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scoucer
Berlin, Germany
Posts: 2243
 | | Les Enfants Perdu | | Posted on: 7/8/2012 6:21:39 PM | Has anybody information on a Unit called "Les Enfants Perdu" ? In english it means "The Lost Children". It was supposed to have many Swiss Recruits.
Thanks
Trevor
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`Hey don´t the wars come easy and don´t the peace come hard`- Buffy Sainte-Marie
Some swim with the stream. Some swim against the stream. Me - I´m stuck somewhere in the woods and can´t even find the stupid stream.
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wombat1417
New York City, NY, USA
Posts: 198
| | Re: Les Enfants Perdu | | Posted on: 7/8/2012 9:33:30 PM | Wikipedia says that "Les Enfants Perdus" was the French equivalent of "The Forlorn Hope", but I guess you'd seen that explanation already.
During WWI ,the 369th Infantry Regiment from New York, otherwise known as the "Harlem Hellfighters", were called this by the French.
However, I found the following in the Cowan Auction website description of a sword belonging to a Lt. Harry Pease.
"Lieutenant Pease entered the New York Independent Corps Light Infantry also known as the “Enfans (sic) Perdus” from Albany in August 1862. This obscure unit was originally organized in New York City as a battalion of infantry with six companies. Three more companies were later added in the field bringing the unit up to regimental strength before it was consolidated in January 1864.
The battalion saw initial service during the Peninsula campaign (sic) at Yorktown in April 1862 before being transferred with the 4th Corps to the Department of North Carolina in December. In January the Light Infantry briefly became a component of the 18th Corps before joining the forces assembling at Beaufort, South Carolina. Now part of the 10th Corps, Department of the South, the battalion participated in operations around Charleston being stationed at St. Helena on Morris Island, and on Folly Island. The July 1863 the “Enfans (sic) Perdus” took part in the engagements on Morris Island, the siege of Fort Wagner and the bombardment of Fort Sumter as well as the battle of Olustee, Florida loosing (sic) 9 men killed and wounded. In January 1864 the battalion was broken up with the enlisted men being reassigned to the 1st NY Engineers and 47th NY and 48th NY Infantry. The supernumerary officers were discharged. Lieutenant Pease was promoted to battalion Quartermaster in July 1862 and mustered out on February 5, 1864 at Hilton Head, South Carolina."
No mention of the Swiss yet.
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Cry "Havoc"...and let slip the dogs of war.
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scoucer
Berlin, Germany
Posts: 2243
| | Re: Les Enfants Perdu | | Posted on: 7/12/2012 7:03:56 PM | Thank you Larry.
I was talking with a friend from Switzerland last month and she remembered that I was interested in the ACW. She told me she´d come across a Swiss re-enactors group (she lives in Basel)- the 82nd Illinois. Chatting with a couple of them she found out that about 5,000 Swiss served in the Union Army.I´ve started looking at where they served.
Trevor
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`Hey don´t the wars come easy and don´t the peace come hard`- Buffy Sainte-Marie
Some swim with the stream. Some swim against the stream. Me - I´m stuck somewhere in the woods and can´t even find the stupid stream.
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grunt49
Santa Rosa, CA, USA
Posts: 3
| | Re: Les Enfants Perdu | | Posted on: 7/12/2012 8:27:37 PM | This may or may not be relevant, but in a book I read on Swiss tactics some years ago, the Swiss pike squares were usually preceded by what later would later be called skirmishers. The term used at the time was Les Enfants Perdu. If a Union regiment recruited a particularly large contingent of Swiss it would be understandable how they might adopt the term.
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John R. Price
Wilkes-Barre, PA, USA
Posts: 2842
| | Re: Les Enfants Perdu | | Posted on: 7/12/2012 9:03:46 PM | Trevor,
I found three possibilities. 15th Mizzu Inf Union and the Confederate 15th Mizzu Cav and 15th Tenn Inf all had large numbers of Swiss immigrents. Going by "The Lost Children" leads me to think it was either Confederate unit because for most of the war they couldn't go home. If I had to pick one I'd go with the 15th Tenn because from what I've found the militia company the "Swiss Rifles" from Memphis made up 1 full and the majority of another company of the regiment. On the other hand the 15th Mizzu Inf nickname was "The Swiss Rifles" and the large majority of its service was far from Mizzu.(i should be useing Missouri but hey i'm a college football fan)
edit I should have siad other possibilities.
2nd edit Going with Grunts idea of skirmishers I believe Berdan's(sp?) Sharpshooters had a company that caled itself ...(excuse me I don't even want to try spelling in French and when you edit you don't have the other persons post to copy from)
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A battle long forgotten by our country in a war never understood by our country.
"to satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds, in the name of destiny and in the name of God"
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scoucer
Berlin, Germany
Posts: 2243
| | Re: Les Enfants Perdu | | Posted on: 7/12/2012 9:21:07 PM | Thanks Grunt. It makes sense.
The swiss mountain boys were pretty good shots so I wasn´t surprised to find quite a few swiss in Hiram Berdan´s 1st US Sharpshooters. Trepp Kasper who would become Colonel of the regiment was from Spülgen, Canton Graubünden.
Trevor
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`Hey don´t the wars come easy and don´t the peace come hard`- Buffy Sainte-Marie
Some swim with the stream. Some swim against the stream. Me - I´m stuck somewhere in the woods and can´t even find the stupid stream.
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scoucer
Berlin, Germany
Posts: 2243
| | Re: Les Enfants Perdu | | Posted on: 7/12/2012 10:25:43 PM | Thank you John.
I´ll be looking them up.
Trevor
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`Hey don´t the wars come easy and don´t the peace come hard`- Buffy Sainte-Marie
Some swim with the stream. Some swim against the stream. Me - I´m stuck somewhere in the woods and can´t even find the stupid stream.
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colbertnation
Posts: 1260
| | Re: Les Enfants Perdu | | Posted on: 7/20/2012 1:59:21 PM | Would have there been a connection to the Lost Orphans' Brigade?
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"Life is a journey. Time is a river. The door is a jar." -- the Dresden Files
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