
Irish soldiers served in the armies of France, Spain, the Papal States, etc. including:
Tercio Irlanda en Espana, 1587-1818
Predecessor Irish regiments in France, 1615-1676
La Brigade Irlandais au Service de France, 1690-1815
Napoleon's Irish Legion, 1803-1815
San Patricio Army in the Mexican-American War
San Patricio Battalion in the Papal Army
Prior to the Williamite War of 1689-1691, Irish regiments in France had been:
Rodrigh (1615-1650)
Wall (1632-1792). Raised in 1632, transferred to Charles II's exile army in 1652; renamed Royal Irlandais, 1662; later renamed Garde Irlandais ca. 1680; to France in 1692; renamed Dorrington's, 1698; Roth, 1718; Roscommon, 1766, Walsh, 1770; 92nd Regiment 1791-1792; transferred to La Brigade Catholique Irlandais in the British Army 1792; disbanded 1798.
Coosle (1635-1650)
O'Reilly (1639-140)
Lord Muskerry (1647-1662), under command of Donough McCarthy, Viscount Muskerry & Earl of Clancarty, King Charles II's Exile Army
Castelnau (1650-1664), served Spain 1656-1660 after France allied with Cromwell.
Duke of York's Irish ((1652-1656), King Charles II's Exile Army, served Spain 1656-1660 after France allied with Cromwell.
Earl of Bristol's Horse (1652-1656), King Charles II's Exile Army, served Spain 1656-1660 after France allied with Cromwell.
James Dillon (1653-1664), King Charles II's Exile Army, served Spain 1656-1660 after France allied with Cromwell.
Duke of Lorraine's Irish, surrendered to France, 1653, and incorporated with the Duke of York's Irish.
Sir George Hamilton (1671-1676).
The Williamite War of 1689-1691 was a catalyst for the formation of La Brigade Irlandais au Service de France. These soldiers came from Irish regiments that fought in the Williamite War of 1689-1691. The regiments of King James' Irish Army in Ireland were:
KING JAMES' IRISH INFANTRY 1689-1691
Regiment of Antrim
Regiment of Bagnel
Regiment of Barrett
Regiment of Bellew
Regiment of Boisseleau
Regiment of Bophin (John Burke, 1st Baron Bophin, captured at Aughrim 12 Jul 1691, later 9th Earl of of Clanricarde)
Regiment of Walter Bourke, likely formed from out of Dillon's,1689.
Regiment of Dominick Browne (of Galway Town)
Regiment of Nicholas Browne
Regiment of Edward Butler
Regiment of Richard Butler
Regiment of Thomas Butler
Regiment of Cavanagh
Regiment of Clancarty
Regiment of Clanrickard (Richard Burke, 8th Earl of Clanrickarde, surrendered Galway Town in July 1690. Edward Bermingham, 20th Lord Athenry, was a Captain in this regiment.)
Regiment of Clare, 1689-1690. Bore the same name in France, 1690.
Regiment of Creagh. Renamed the Regiment of Dublin in France, 1691. Its Colonel, Sir Michael Creagh, was Mayor of Dublin, 1688-1689.
Regiment of Dillon, 1689-1690. Bore the same name in France, 1690.
Regiment of Eustace
Regiment of Fitzgerald
Regiment of Galway (Ulick Bourke, 1st Viscount Galway, killed at Aughrim 12 Jul 1691, brother of Clanricarde)
King's Royal Irish Regiment of Foot Guards Same name in France 1691
Regiment of Gormanston
Regiment of the Grand Prior
Regiment of Grace
Regiment of Hamilton
Regiment of Kenmare
Regiment of Kilmallock
Regiment of Louth
Regiment of Mountcashel, 1683-1690. Same name in France, 1690.
Regiment of MacCartymore
Regiment of MacElligot,
Regiment of MacMahon
Regiment of Moore
Regiment of Nugent
Regiment of O"Brien
Regiment of O'Cahan, raised 1688 by Colonel Roger O'Cahan of Dunseverick, and drafted into other regiments. Colonel Roger O'Cahan was commissioned to command the Town of Dunkirk, 16 Sep 1695. Roger's son, John O'Cahan, subsequently served as an Ensign in Lord Antrim's Regiment 1689-1691, then de la Reine (Queen's); 1691; Bourke's as Captain, 1698; and as Captain in the Regimento d'Irlanda, Spain, 1715.
Regiment of O'Donovan
Regiment of O'Gara
Regiment of Cormac O'Neill. In 1689, its officers included Captain Cahan, Lieutenant O'Cane and Ensign O'Cane.
Regiment of Gordon O'Neill, to France as the Regiment of Charlemont in 1691. In 1689, its officers included Major Adam O'Cahan, Captains Hugh and John O'Cahan. Hugh was a Captain in Paris under the Duke of Mar in 1717. Manus O'Cahan, Captain in Gordon O'Neill's Regiment in Ireland, 1689; was later a Captain in the Regiment of Galmoy, 1702; and officier in the Regiment of Dillon,1722.
Regiment of Oxburgh
Regiment of Reyly
Regiment of Slane
Regiment of Tyrone
Regiment of Westmeath
CAVALRY
Regiment of Abercorn
Regiment of Galmoy
Regiment of Luttrell
Regiment of Parker
Regiment of Sarsfield
Regiment of Sutherland
Regiment of Tyrconnell
Irish Horse Guards, raised in Ireland, 1689; to France 1692 as two Troops of Irish Horse Guards, drafted into Dorrington's, 1698; Berwick's, 1701.
DRAGOONS
Clifford
Cotter
Dungan
Luttrell
Maxwell
Regiment of O'Brien's Dragoons. In 1689, its officers included Lieutenant Cahane. Nicholas O'Cahan, Lieutenant de Cavalerie, Sous Brigadier en 1734, Gendarmes Ecossais.
Neal O'Neill
Purcell
After the Treaty of Limerick in 1691, King James Irish Army was permitted to depart for France, where they were reorganised into a smaller number of regiments, often bearing different names from those in Ireland.
Mountcashel's Brigade, raised 1690 for service under King Louis XIV of France, consisting of:
1. Regiment of Mountcashel, raised 1683 from Irish Independent Companies which Charles II withdrew from Tangier as Colonel James Butler's (later Duke of Ormond); renamed Mountcashel in 1689; transferred to King of France, 1690 under Justin McCarthy, Viscount Mountcashel; renamed Bulkeley, 1733; incorporated with Dillon, 1762.
2. Regiment of Clare, raised 1689 as O'Brien's; to France, 1690; renamed Clare, 1691; Lee, 1693; Talbot, 1694; Clare, 1696; O'Brien, 1706; Clare, 1720; Fitzgerald, 1761; Betagh, 1763; Meade, 1770; incorporated into Berwick, 1775..
An O'Cahan family from Lisdeene, west Co Clare had a strong attachment to the Regiment of Clare. Capitaine-Commandant Eugene O'Cahan raised an entire company of 100 men on the creation of the Regiment of Clare in 1690, and fell at the head of his company at the Battle of Marsaglia, 1693. His brother, Charles O'Cahan, Capitaine Commandant le grenadiers, was killed at the battle of Ramillies in 1706. The next brother, Capitaine Nicholas O'Cahan, Chevalier de St Louis, arrived in France in 1709, served at Fontenoy in 1745 for which he was knighted, and died at Nantes, Brittany, in 1748 after 39 years of service. Capitaine Andre O'Cahan, Chevalier de St Louis, arrived in France in 1714 and died in 1755 after 41 years of service.
Their nephew, Capitaine Eugene O'Cahan, Chevalier de St Louis, a nephew of the above O'Cahan brothers, died about one year after the retreat from St Omer (1638) where he was present. Lieutenant Andre-Mathieu O'Cahan left the army to enter medicine, completing his medical degree at the University of Montpellier. He was physician of the bases and armies of the King during the war; Physician of the King and the Royal Military Hospital of Phelsbpurg, Alsace during peace. He was a pensioner of the King in 1747.
3. Regiment of Dillon, raised in Ireland, 1689; transferred to France, 1690-1792, when numbered 87th. Served the French Directory until 1793 as the Dillon Battalion of Jacques O'Moran when captured and transferred to the British Army, who it served 1793-1796..
King James II's Exile Army 1692-1698
Two troops of Irish Horse Guards, 1691, from the Irish Horse Guards in Ireland, drafted into Dorrington, 1698; Berwick, 1701.
King's and Queen's Regiments of Horse, organised 1692 from the remains of nine Irish cavalry regiments. Drafted into Sheldon's Horse, a regiment of two squadrons, 1698; renamed Nugent's, 1706; Fitzjames', 1733; disbanded 1762..
King's Regiments of Dismounted Dragoons, raised 1685 as the Earl of Limerick's Dragoons. Reorganised in France, 1692. Drafted into Berwick's, 1698.
Queen's Regiment of Dismounted Dragoons, 1691-1698, drafted into Galmoy's Regiment.
Regiment of Athlone, 1691-1697, likely formed from Colonel Walter Bourke's Regiment in Ireland. drafted into Berwick's, 1698.
Regiment of Charlemont, served in Ireland as the Regiment of Gordon O'Neill, 1689-1691: to France, 1692; incorporated into Galmoy, 1698; Dillon, 1715.
Regiment of Clancarty, raised in Ireland as Colonel Roger MacElligot's, 1688; to France, 1692 as Clancarty's; disbanded 1697.
Regiment of Dublin, raised in Ireland the Regiment of Creagh, 1689; to France 1692; disbanded 1698.
Regiment of Limerick, 1691-1698, possibly incorporated into the Regiment of Bourke.
Regiment de la Marine Irlandais, raised in Ireland, 1689; to France, 1692; renamed Albemarle, 1698; Fitzgerald, 1703; O'Donnell, 1708; incorporated with Lee and half with O'Brien, 1715.
Regiment da la Reine (Queen's), 1691-1698; Bourke, 1699; transferred to Spain as Connacia, renamed Irlanda, 1718.
Regiments of Butler and Fielding, merged into the three original regiments of the Irish Brigade, Mouncashel, O'Brien and Dillon.
Three independent companies of Brown, Hay and Sutherland, 1691-1698, drafted into Berwick's.
POST-1698
Regiment of Mountcashel, retaining its name from La Brigade Irlandais.
Regiment of Clare, retaining its name from La Brigade Irlandais.
Regiment of Dillon, retaining its name from King James' Irish Army and La Brigade Irlandais.
Regiment of Dorrington, formed 1698 from the Irish Hose Guards.
Regiment of Albemarle, formed 1698 from la Marine Irlandais.
Regiment of Berwick (1698-1792) formed from Athlone, King's Dismounted Dragoons and the Independent Companies of Sutherland, Browne and Hay. Went into exile with the Bourbons, 1793.
Regiment of Galmoy (infantry) formed 1698 from the Queen's Dragoons and Regiment of Charlemont. Captain Manus O'Cahan, formerly of Gordon O'Neill's Regiment (and thus presumably in Charlemont also), was a Captain in Galmoy's in 1702. Galmoy's provided a cadre for the formation of Ultonia in Spain. The remainder amalgamated with Dillon, 1715.
Regiment of Bourke (1699-1715), likely formed from the Regiment de la Reine. Transferred to Spain in 1715.
Colonel Brian MacGuinness, 2nd Viscount Iveagh, raised a regiment from Irish veterans in France, to serve with the Austrian Army in Hungary against the Turks. Lord Iveagh was killed in 1703 and his men drafted into other units. Two O'Cahanes served in this regiment.
Sheldon's Regiment of Horse, 1698, formed from the King's and the Queen's Regiments of Horse, reduced to two squadrons. Renamed Nugents, 1706. Soldiers included Trooper Edmund Cane, born Co Clare ca. 1675, enlisted 24 June 1716.
Regiment of O'Mara (1796-1798)
Company of Irish Guides, Marshall Berthier's Private Guard (1803-....)
Napoleon's Irish Legion (1803-1815)
EL TERCIO IRLANDA (IRISH REGIMENTS IN SPANISH SERVICE)
Regimiento de Coronel Sir Edward Stanley (1587-1604), then broken into Irish Independent Companies.
Regimiento de Coronel Henry O'Neill of Tyrone (1605-1610) from Stanley's Irish.
Regimiento de Coronel John O'Neill of Trone (1610-1628)
Regimiento de Coronel Owen Roe O'Neill of Tyrone (1633-1642) then merged with Tyrconnell. Officers included Capitaine Don Daniel O'Cahan, ca.1642 who then joined the Irish Civil War of 1641-1652.
Regimiento de Coronel Hugh O'Donnell of Tyrconnell (1632-1638)
Regimiento de Coronel Patrick O'Donnell of Tyrconnell (1643-1647)
Regimiento de Coronel John Barry (1636)
Regimiento de Coronel Patrick Fitzgerald (1639-1641), merged with Tyrconnell.
Regimiento de Coronel Dermot O'Sullivan Mor (1646-1647)
Regimiento de Coronel John Morphy I (1646-1659)
Regimiento de Coronel Dudley Costelloe (1653)
Regimiento de Coronel Charles (Carey) Dillon (1653)
Regimiento de Coronel Richard Grace (1656-1660)
Regimiento de Coronel Philip O'Reilly (1655-1660)
Regimiento de Coronel George Cusack (1656-1662)
Regimiento de Lord Muskerry (1656-1660), from King Charles II's exile army in France.
Regimiento de Coronel James Dillon (1656-1660), from King Charles II's exile army in France.
Regimiento de Duke of York's Irish (1656-1660), from King Charles II's exile army in France.
Regimiento de Duke of Gloucester (1656-1660), King Charles II's Exile Army.
Regimiento de Coronel Sir John Barry (1656-1660), King Charles II's Exile Army.
Regimiento de Coronel Louis Farrell (1658-1660)
Regimiento de Coronel James Dempsey (1660-1662)
Regimiento de Coronel Theodore O'Meara (1660-1664)
Regimiento de Coronel John Morphy II (1667-1669)
Regimiento de Coronel Denis O'Byrne (1673-1686)
Regimiento de Coronel ... Taafe (1672-1673), merged with O'Byrne.
Regimiento de Coronel Ebastan de O'Lulla (16..-1698)
Regimiento de Edinburgh Dragoons (1703-1766)
Regimiento de Dublin Dragoons (1705-1722), merged with Edinburgh Dragoons.
Regimiento de Waterford (1709-1733), became 2nd Bn., Regimiento de Irlanda
Regimiento de Hibernia (1709-1818) Officers iincluded Sub-Theniente Don Eduardo O'Cahan, 1710-1715.
Regimiento de Ultonia (1709-1818), formerly Galmoy's, France.
Regimiento de Limerick (1709-1736), became Regimiento del Rey, Naples.Officers included Theniente Don Euardo O'Cahan, 1715-1736.
Regimiento de Irlanda (1715-1818), formerly Bourke's, France, 1699; transferred to Spain as Connaca, 1715; renamed Irlanda, 1718. Disbanded 1818.
Regimiento de Momonia (c.1721, short-lived)
Regimiento del Rey (1736-....). Spanish Kingdon of Naples. Officers included Theniente Eduardo O'Cahan 1736-1740, promoted Capitaine 1740; dismissed for marrying without royal permission, 1742.
Regimiento de Royal Irlandais (1809-1814), Army of King Joseph.
The Irish regiments in Spain wore red (1681-1794), then white in line with the Spanish Army (1794-1802), then sky blue, again in line with the Spanish Army (1802-1818).