Veterans Company of the Imperial Guard

The Veterans Company of the Imperial Guard (French: Compagnie des Vétérans de la Garde Impériale) was a veterans and invalides unit of the French Imperial Guard serving under Napoleon Bonaparte in the Napoleonic Wars.

On 12 July 1801, First Consul Napoléon passed a decree which formed the Veterans Company of the Consular Guard.

[1][2][3] The establishment of the unit was as follows (in English): 1 x battalion chief (local rank of captain), 1 x lieutenant, 2 x second lieutenants, 1 x sergeant major, 4 x sergeants, 1 x quartermaster, 8 x corporals, 2 x drummers, and 120 x soldiers.

[1][4] Following the unit's move into the Imperial Guard, a new felt hat was issued adorned with a red-white-blue coloured cockade.

The company only saw action once, during the Battle of Paris in April 1814, where it defended the Pont de Neuilly.

Portrait of Henri François Marie Charpentier, first commander of the company.