Order of Battle from 1792 of the Prince of Conde’s emigre army which was dedicated to over-throwing the French revolutionary government and restoring Louis XVI and the Bourbon monarchy.
A single sheet of water-marked chain-lined paper (42x33 cm) bearing a diagrammatic hand-drawn, pen and ink outline of the disposition of the forces of the Prince of Conde, often termed ‘The Army of Conde’, formed during the French Revolutionary Wars. Slightly browned with minimal spotting; creased where folded into eight, a few small holes on creases; edge complete without tears.
Beneath the title the plan details units and commanding officers in four sections: ‘Avant Garde’ (in box to top) commanded by Le Comte de Viomenil; ‘Cavalerie Aile Gauche’ (in box to left) commanded by Le Comte Wall; ‘Cavalerie Aile Droite’ (in box to right) commanded by Le Comte de turpin; and ‘Infanterie’ in two Divisions (in boxes at the centre) commanded by Le Marquis de vaubecour[t] and Le prince de rohan Rochefort; with further notes on numbers of men and artillery pieces at bottom. Composed of many virtually independent units, the diagram notes the presence of the ‘Legion de mirabeau’, ‘Les hussars de Salmes’, the ‘Regiment d’hohenloe’ and the ‘Regiment de Rohan’, giving as well the names of individual Companies comprising the units with their Captains and Aides-Major de Brigade.
Louis Joseph, Le Prince de Conde’ - scion of a cadet branch of the French royal family and Grand Maître de France in the King's royal household - was leader of an army of emigres dedicated to over-throwing revolutionary France and restoring the Bourbon monarchy. Owner of the Chateau at Chantilly, he fled France for Coblenz before the Reign of Terror. In 1792 his army numbered some 5,000 men. Having fought alongside both the Austrians and the British, and later the Russians, the Army was disbanded in 1801. While unsuccessful in their immediate aims, many of those who served in this force were later to become principal figures after the post-Napoleonic Bourbon Restoration.
