Can anyone help with information for the following please 1- were the lances painted red or left a wood color? 2- were the fur Busbys black or brown ? 3- their lace is described as being a reddish yellow ? Is that yellow with small red tinge or really orangeish ? thanks Peter
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Hi Peter,
If you sign up to the Academia website you can download for free an extract from Stephen Summerfield's book Leib-Garde Cossacks of the Napoleonic Wars. In it he describes their headwear as being black sheepskin Astrakhan and says the cords were entwined red and white woolen yarn. The extract also includes a colour illustration marked A.V. Viskovatov, which shows a Leib-Garde Cossack carrying a red lance.
https://www.academia.edu/36379058/LEIB_GARDE_COSSACKS_OF_THE_NAPOLEONIC_WARS_2nd_Edition
The red lances and red and white cap cords are confirmed by Jonathan Gingerich's excellent website Russian Facings of the Napoleonic Era (unfortunately this site is unavailable at the moment - I believe the author is looking for a new host - but I made a copy of it a while ago).
With regard to lace, I'm not aware that there was any on the uniform of the Leib-Garde Cossacks but if you are referring to the cap cords worn by officers and NCOs, Mr Gingerich makes the following comment about hat cords of the light cavalry in general:
"Note that NCOs of the light cavalry - Hussars, Lancers, and Cossacks adopted the white, black, and orange cord mix (Romanov heraldic colors) early in Alexander's reign. The foot conformed when they added cords to the shako in 1808-9, but in a couple of years this mix was restricted to the tassels and flounders. This same restriction applied to the L-g. Hussar and, apparently, the rest of the cavalry, guard and line, followed in the 1810-11 period.
Likewise, officers cords went from silver, black, and orange to all silver at the same time."
I hope that is some help to you.
Best wishes
Stephen
Acknowledging that we may know the regulations, but the reality may be otherwise, then
1. The Line Uhlans have lances with a red shaft, the Hussars received black shafts, and the various Cossacks have red, or black (this is also described as the "normal" Cossack pattern), or uncertain depending on the host. But it seems unclear what the guard Cossack or Uhlan do with their lances. If they are seen as Cossacks, then black may be a likely option.
2. It is intended to be black astrakhan. Hence as this is made from sheep skins it may fade to grey or brown depending on the sheep's original hair colour.
3. not sure exactly which lace you are noting, but collars and cuffs have "... sewn-on tracery colored red with yellow..." and caps appear to have piping that is "...mixed yellow and red ..."
The following may be of use
https://marksrussianmilitaryhistory.info/V11/V11.htm
https://marksrussianmilitaryhistory.info/Visk15.html
https://marksrussianmilitaryhistory.info/Visk18.html
Plates are at the following, unfortunately, I am not aware of any colour plates online for this section.
http://www.memorandum.ru/viskowatov/T15/pic/index.php?page=4
The links above are available as published books, with colour plates. See Amazon - NB the volumes done correspond with the original Viskovatov volumes.
Regards
Most depictions seem to show the lances wood color. Doesn't discuss this, but you might be interested (if you haven't seen already)
https://www.napolun.com/mirror/napoleonistyka.atspace.com/cossacks.htm