Above: 23rd Demi-Brigade c.1796.
| | Following the decree for the first amalgame, or embrigadement, of 1793, the Comite de la Guerre charged General Etienne-Nicolas de Calon to devise a plan for new flags and standards to go with the reorganized armed forces of France. In essence, Calon's flag scheme called for the new troops - the Volunteers of 1791, the Volunteers of 1792 and those of the levee en masse of 1793 - that comprised the 1st and 3rd battalions to carry identical flags unique to that demi-brigade, while the soldiers of the old royalist army, formed in the 2nd battalion of each demi-brigade, would carry a standardized flag edged in red, white and blue with the tricolor in the upper corner. The flags measured 160cm x 160cm and were carried on staffs painted in white, red and blue spirals topped by a brass pike head to which tricolour cravats, cords and tassels were attached. |
