Swedish Soldiers of the Napoleonic Wars (Part III) - Uniform Colours and a Painted Sample in 28mm

Part III

The uniform colours of the Swedish Line Infantry - a painted sample

A Soldier of the Uppland regiment

Part I Swedish Napoleonic Soldiers in 28mm - an Overview
Part II Swedish Napoleonic Soldiers in 28mm - a Modeling Tutorial
Part III - Uniform Colours and a Painted Sample

Rather than a tutorial on what specific colours to use this, Part III, is a guide on what colour that goes where including some information on the regimental facing colours on the Swedish Napoleonic line infantry soldier uniform.

Uniform colours varied between regiments, jackets often being blue (at least for the regiments from mainland Sweden and with the grey unity uniform of 1807 as a given exeption to the rule) and different regiments used different facing colours. Some good guidance on the colours for different regiments can be found here (its for the Early Uniform of 1802 but gives a good idea of regimental facing colurs for the later uniforms aswell). Trousers were often grey wool or, in particular during the warmer months, white linnen. It should be noted that in particular during the Finland War 1808-1809 supplies were scarce and the Swedish-Finish army were at times quite a rugged band of soldiers in worn clothing or with soldiers missing pieces of uniform.

In this example we will focus on a soldier of the Uppland regiment wearing a Mid Uniform of 1806 (a modified and re-sewn version of the Early Uniform that is).

A side view - showing the white pompom indicating the first
company and the white collar of the Uppland regiment

The Hat
The close to corsican style hat with its upturned brim was black with a brass metal band. The decorations of the hat is maybe the most unclear subject of the Swedish Napoleonic uniform.
The regular line infantry used yellow plumes. The pompom located at the base of the plume varied in colour according to company. We have yet to find the pompom colours used by the Uppland regiment at this time but know for certain that the first company used white. Other company pompom colour examples - used by the Dalregiment in 1805 - was red, blue, yellow, red/white, blue/yellow, red/yellow, red/blue. As mentioned in Part I some regiments might have worn a patch with a coloured cross on the front of the hat. As far as we know the Uppland regiment did not implement that in the field however.

The Jacket
The Uppland regiment jacket was blue, a blue not as dark as the French blue but still not a light blue. We painted it using a mid blue, washed with black and drybrushed with the mid blue again. The Uppland cuffs were yellow piped white (note that we haven't bothered to paint the piping on our miniatures *gasp!*). The turnbacks on the jackets tail was also yellow. The high collar, however, was white for the Uppland regiment.

The Uppland soldier again
- showing the striped cloth belt and whitened leather belts

The Cloth Waist Belt
The cloth waist belt was striped in a deep blue and yellow as for all line infantry. 

Trousers, gaiters and shoes
For our purposes we have chosen to paint grey wool trousers. White linnen trousers were used by the Uppland regiment however, for instance in Pomerania during the summer of 1807. Gaiters were black with brass buttons. Shoes were black.

Leather Belts
The buff leather strap for the catridge box was whitened for regular line infantry. Some other leather belts and straps were whitened aswell but that might have varied in the field due to shortages in field equipment. The musket sling was not whitened, instead it was in red leather.

A rear view - showing the yellow turnbacks of the Uppland
regiment, the woolen grey trousers and black gaiters.
Also visible is the rolled up greatcoat or kapott.