Tag: Marshal Oudinot
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Guard Grenadier Philippe Ballut at Lützen and Bautzen, 1813 …
In the evening, with the 2nd Grenadier Regiment occupying the ground on a plateau, the soldiers sighted the town of Lützen, with its round bell tower and a tall belfry tower dominating the large tile roofed buildings. The French cavalry had already entered the town to capture a few stragglers. It was known that Blücher…
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Captain Puffeney’s recollections of the 1806-1807 Campaigns …
The son of humble farmers from the Franche-Comté region, Captain Pierre-François Puffeney was born in Les Planches, near Arbois, on 5 December 1772. He was not yet twenty when he enlisted as a volunteer in the 2nd Battalion of the Jura, to fly, as it was then called, to the defence of the Fatherland. A…
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Remarks on the battle of Wagram, by General Édouard Colbert …
General Pierre David Édouard de Colbert-Chabanais (1774-1853), in his ‘Unpublished Remarks’, wrote a concise account of the battle of Wagram. Its simplicity and modesty enhance its interest. We reproduce it here verbatim, together with some other manuscripts that he drew up. According to the orders given the day before by Napoleon, the French light cavalry…
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A dragoon’s 1805 journal entries …
Here we have a chapter on the 1805 Campaign derived from journals kept by Etienne Fargeau Choderlos de Laclos, born on 1 May 1784 at La Rochelle (although certain documents state he originates from Mortagne la Vieille). He served in the 8th Regiment of Dragoons. On 24 Brumaire Year XIV, I entered Vienna via the…
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A perspective from the French Imperial household on the battle of Bautzen, 1813 …
The following extract is drawn from the excellent recollections of treasurer Guillaume Peyrusse (1776-1860) … 20 May (1813). – The entire (Imperial) headquarters was on its feet very early. One staff officer succeeded another. The corps of the dukes of Reggio (Oudinot), Taranto (Macdonald), Ragusa (Marmont) and General Bertrand made their arrangements to cross the…
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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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Letters of Marshal Berthier from the 1814 Campaign …
In the following four letters (dated 8 to 15 March 1814), Berthier seems to share the Emperor’s hopes and illusions; he reports the battle of Craonne which, Napoleon said, was glorious. He heralded the recapture of Soissons and Rheims; he even suggested that the enemy was troubled, threatened on all sides by the levée en…
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To Austerlitz – A French officer’s 1805 journal … (IV)
Vienna, 21 Frimaire year XIV. We were still occupying the Karthaus cantonment on the morning of the 7th of this month, when the sound of a distant cannonade warned us that our period of rest was about to end. From time to time, the cannon shots drew closer and soon a hurried order caused the…
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To Austerlitz – A French officer’s 1805 journal … (III)
Brünn (Brno), 30 Brumaire year XIV. Events follow one another in rapid succession. Here I am already far from this capital which I thought would be the terminus of our conquest. The Emperor Francis has abandoned it to us without becoming more docile. He apparently hopes that his dear allies, the Russians, will rectify his…