Trooper of Württemberg Roeder Dragoons 1760

Württemberg Roeder (or Röder) Dragoons first raised 1758 as the Dragonerregiment von Degenfeld. Inhabers: 1758 Colonel Christoph August Count von Degenfeld; 1759 Major-General August Gottlieb Reinhard von Röder; 1762 Major-General Wolfgang Heinrich von Rothkirch. Von Degenfeld also commanded the regiment from 1758-9. Composition: 4 squadrons.

2 squadrons served in Saxony in 1760.

I've chosen to depict the regiment in 1760 when it was the Roeder (or Röder) Dragoons as we have a good contemporary illustration of the regiment by Johann Christian Becher (Stiftung Weimarer Klassik) (the New York Public Library website has a much larger and clearer version of this than the one on the Kronoskaf site (which is under "Degenfeld Dragoons")). This does not, as far as I can see, show a black collar (see, by contrast, Pengel and Hurt, and Kronoskaf) but probably a white one, if it shows a collar at all (the image is unclear). The buttons are also curious as those on the coat look as if they are tin, contrasting with brass buttons on the waistcoat. Without seeing the original or a very good reproduction this is speculative. Consequently I've shown them all as brass. The lace on the hat may be gold but I suspect is more likely to have been yellow. It is clear from the Becher illustration that there were at least 8 buttons on the lapels and possibly more.

Trooper of Bavarian Preysing Dragoons

Impoverished by years of war during the War of the Austrian Succession, Bavaria had to make severe cutbacks and the army was reorganised in the 1750s. The 4 cavalry regiments, 2 regiments of cuirassiers and 2 of dragoons, were below strength - at the beginning of the SYW there were 1190 men and only 270 horses all told. The cavalry took no part in the SYW.

Preysing Dragoons, like the other regiments, had a theoretical strength of 9 companies with 38 men each, organised in 3 squadrons in wartime. From 1758 Preysing became la Rosée. Little seems to be known of the regiment's history or that of the other 3 regiments.*

So why, given the total lack of involvement in the SYW, have I drawn a template of one of them? Well, I liked it; it's simple and elegant and red-coated, and I like its obscurity. Who can resist an elegant redcoat uniform? Not me...

*If anyone has detailed regimental histories, please let me know! Thanks.

30th Reichsarmee Template: Trooper of the Ansbach Dragoon Regiment (Franconian Circle)

Franconian Kreis-Dragoner Regiment first raised 1691. Inhaber: Markgraf von Brandenburg-Ansbach. Composition: 5 squadrons each of 2 companies, theoretical establishment a total of c.700. 21 contingents. Disbanded 1791.

Fought at Rossbach, where as part of the second line of the right wing of cavalry their performance was not entirely uncreditable as they lasted longer than the Hohenzollern and Bayreuth Cuirassiers before being routed by the Prussian envelopment. In May 1758 had a strength of 407. Still with the Reichsarmee in June 1760. Not at Freiberg 1762.

I've chosen the simplest recorded variant of this uniform, which more closely matches later near-contemporary depictions and seems more likely given the poverty-stricken nature of the Reichsarmee. Richard Knötel in his Uniformkunde shows a surprisingly complex uniform with white lace on the buttonholes and a curious emblem like a coiled snake on the shabraque. The Sturm cigarette cards figure shows a much darker blue for the facings and dots around the sinuous pattern on the edge of the shabraque.