Life Guard Cossack Regiment

Dear All,

I would like to ask for the assistance of the various historians on this site.  I am currently working on a monograph concerning the LG Cossack Regiment.  Each year, the regimental association in Paris commemorates the regimental holiday corresponding to the victory at Leipzig.  As some of you are aware, a charge by this unit saved the Emperor of Russia, the Emperor of Austria, and the King of Prussia from simultaneously being captured by French Cuirassiers.  It was ordered by the tsar that the date (October 17th by the new calender) be celebrated yearly in commemoration of this event.  Even in exile this celebration has continued along with other regimental festivities.  This is the last of their kind as no other active regimental organizations still exist.  As you might surmise, most of those who attend are at least two generations away from Imperial Russia.  Many do not really know the full history of their illustrious ancestors.  I would like to help in this regard by presenting a detailed history of the regiment in a concise form.  Obviously I have some of the basic information by my specialty is uniforms not the histories of individual regiments.  If anyone can provide detailed information or interesting antidotes these would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance,

Brad LeMay
blemay@cablelynx.com

Please keep this thread in mind if anyone runs across information in this regard.

Brad

Hi Brad!

Great project you have there! How can I buy a copy? It doesn’t seem much has ever been published specifically about this regiment. In his bibliography of the Russian Imperial Army, Marvin Lyons lists only 10 books or articles published before the Revolution or in emigration (all of them in Russian). This included a 634 page regimental history published in 1876. He adds there was an 8 page booklet about the Regimental Museum, with sketches by Samokish, published in Russian, English & French (New York, no date), you may already have.

Unfortunately I have no copy of any of these books. Some of them might be found in the amazing Imperial Russian collections of the New York Public Library or the Library of Congress (I haven’t checked yet). Photocopies can also be ordered from the Russian National Library.

I will check for any reference to this regiment in the material I have regarding the Atamansky regiment and will let you know if I find anything elsewhere too. As for « antidotes » maybe you should ask a colleague of yours before it’s too late!!

Dear Daniel,

Nice to hear from you.  I will certainly let you know when the monograph is completed.  It may be some time, however, as I am currently only in the research stage of the project.  The regimental dinner is in October and I hope to have something completed by that time.

You are welcome to a copy of the paper when completed.  I have other regimental information for various Guard units and if you want any of this I can send it to you.  Drop me a regular email and I will let you know what I have.

Nice to hear from you again.

With my warmest regards,

Brad

Dear Mr LeMay!

I read some years ago ( don´t remember where ) that the regimental march of the LG cossack regiment would have been Mendelssohn´s wedding march " because they went to battle as chearfully as to their own wedding". Maybe somebody can correct me if I am wrong.

Best regards!

Paul

Paul K:
You are absolutely right. Such a strange choice of the Guards Cossack regimental march was made by Alexander II in 1878 at the end of the Balkan war.