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| 2nd Frankish Legion | |
|---|---|
 The Légion Noire landing at Fishguard | |
| Active | 1797 |
| Country | French First Republic |
| Branch | French Revolutionary Army |
| Size | Brigade |
| Garrison/HQ | Brest, France |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | William Tate |
The2nd Frankish Legion, better known as theLégion Noire, was a military unit of theFrench Revolutionary Army. It took part in what was the unsuccessfullast invasion of Britain in February 1797.[1] The Legion was created on the orders of GeneralLazare Hoche to take part in a three-pronged attack against Ireland and Britain and was commanded byWilliam Tate.
According to the prisoner returns submitted by Lieutenant General James Rooke after the invasion, the legion numbered 46 officers and 1178 men. Tate stated that he had lost eight men in the landing and four men due to enemy action. Whilst many of the legion were prisoners and convicts drafted against their will (it seems some were British prisoners[citation needed]) the commander of the British forcesLord Cawdor claimed, in an attempt to bolster his accomplishment, that 600 of them were French troops of the line: "Grenadiers all over six foot and as fine a body of men as I have set eyes on".[2]
The legion's equipment came from British army materiel, arms and uniforms captured at the unsuccessful Franco-British landings atQuiberon in 1795. The red British uniforms were dyed, with various degrees of success, to a brown/black colour from which the unit got its nickname.[citation needed] The unit's correct designation was the "2nd Frankish Legion".[3]
Tate did not speak French and had to rely on his French and Irish officers to communicate with his forces.[3]
The main purpose of the Legion's proposed invasion ofGreat Britain was to act as a diversionary measure to draw resources away from the main thrust of the campaign: a landing atBantry Bay on the west coast ofIreland. The Legion's original target ofLiverpool was changed toBristol, which was the second city in the country.[3] A second diversionary force,La légion des Francs, underGeneral Quantain, received instructions to attackNewcastle upon Tyne and to destroy local shipping. The force set out fromDunkirk in November 1796 but turned back atFlushing, theNetherlands, after bad weather caused the loss of several invasion barges. Once back in port many of the soldiers, who appear to also have beencriminal conscripts,[citation needed] refused to re-embark, and the project was abandoned.
Rose, Richard, The French at Fishguard: Fact, Fiction and Folklore, Transactions of the Hon. Society of Cymmrodorion, Vol. 9, 2003.
