Black Brunswickers The Black Brunswickers ( " Schwarze Schar " ) were a volunteer corps raised by German - born Frederick William , Duke of Brunswick - Wolfenbüttel ( 1771 – 1815 ) to fight in the Napoleonic Wars . The Duke was a harsh opponent of Napoleon Bonaparte ' s occupation of his native Germany . Formed in 1809 when war broke out between the First French Empire and the Austrian Empire , the corps initially comprised a mixed force , around 2 , 300 strong , of infantry , cavalry and later supporting artillery . Distinctively attired in black broadcloth with a silvered death ' s head badge on their hats , the volunteers were nicknamed the " Black Horde " or the " Black Legion " ; their more commonly known title was the result of the Duke ' s temporary capture of the German city of Braunschweig ( Brunswick ) from the French in 1809 . The Black Brunswickers earned themselves a fearsome reputation over the following decade , taking part in several significant battles including the pre - Waterloo engagement at Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815 , where the Duke lost his life . However , recruiting , the replacement of casualties , and finance had always been problematic , and the corps was disbanded in the early 1820s . The exploits of the Brunswickers caught the British Victorian public imagination : an example of this can be found in John Everett Millais ' s painting " The Black Brunswicker " . Completed in 1860 , the painting depicts a Brunswicker in his black uniform bidding goodbye to an unnamed woman . Formation and early years . War of the Fifth Coalition . In 1806 the Duke of Brunswick - Lüneburg , Charles William Ferdinand , was fatally wounded during the Prussian defeat at the Battle of Jena - Auerstedt . Following Prussia ' s defeat and the collapse of the Fourth Coalition against Napoleon , his duchy remained under French control . Rather than permit the Duke ' s heir , Frederick William , to succeed to his father ' s title , Napoleon seized the duchy and , in 1807 , incorporated it into his newly created model Kingdom of Westphalia ruled by his brother Jérôme . Two years later in 1809 the Fifth Coalition against Napoleon was formed between the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom . The dispossessed Frederick William , who had been a strenuous critic of French domination in Germany , seized this opportunity to seek Austrian help to raise an armed force . To finance this venture he mortgaged his principality in Oels . In its initial incarnation ( dated to 25 July 1809 ) , the 2300 - strong ' free ' corps consisted of two battalion s of infantry , one Jäger battalion , a company of sharpshooters , and a mixed cavalry contingent including Hussar s and Uhlan s . Later that same year Frederick William led his " Schwarze Schar " ( " Black Host " ) into Germany , and succeeded in briefly taking control of the city of Brunswick , earning his corps its epithet : the Black Brunswickers . He was soon driven out , but managed to flee with his troops to England where he joined his cousin and brother - in - law , the Prince - regent ( later King George IV ) . During the next few years , the Brunswickers earned themselves a sound reputation through service with the British in the Peninsular Campaign . However , steady attrition in battles and skirmishes through Portugal and Spain , combined with a lack of political support and financial difficulties , led to a situation where the unit ' s imminent disbandment looked likely . Peninsular War . When organized for British service , the corps was renamed the Brunswick Oels Jäger and Brunswick Oels Hussar Regiments . Prussians represented a large part of the original officer corps , while the enlisted men were motivated by German patriotism . However , once the Oels entered English service , they were cut off from their natural recruiting grounds . Compelled to enlist men from the prisoner of war camps to fill up the ranks , the quality of soldiers in the Oels decreased . Worse , the King ' s German Legion obtained the best of the German recruits , leaving the Oels with the less desirable ones . In addition to Germans , the Oels recruited Poles , Swiss , Danes , Dutch , and Croats . Charles Oman , the Peninsular War historian , calls the Oels a " motley crew , much given to desertion " and records one occasion where ten men were caught deserting in a body . Of these , four were shot and the rest flogged . Nevertheless , the Brunswick Oels Jägers gave a good account of themselves during the war . The regiment — really a single battalion — arrived in Portugal in early 1811 . The Duke of Wellington distributed one company to the 4th Division and two companies to the 5th Division as skirmishers , while the remaining nine companies served in the newly - formed 7th Division . The Oels remained in this organization until the end of the war in April 1814 . During this period , the Oels served in most of the major battles including Fuentes de Onoro , Salamanca , Vitoria , the Pyrenees , Nivelle , the Nive , and Orthez . Waterloo campaign . Following Napoleon ' s disastrous invasion of Russia in 1812 , and his subsequent retreat back into France , Frederick William was able to return to Brunswick in 1813 to reclaim his title . He also took the opportunity to replenish the ranks of his Black Brunswickers . Upon Napoleon ' s escape from Elba in 1815 he once more placed himself under the Duke of Wellington ' s command and joined the allied forces of the Seventh Coalition in Belgium . The " Brunswick Corps " , as it is called in the order of battle for the Waterloo Campaign , formed up as a discrete division in the allied reserve . Its strength is given as 5376 men , composed of eight infantry battalions ; one Advance Guard or " Avantgarde " , one Life Guard or " Leib - Bataillon " , three Light and three Line Battalions . They were supported by both a horse and foot artillery battery of eight guns each . Also included were a regiment of Brunswicker Hussars and a single squadron of Uhlans were often attached to the allied cavalry corps . Battle of Quatre Bras . Quatre Bras was a hamlet at a strategic crossroads on the road to Brussels . French control of it would not only threaten the city , but divide Wellington ' s Allied army from Blucher ' s Prussians . At 14 : 00 on 16 June 1815 , after some initial skirmishing , the main French force under Marshall Ney , approached Quatre Bras from the south . They came up against the 2nd Netherlands Division who had formed a line well in advance of the crossroads . Facing three French infantry divisions and a cavalry brigade , the Dutch and Nassau troops were forced back but did not break . Reinforcements arrived at at 15 : 00 , being a Dutch cavalry brigade , Picton ' s 5th British Division , followed closely by the Brunswick Corps . The sharpshooters of the Brunswick Advance Guard regiment were sent to support Dutch skirmishers in Bossou Wood on the Allied left ( western ) flank ; the rest of the corps took up a reserve position across the Brussels road . The Black Duke reassured his inexperienced troops by walking up and down in front of them , calmly puffing on his pipe . A French infantry attack was halted by the allied front line , which was attacked in turn by French cavalry . Wellington moved the Brunswick infantry into the front line , where they were subjected to intense French artillery fire , forcing tham to fall back a short distance . As a mass of French infantry advanced up the main road , the Black Duke led a charge by his uhlans , but they were beaten back . Swept by canister shot at short range , the Brunswickers broke and rallied at the crossroads itself . At this point , the Duke , who was reforming his troops , was hit by a musket ball , which passed through his hand and into his liver . He was rescued by the men of the Lieb Regiment , who carried him back using their muskets as a stretcher . He died shortly afterwards . The Duke ' s final words , to his aide Major von Wachholtz , were : Colonel Elias Olfermann was the Duke ' s Adjutant general , who assumed immediate command of the corps . Wellington then ordered the Brunswick hussars to make an unsupported counterattack on the French light cavalry brigade , but they were driven off by heavy fire . Later in the battle , French cuirassier s broke the Allied front line and were only prevented from taking the crossroads by the Brunswick infantry who had formed themselves into square s . By 21 : 00 , Allied reinforcements , including the newly arrived Brunswick 1st and 3rd Light Regiments , had driven the French back to their starting positions . Brunswick losses that day amounted to 188 killed and 396 wounded . Battle of Waterloo . Only two days later , on Sunday 18 June , the Duke of Wellington positioned his Anglo - Allied Army along a ridge near the village of Waterloo , in order to block Napoleon ' s advance along the road to Brussels . The Brunswick Corps formed part of Wellington ' s Reserve Corps , under his personal command . In that capacity , they were kept well behind the crest of the ridge and avoided casualties during the opening French bombardment . In the early part of the afternoon , the British Foot Guards moved down the slope to reinforce the Château d ' Hougoumont , which was under fierce French attack ; the Brunswick Corps was brought forward to take their place . At about 16 : 00 , Marshall Ney decided to attempt to break the centre right of the Allied line with his cavalry . 4 , 800 French horsemen charged up the hill and into the Allied infantry , who had formed themselves into squares to resist them . In all , 9 , 000 cavalry were involved in repeated attacks on the Allied squares but were unable to break any of them , including the Brunswickers , whom some British officers regarded as “ shaky ” . The Brunswick Hussars and Uhlans , who formed part of the 7th British Cavalry Brigade , made harrying attacks on the French whenever they retired to regroup . Eventually , Ney had no choice but to abandon the attacks . The French capture of the fortified farm of La Haye Sainte had left a gap in the centre of Wellington ’ s line , and the Brunswick infantry were brought along to fill it . It was here that Napoleon sent one of two attacks by his Imperial Guard in a last gasp effort to break Wellington ’ s army . Faced with the veterans of the Grenadiers of the Middle Guard , the inexperienced Brunswickers broke from the line and " fell back in disorder " , but rallied when they reached the cavalry reserve in the rear . The same fate befell the Nassau Infantry Regiment and two British battalions . Finally , the Guards were halted and thrown back when they were surprised by a flank attack from Dutch troops . The Brunswick Corps had recovered sufficiently to participate in the allied “ General Advance ” that swept the French army from the field . British sources give the number of Brunswickers killed in action that day as 154 with 456 wounded and 50 missing . In the following days , they escorted 2 , 000 French prisoners back to Brussels and then marched on to Paris . They finally returned to Brunswick on 6 December 1815 . Uniform . The Brunswickers were awarded various nicknames by their contemporaries , including the " Black Crows " , the " Black Legion " and the " Black Horde " . However , although the uniforms of the individual units that comprised the corps were , as the names suggest , predominantly black , they varied in their details . There are a number of speculative theories on the origin of the Brunswickers ' dark and seemingly grim choice of garb . It has been suggested that black was chosen to mourn Duke Frederick William ' s late father ; as a sign of respect for the Duke ; or in mourning for the Duke ' s occupied homeland . Inspired art . " The Black Brunswicker " ( 1860 ) , by John Everett Millais was inspired in part by the exploits of the Brunswickers and in part by the contrasts of black broadcloth and pearl - white satin in a moment of tender conflict . The artwork took an estimated three months to paint , and it was greatly admired at the time . It was also bought for the highest price Millais had received from dealer and publisher Ernest Gambart - the lucrative sum of 100 guineas . Later , in 1898 , William Hesketh Lever purchased the work for his private collection . Charles Dickens ' daughter Kate was used as a model for the woman seen in the painting . The Brunswick Corps in later years . A single infantry regiment and the hussars were maintained by the Duchy of Brunswick after the end of the Napoleonic War . In 1830 , the uniform colour was changed to blue , but reverted to black in 1850 . The Brunswick units were integrated into the Prussian Army in 1866 with the titles : " Braunschweigiges Infanterie - Regiment Nr . 92 " and " Braunschweigisches Husaren Regiment Nr . 17 " following the Prussian regimental numbering sequence . Both units kept the death ' s head with the crossed bones on their helmets and caps and carried the battle honour s " Peninsula - Sicily - Waterloo " until the end of World War I in 1918 , when they were disbanded . At that time , a collection of artefacts and uniforms from the Napoleonic era were presented by the officers of the corps to the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum , where they can be seen today . The historic black of the Brunswick Corps was retained by the " Husaren Regiment Nr . 17 " in full dress parade uniform until the outbreak of war in August 1914 . The Brunswick " Infanterie - Regiment Nr . 92 " however adopted the dark blue tunic of the Prussian line infantry .