Walcourt, 1689 - Deciphering the Tillroy List - Part 3: Allied Order of Battle

From "The Baby wore Red" published by The League of Augsburg.

In my previous two posts (part 1 and part 2), I attempted to identify the cavalry and infantry listed in the Tillroy list, breaking the units down by nationality. However, here I present the reconstructed OOB in the order in which they were given in the Tillroy list. If the reader has any questions about how I have identified each unit, they should consult the notes in my previous posts. Let me post here again a paragraph from Ian Weir's "Army of Flanders Commentary" which discusses the Allied army at Walcourt:

"The army consisted of Dutch, English, Brunswick, and Brandenburg units, totalling 35 battalions and 60 squadrons, less the odd unit that might have been detached – 28,800 (Childs) or 35,000 (Lynn) men in all. The bulk of the cavalry was Dutch (12 horse and 1 dragoon regiment), with 3 Brunswicker (Lüneburg and Wolfenbüttel), 1 Saxe-Gotha, 3 Württemberg, and 2 English regiments (the Blues and a squadron of Lifeguards). The infantry consisted of 16 battalions of Dutch, 10 English, 3 Brandenburg, and 5 Brunswick (Lüneburg, Wolfenbüttel, and Hanover)." (page 42)

However, the Tillroy list includes 3 regiments of dragoons, 29 regiments of horse (~58 squadrons), and 38 battalions of infantry (see note 1). Taking the numbers provided at face value, Waldeck's Allied army consisted of 39,000 men, over 28,000 infantry and over 10,000 cavalry. However, there are several things to note about that number:

1. Several foraging detachments had been made the week before the battle in order to gather hay for the cavalry horses. Some of these detachments were driven in by the initial French attack.
2. There is at least one regiment that was present at Walcourt that is absent from the Tillroy list, Sir David Collier's English regiment of foot.
3. Foot regiments listed with a strength of 780 men represent an ideal strength of 13 60-man companies. It is highly unlikely that the regiments would have been up to regulation-strength while on campaign.
4. Childs and Lynn do not seem to identify any Spanish units at Walcourt, perhaps these units were detached at the time of the battle.

Therefore, the Tillroy list cannot be taken as a perfect allied order of battle for Walcourt, but this list likely includes almost all of the regiments that were present.

First Line of Horse

Unit	Uniform	Strength	Country
Lippe Dragoons	Red/white	300	Hessian
2nd Troop of Lifeguards	Red/blue	260	English
D’Audemont	White/blue	300	Spanish
De Gusti	White/white	300	Spanish
Bay	White/white	300	Spanish
Cordova	White/white	300	Spanish
3rd Württemberg	White/red	300	Württemberg
Waldeck	Grey/red	300	Dutch
Obdam	Grey/scarlet	300	Dutch
Bentinck	White/blue	300	Dutch
Ranck	White/white	400	Spanish
Weybnom	White/blue	400	Dutch
Oxford Blues	Blue/scarlet	400	English
Tilly?	See note 2		Dutch

Second Line of Horse

Unit	Uniform	Strength	Country
Marwits Dragoons	Red/white	350	Dutch
Nassau-Friesland	Blue/red	300	Dutch
Spaen	White/green	300	Brandenburg
Heyden	White/red	300	Dutch
Saxe-Gotha	Red/pink	300	Saxe-Gotha
2nd Wurttemberg	White/blue	300	Württemberg
Ryswijk	White/white	300	Dutch
Branke	Grey/blue	400	Luneburg-Celle
Flodorff	White/red	350	Dutch
Nassau-Saarbrucken	Red/red	300	Dutch
1st Württemberg	White/green	300	Württemberg
Weilburg	White/white	350	Hesse-Kassel
Nassau-Zuylenstein	White/white	300	Dutch
Dumont	White/white	350	Spanish
Monsieur du Puis	White/white	350	Spanish
Bethencourt	White/white	350	Spanish
Franck Dragoons	White/red	480	Luneburg-Celle
Brendecke	Blue/blue	350	Luneburg-Celle
Crage	Blue/blue	350	Wolfenbüttel
Du Hamel?	See note 2		Brandenburg

First Line of Foot

Unit	Uniform	Strength	Country
Prinz Phillip/Brandt	Blue/white	700	Brandenburg
Anhalt-Zerbst	White/white	700	Brandenburg
Rijngraaf van Salm	White/blue	780	Dutch
Bulow	White/red	700	Dutch
Salisch	Grey/red	700	Dutch
Coldstream Guards	Red/white	1000	English
Scots Guards	Red/white	700	Scottish
Royal Fusiliers	Red/yellow	780	English
Sir John Hale’s	Red/yellow	780	English
Bernstorff	Blue/red	600	Wolfenbuttel
Holle	Blue/pink	600	Wolfenbuttel
Derfflinger	White/red	700	Brandenburg
Aylva	White/red	700	Dutch
Waldeck	Red/red	780	Dutch
Kürprinz	Red/green	700	Brandenburg
Tilly	White/white	7002	Dutch
Bulow	Grey/blue	780	Dutch

 

Second Line of Foot

Unit	Uniform	Strength	Country
Weede	Red/blue	780	Dutch
Coeverden	White/white	780	Dutch
Fagel	Red/yellow	780	Dutch
Nassau-Friesland	Blue/red	780	Dutch
Birkenfeld	White/red	780	Brandenburg
Schwerin	Blue/red	780	Hesse-Kassel
Scots Fusiliers	Red/red	780	Scottish
Edward Fitzpatrick	Red/green	780	English
Holland Regiment	Red/buff	780	English
Robert Hodges’	Red/red	780	English
Royal Scots	Red/white	780	Scottish
Amelisweerd	Grey/red	650	Dutch
Beaumont	Red/black	780	Dutch
Baye du Thiel	White/blue	700	Dutch
Slangenburg	White/red	780	Dutch
Du Hamel	Blue/red	7802	Brandenburg
Linstau	White/blue	780	Luneberg-Celle
De la Mott	Red/black	780	Luneberg-Celle
Nethelhorst	Blue/red	780	Luneburg-Celle
Bois d’Avid	White/red	780	Luneberg-Celle
Wijnbergen	White/red	780	Dutch

 

Notes

1. 29 regiments of horse and 38 battalions of infantry is the number if you consider Tilly and Du Hamel to be infantry, however see note 2 for discussion on that question. However, there is one Scottish regiment, Sir David Collier's, which was likely present with the army but is absent from the Tillroy list. So the actual number of infantry battalions falls somewhere between 36-39.
2. In my previous post on the Horse, I identified Tilly and Du Hamel (de Hull) as cavalry, rather than infantry, since the only regiments with those names were horse. However, here I placed them back in the sections in which they are found in the Tillroy list. 

Works Cited

“A LIST OF OUR ARMY AS IT WAS DRAWN UP AT TILLROY CAMP.” Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 20, no. 79 (1941): 175–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44220687.

Sapherson C. A. 19901988. The Dutch Army of William Iii. Leeds: Raider Books. http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Sapherson_00.pdf.

Weir, Ian. Army of Flanders: the War of the Grand Alliance in les Pays-Bas, 1689-1697 - Commentary. Red Sash Games, 2018. https://redsashgames.com/resources.html.

Coming up next: Walcourt, 1689- Part 4: French Order of Battle

Soli Deo Gloria!