the camp of Aimeries sur Sambre. It was stationed at Brest at the beginning of the Seven Years War and was in Brittany for the duration of the war. In 1759, when France made its great effort to attack Britain on its home territory, it was embarked in the fleet of M de Conflans, who did not live up to the promise of such a mission. After a deplorable combat [presumably Quiberon Bay?] the expedition returned to Brest.

The ordonnance of 10th December 1762 put Saintonge in the service of ports and colonies. It had been sent the preceding year to Guiana and had lost several companies in an appalling shipwreck. Lieutenant Vicomte de Berlaymont had survived four days with some of his men in the open sea on the wreckage of a ship. The regiment left Guiana in 1766 for Guadeloupe and returned to Brest in France on the 11th of April 1768.

And this is the uniform in 1756:

[The text is largely from Susane again; I'm sure you will note the somewhat pro-French bias! :-) This is yet another French regiment which saw far more activity in the War of the Spanish Succession than in the SYW; it fought at Blenheim and Malplaquet, for instance.]