19th Dragoon Regiment

19th Dragoon Regiment (19e régiment de dragons or known as Charles Philippe's Dragoons) was a cavalry regiment in the French Army, it was active in various forms from 1802 to 1868).

Early victories


In 1805 the 2nd Dragoon Regiment was made part of the 1st Dragoon Division (commanded by General of Division Louis Klein) of Marshal Joachim Murat's Reserve Cavalry Corps in the Grande Armée of Napoleon I. The First Empire gave them scarlet as their distinguishing colour on their facings and coat lapels, which they shared with the 1st through 6th Dragoons. In the autumn of 1805, the regiment and the rest of Klein's division was part of the remarkably successful Ulm Campaign, fighting at the battles of Wertingen and Albeck on 8 and 11 October, at the Battle of Ulm a week later, and at the Battle of Austerlitz on 20 November.

During the War of the Fourth Coalition, the regiment fought at the Battle of Jena on 14 October 1806, the Battle of Golymin on 26 December that year, the Battle of Eylau on 7–8 February 1807 (including Marshal Murat's colossal cavalry charge), the Battle of Heilsberg on 10 June, and the eventual victory at the Battle of Friedland on 14 June.

Peninsular War
From 1808 to 1813, the regiment and the rest of the 1st Dragoon Division (now under General of Division Victor Latour-Mabourg) along with much of the Reserve Cavalry Corps (under Jean-Baptiste Bessières) served in the Peninsular Campaign. There, they fought many small skirmishes with the Spanish, and saw action in several major battles. They began their campaign at the First Siege of Zaragoza in the summer of 1808, followed by the Battle of Tudela on 23 November. In 1809, they fought in the Battle of Uclés on 13 January, the Battle of Medellín on 28 March, the Battle of Talavera on 27–28 July, and the Battle of Almonacid on 11 August. On 27 September 1810, the 2nd Dragoon Regiment fought at the Battle of Bussaco, in 1811 it fought at the Battle of Chiclana on 5 March and the siege of Elvas later that year, and on 21 June 1813 it fought in the Battle of Vitoria. A small detachment served in the French invasion of Russia in 1812 as part of Marshal Pierre Augereau's reserve XI Corps.

Fall of Napoleon
The regiment joined in the German Campaign of 1813. It fought in the siege of Königsberg, the Battle of Leipzig of 16–19 October, and the Battle of Hanau of 30–31 October. In late 1813 it was assigned to the French corps d'observation in Bavaria, and then the V Corps when the corps was sent to reinforce the garrison of Danzig, then under a siege by a Russo-Prussian army. During the Campaign of France in early 1814, the 2nd Dragoon Regiment fought in an action at Rambervillers, at the Battle of Brienne on 29 January, and at the Battle of Saint-Dizier on 26 March. That year, the regiment incorporated 25 survivors from the Compagnie des Guides-interprètes (the predecessors of the later French corps of Interprètes Militaires or military interpreters), which was first formed at Boulogne in 1803 in preparation for Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom.

Hundred Days and Restorations
On the return of the regiment from Germany in 1814 following the First Bourbon Restoration, it went to Paris and received the title of dragons du Roi, as the most senior regiment of dragoons (the previous 1st Dragoon Regiment now was a regiment of chevau-légers lanciers). Following Napoleon's return to France, it returned to its previous name and number on 23 April 1815. During the Hundred Days, the regiment was initially part of the 4th Reserve Cavalry Division. In the Army of the North's Belgian campaign, it was part of the 11th Cavalry Division, in Marshal François Étienne de Kellermann's III Reserve Cavalry Corps. During the retreat following the battle of Waterloo, the 2nd Dragoons attacked and defeated a Prussian force in a skirmish at Sentis. After Napoleon's surrender, it joined the many units camped out in the Loire valley while a new settlement between the coalition and the Bourbons was made. The regiment was dissolved on 4 December 1815, after the Second Bourbon Restoration.

Bourbon Restoration and July Monarchy
On 29 December 1815, the regiment was re-formed with the same men and officers, and named the régiment de dragons du Doubs, again the second-most senior dragoon regiment. The dragons de Doubs were given a new uniform and headgear, with scarlet facings and green cuffs as their distinguishing colours. The men of the regiment remained openly sympathetic to Bonapartism, including its first commander after the Restoration, Colonel François-Joseph Planzeaux, who gave a speech at his first review of the regiment praising the deeds of the "2nd Dragoons of the Empire, a regiment beyond reproach…the immortal dragoons of Spain." In 1816, Planzeaux was accused of participating in a Bonapartist conspiracy and discharged from the army.

In 1823, the regiment was part of the Spanish Expedition (known as the "Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis"), the French force sent to defeat the liberals of the Trienio Liberal and restore the absolute power of Ferdinand VII. It was part of General of Division Bertrand Castex's 1st Dragoon Division, in Marshal Nicolas Oudinot's I Corps.

During the July Monarchy, the 2nd Dragoon Regiment dropped the name Doubs, and was among several that were favoured by Louis Philippe I, and called to the maneuvers and festivities at his camp at Compiègne every two years. In 1832, it participated in the suppression of the June Rebellion. Charles-Marie-Augustin de Goyon, who would be a senior general of the Second Empire, served as its colonel from 1846 to 1850. Under de Goyon, the regiment earned the nickname of "demoiselles de Goyon", owing to his high standards for drill and dress. During the 1848 Revolution, the officers of the regiment kept their men calm and disciplined, much to the relief of the citizens of its garrison town of Beauvais.