3-038-940 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Some of the defenders of Paris (sketch by balloon post, from our correspondents inside Paris), 1871. Engraving showing '...a few of the various costumes and equipments of the irregular soldiery engaged in the defence of Paris. The strong-looking man on horseback, with a carbine slung over his left shoulder by a broad oblique belt, is one of the éclaireurs à cheval, who have served in the regular army; they are fine troops, well set up, and well mounted. The other man on horseback, with a cloak thrown over his shoulder, is one of the éclaireurs of the National Guard, smart and clever fellows. The two men standing in the centre, between the figures of the horsemen, are Francs-Tireurs; the gentleman in front belongs to the Press Volunteer Corps, and is a journalist by profession; the other, with a gourd suspended at his belt, is a working-class volunteer of the faubourgs. The figure at the right-hand corner, with a wideawake hat and cock's feather, is a Franc-Tireur of the department of the Seine. The remaining two figures, those at the left-hand side, are a guerrilla of the Ile de France, in a clumsy and unsoldierly dress, and a tirailleur of the Seine, who stands close to the horseman'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.