1st Artillery Regiment (France)

The 1st Artillery Regiment is a regiment of artillery in the French Army. It was raised as the Régiment de la Fère in 1765, from the 1st battalion of the Régiment Royal-Artillerie. In 1791, after the French Revolution, it had the title of its aristocratic patron removed and was given the number 1, as the seniormost French regiment of artillery. In 1785, Napoleon Bonaparte was commissioned into this regiment as a sous lieutenant. He officially served until 1790, but he spent most of that time on leave in Corsica, where he led a battalion of Republican volunteers.