Loyal Lusitanian Legion


The Loyal Lusitanian Legion was a formation of the British Army consisting of Portuguese émigrés in England which fought in the Peninsular War. It was created on the initiative of José Maria Moura and Carlos Frederico Lecor, two Portuguese Army colonels who had gone into exile in England after the Franco-Spanish occupation of Portugal in 1807, and Portugal's ambassador to Britain, Domingos António de Sousa. The three men's idea met with a positive reception from the government of the United Kingdom.
The legion received the title "Loyal" to distinguish itself from the Portuguese Legion, a French Imperial Army formation consisting of former troops of the Portuguese Army after Napoleon disbanded it in 1807. The LLL included not only Portuguese troops, but also Britons and Germans.
The legion was organised in Plymouth in July 1808 and landed in Porto, Portugal in September. Between 1808 and 1811, as part of the Anglo-Portuguese Army, the LLL fought against French-led forces in the Peninsular War. It was present at the battles of Bussaco and Talavera, but was also used to conduct raids and other irregular operations in the French rear lines alongside Portuguese and Spanish forces. The LLL was disbanded in 4 May 1811 after being transferred to the Portuguese army, with its units being transformed into the 7th, 8th and 9th battalions of caçadores.

Organisation and uniform

The Loyal Lusitanian Legion was organized as a regiment of light infantry, with an attached artillery battery. It included:
  1. Regimental staff, LLL;
  2. 1st Battalion, LLL;
  3. 2nd Battalion, LLL;
  4. Artillery corps, LLL.
Each battalion included 1,000 men in 10 companies. The artillery corps was a battery with six field guns and 80 men. When the LLL was disbanded, the 1st battalion became the 7th Caçadores and the 2nd battalion the 8th Caçadores. The 9th Caçadores was organized with the rest of the Legion's men. As a light infantry unit, the Loyal Lusitanian Legion received green uniforms similar to those of the British rifles regiments. Furthermore, green was the livery colour of the Portuguese Royal House of Braganza, to whom the Legion remained loyal.