Tag: Light Infantry
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Correspondence of grognard Jean-Henry Rattier (I) …
The author of these letters, Jean-Henry Rattier, was born in Val-Chambre (Ardèche) on 1 June 1775, the fifth child of a farmer whose four other sons served in the French army during the campaigns of the Revolution. Henry Rattier, employed as a miller in a silk factory in Privas, joined the National Guard when he…
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Cuirassier Jean de Gouttes’ correspondence on Ulm and Austerlitz …
La Ferté-sous-Jouarre (Seine-et-Marne), 16 Fructidor Year XIII (3 September 1805). You will no doubt be surprised to receive a letter from me dated from La Ferté; I confess that I did not expect to be leaving it so soon, even though I knew that we were due to depart from Versailles shortly. Mr. Salvaing may…
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Excerpts of a campaign journal, Russia 1812 …
Details drawn from the Journal of General Friant’s Division … On the 9th, the division fought with the Russian troops who were defending the town of Mozhaysk and who were forced to evacuate it, after having torched it and caused some losses to the 48th Regiment. The division crossed Mozhaysk and found itself in the…
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More Peninsular War letters of the rank and file …
Jean GOERGEN or GERGEN, born at Troine (community of Wincrange, northern Luxembourg) on 29 May 1788, son of Jean Goergen and Thérèse Fink, conscripted in 1808, was found fit for military service at a first medical examination at Dickirch. A second medical examination revealed wounds on his face that appeared to have been caused by…
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Eyewitness accounts of the campaign in Russia, 1812 (III) …
A letter from Baptiste Massicoir to his father: From Rostenbourg, (this) 20 August 1812. My dear father, This letter is to inform me of the state of your health and that of my brother and sisters. I am doing well. I hope with all my heart that this letter finds you all well. My dear…
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Colonel Raymond Guiraud’s war journal (II) …
… On 21 May, the assault (on Danzig) was to take place. The enormous palisades of the bastion moat had resisted the effects of the gunpowder. The guns that raked them only tore them apart, and they had to be knocked down by digging up the earth beside them. A wide passage was opened, but…
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On the road to Belgium, June 1815 …
… Two days later, on the 26th [March 1815], we crossed Paris at the head of our division, composed of the 15th Léger, the 23rd, 37th and 64th Line Regiment and a company of artillery, forming part of III Corps commanded by [General] Vandamme, to head for our billets in the north while awaiting the…
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A war commissioner’s account on the battle of the Berezina …
Alexandre Bellot de Kergorre (1784-1840) recounts the events that took place at the banks of the Berezina … … The Army of Moldavia had such a great influence on the events of the 1812 campaign that its actions deserve to be recounted. At the beginning of 1812, Russia was still at war with Turkey and…
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Soldiers and officer letters of the 1813 campaign …
The first couple of letters were written by André Ravard. Born in Reignac (canton of Baignes), in a small municipality of Charente, this conscript was born into a family of farmers who already comprised a number of soldiers. Two of his uncles fought in the armies of the Republic and the Empire. The youngest, also…