Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde Impériale The Chasseurs à Cheval de la Garde Impériale ( in English : Horse Chasseurs of the Imperial Guard ) constituted a light cavalry regiment in the Consular , then Imperial Guard during the French Consulate and First French Empire respectively . They were the second senior " Old Guard " cavalry regiment of the Imperial Guard , after the " Grenadiers à Cheval " . The regiment had its origins in the Guides raised by General Bonaparte during his Italian Campaign of 1796 . It was the Chasseurs that usually provided personal escort to Napoleon , and he often wore the uniform of the regiment in recognition of this service . The regiment was not only known for its lavish uniform , but its combat history as well . Service history . When at the end of August 1799 Bonaparte left Egypt to return to France he took with him a detachment of 180 " Guides à cheval " and 125 " Guides à pied " . The men chosen were the most devoted veterans from each company . Soon after the " coup d ' état " of 18 Brumaire the Guides , who had stayed in the south of France , were summoned to Paris and quartered in the " Casern e de Babylone " . A decree of 28 November reorganized the " Garde du Directoire " as the " Garde des Consuls " , but it makes no mention of the Chasseurs . By a decree of 3 January 1800 a company of " Chasseurs à cheval " was created . Its commanding officer was Napoleon ' s stepson , captain Eugène de Beauharnais , who was promoted major on 5 March . The strength was 4 officers and 113 men , the latter being chosen from the Guides who had returned from Egypt , and 112 were veterans of the Italian Campaign of 1796 . The cavalry of the " Garde Consulaire " , two squadrons of " Grenadiers à Cheval " and the company of chasseurs , was commanded by " Chef de brigade " Jean - Baptiste Bessières . In May the company left Paris for Italy . It crossed the Great St Bernard Pass and was heavily engaged at the battle of Marengo ( 14 June ) losing 70 out of its 115 horses . At the end of the campaign the corps returned to Paris . By a consular decree of 8 September it was augmented , becoming a squadron of two companies ( troops ) and 234 men . By a decree of 6 August 1801 the corps was increased to a headquarters and two squadrons . The staff was : 1 " chef d ' escadron " , 1 " adjutant - major " , 2 " porte - étendard " , 1 " brigadier - trompette " , and 4 " maîtres - ouvriers " . At the end of September the remainder of the Guides got back from Egypt and were merged into the corps . By a decree of 14 November the chasseurs became a regiment . In theory the commanding officer was to be a " Chef de brigade " , but in fact Bonaparte retained " Chef d ' escadron " Beauharnais in command . By decree of 8 March 1802 the Headquarters was increased . It now included four standard - bearers , a trumpet - major , two trumpet corporals and a " timbalier " ( kettle - drummer ) . By decree of 1 October the regiment was increased to four squadrons , with a total strength of 56 officers and 959 men . Beauharnais was promoted " Chef de brigade " ( 13 October ) , and now had as his squadron commanders Morland , Nicolas Dahlmann , Frédéric Auguste de Beurmann and Joseph Damingue , a negro who had distinguished himself at the Bridge of Arcole in 1796 . From 22 March 1803 , when summer training ( " travail d ' été " ) began , the men were to parade on horseback every Monday and Thursday at 7 . 30 a . m . precisely on the Champ de Mars . Every Wednesday at the same hour they went through the foot exercise . In winter the parades seem to have been at 9 . 00 a . m . Swimming and rowing were among the exercises carried out in 1802 and 1803 . By a decree of 21 January 1804 the regiment was given a major who was to rank with the colonel s of the line . The intrepid Morland was given this appointment . By the same decree the company of Mamluk s was attached to the regiment . By an Order of the Day of 18 May the " Garde des Consuls " became the " Garde Impériale " . On 13 May 1805 Beauharnais was made Viceroy of Italy , but he retained nominal command of the regiment until about 1808 . Morland now became the actual commanding officer with the title of " Colonel Commandant en second " , and Dahlmann was promoted major . On 17 September a squadron of " vélites " ( four companies ) was created . It seems to have been intended as a kind of holding reinforcement unit . The regiment and the Mamluks greatly distinguished themselves at the battle of Austerlitz ( 2 December ) , where two squadrons and the Mamluks were led to the charge by Napoleon ' s senior aide - de - camp , General Rapp , inflicting heavy casualties on the Russian Imperial Guard and capturing Prince Repnin , the commander of the Chevalier Guard . At Austerlitz the Chasseurs suffered 19 officer casualties , including Colonel Morland , killed , and three squadron commanders wounded . Dahlmann now succeeded Morland , and Claude - Étienne Guyot became major . The regiment missed the battle of Jena ( 14 October 1806 ) , where the 1st Hussar s had the privilege of escorting the Emperor . The Chasseurs did , however , take part in Napoleon ' s triumphal entry into Berlin . At Eylau ( 8 February 1807 ) the regiment took part in Murat ' s great charge of 80 squadrons , which relieved the pressure on the French centre at the crisis of the battle . Seventeen of the officers were hit . In addition Dahlmann was mortally wounded . He had recently been promoted general ( 30 December 1806 ) , but having no command he asked to be allowed to lead his old regiment and fell at their head . Major Guyot commanded the regiment for the rest of the year , and Thiry was also promoted major ( 16 February ) . On 18 January 1808 " Général de Brigade " Charles Lefebvre - Desnouettes replaced Dahlmann in command of the regiment . The regiment was in Madrid when the populace rose on 2 May and eight of the officers , including Major Pierre Daumesnil , were wounded as well as five officers of the Mamluks . The regiment took part in General Montbrun ' s charge up the road at Somosierra ( 30 November ) but lost no officers for the Spanish gunners only managed to get off one salvo before the Polish and French cavalry got amongst them with the sabre . ( This was the second charge , not the one in which the 3rd squadron of the First Regiment of Polish " Chevau - Légers " was practically wiped out . ) On 28 November Napoleon , engaged in pressing the retreat of Sir John Moore towards Corunna , rode ahead of his army into the village of Valderas , which the British had quit but two hours previously . He was accompanied only by his staff and a squadron of the chasseurs . When Marshal Ney found that the Emperor had thus exposed himself he said to him : " Sire , I thank Your Majesty for acting as my advance guard . " That it had been imprudent was proved next day ( 29 December ) when General Lefebvre - Desnouettes caught up with the British rearguard , forded the River Esla and drove in their pickets , only to be rudely counter - attacked by Lord Paget ( the Uxbridge of Waterloo fame ) , who led his men under cover of the houses of Benavente to assail the French flank . Lefebvre - Desnouettes , wounded by a pistol shot , was taken prisoner . The regiment had 6 other officers hurt and 2 captains taken , besides 55 chasseurs killed and wounded and 73 captured . To be outflanked and cut up in this fashion was a rude and novel experience for the Emperor ' s " favourite children " . The British cavalry who achieved this feat were the 10th Hussars with pickets of the 18th and the 3rd Hussars of the King ' s German Legion . Their losses amounted to no more than 50 . It was this affair more than anything that convinced the Emperor that Moore had slipped from his clutches . It was time to return to France . The regiment was at home again by the end of February 1809 . About this time it absorbed the " Chevau - léger s " of the Grand Duke of Berg , formerly the " Guides de Murat " ( 11 January ) and the " Guides du Maréchal Mortier " ( 1 February ) . On 5 June Major Guyot became " colonel commandant en second " . Thiry was made " général de brigade " in the line , and , on the 13th , Daumesnil and Hercule Corbineau were promoted majors . At Wagram the Guard cavalry supported the right flank of MacDonald ' s great column which struck the decisive blow . The regiment suffered at Wagram ( 6 July ) having 5 officers killed and 10 wounded , including the two newly promoted majors , each of whom lost a leg . Colonel Guyot was promoted " général de brigade " ( 9 August ) , retaining the command , and Colonel Jean Dieudonné Lion ( 14th Chasseurs ) was brought in as third major of the corps . 1810 was a quiet year , with only one officer wounded escorting prisoners in Spain . On 1 August 1811 the regiment was increased to five squadrons and the " vélites " were done away with . During the year squadrons were sent successively to serve with the divisions of the Garde in Spain . Guyot was promoted " général de division " , but still retained the command . To replace Corbineau and Daumesnil as majors the regiment received Colonel François d ' Haugéranville ( 6 August ) and General Baron Exelmans ( 24 December ) . On 6 May 1812 General Lefebvre - Desnouettes , who had escaped by breaking his parole , returned from his captivity in England and resumed command of the regiment . The chasseurs , five squadrons and the company of Mamluks , went through the Russian campaign , but though they lost 500 men , they only had 10 officers hit . At Borodino they had no officer casualties at all . But on 25 October , the day after the battle of Maloyaroslavets two squadrons , escorting the Emperor on a reconnaissance , were sharply engaged and had 4 officers wounded . A body of Cossacks appeared suddenly from a wood and charged straight at Napoleon . General Rapp and the escort managed to beat them off , but not before one had fought his way to within twenty yards of the Emperor . From this day forth , haunted by the fear of captivity , he always carried a bag of poison on a string about his neck . The regiment ' s losses in this campaign must on the whole be attributed not so much to the fighting as to the Russian climate . See also . Uniform of the 2nd squadron of the Chasseurs - à - Cheval , in 1815 , on " " Les uniformes pendant la campagne des Cent Jours " "