Légion Noire
The 2nd Frankish Legion, better known as the Légion Noire, was a military unit of the French Revolutionary Army. It took part in what was the unsuccessful last invasion of Britain in February 1797. The Legion was created on the orders of General Lazare Hoche to take part in a three-pronged attack against Ireland and Britain and was commanded by William Tate.
Troop composition
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 the commander of the British forces Lord 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".The legion's equipment came from British army materiel, arms and uniforms captured at the unsuccessful Franco-British landings at Quiberon 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. The unit's correct designation was the "2nd Frankish Legion".
Tate did not speak French and had to rely on his French and Irish officers to communicate with his forces.