Vivandiere "Stuff"

Every regiment of the French army possesses its cantinière or vivandière. She is called the cantinière when in occupation of her ordinary post as the mistress of the canteen, and vivandière when in the exercise of her functions on the parade or on the battle-field; and, whether in the one or the other capacity, her presence always operates beneficially on the conduct of teh soldiers, whose gallantry and respect for the beau sexe are notorious.

The post of the vivandière has of late years been always occupied by a married woman, generally the wife of some deserving non-commissioned officer of the regiment, who is responsible for her behaviour. Formerly, when this rule was not adopted, the female attendant to the wants of the regiment was considered to be under the general protection of the soldiers. Her office is now become more serious and more useful. In the canteen she is ever to be found at her peaceful employment; on the parade her pert strut and regular march, as she casts her eyes around to gather up the expressions of admiration which her appearance excites, may vie with the best of her comrades; on the march her presence at the head of the regiment animates and encourages the wearied troops; and on the battle-field she is the first to dress a wound or administer a reviving cordial. Honour, then, to the vivandière!

Our Engraving gives a very animated representation of a few of these useful women. On the side next to "The Road," where we see a regiment on the march, la vivandière en teêe, is the vivandière of the Zouaves, with her graceful costume; next to her the light-horse vivandière; and by side of "The Field," where she is seen seeking to allay thirst and suffering; is the vivandière of the ordinary Line infantry.

It sometimes happens that, in an excess of military ardour, the vivandières are carried away to the display of other qualities than those for which they were appointed. In the Crimean War they distinguished themselves on more than one occasion of emergency in the employment of the gun and sword; and recently, at Turbigo, in a moment of fury (if such a word can, consistantly with gallantry, be applied to a vivandière), one of them took up a gun and charged the enemy at the point of the bayonet. A severe wound in her leg was the result of her boldness, and she had to be conveyed to the hospital, where amputation of the limb was considered necessary. "Alas!" said she, "to that I will never submit. How should I be able to accompany my regiment?" The doctors left her to her fate; and we are happy to be able to add that she is fast recovering from her wound, and that her determination has preserved at the same time her position and her leg, to follow the army to other scenes more proundly that of yore, for the Emperor has presented her with the cross of the Legion of Honour.
~~"The London Illustrated Times," August 6, 1859