Tag: Peasants
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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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The first years of service of a Swiss surgeon, Italy & Spain (1808-1809)
The following paragraphs are derived from the notebooks of Antoine Kaempfen, a native from Switzerland (Canton of Valais) who would pursue a career in the medical services of the French army. He also wrote recollections on the 1812 campaign in Russia (read an excerpt here). … The arrival of my brevet, by which I was…
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Eyewitness accounts of the campaign in Russia, 1812 (V) …
General Georg von Scheler (1770-1826, from Württemberg) wrote the following: Moscow, 8 and 9 October 1812. Everyone found shelter, albeit packed and cramped, in the suburb on the road to Kazan. The horses of the artillery, the two regiments of chevau-légers and the regiment of the King’s Chasseurs No. 4 were accommodated in stables or…
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A selection of Peninsular War letters of the rank and file …
Stamp: (illegible number), FRENCH ARMY IN SPAIN. Mister Even, mayor of Beaufort, Department of Forests, Canton of Echternach, arrondissement of Bitbourg, via Paris. (Medina de) Rioseco, 24 August (1811). Dear father, Your long silence would certainly cause me to have doubts; only the filial love you have always fostered in me makes me think that…
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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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Sergeant Jean-Gilles Toussaint, an infantryman in the French armies of Spain and Portugal …
On 10 September 1805, a young conscript from the (Belgian) canton of Malmédy sent his parents this sorrowful letter, which we reproduce as it was written: Dearest father and mother, You and I are experiencing twice as much distress at the moment. I met the corporal on my way into Wiwertz, who was on his…
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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 (VI) …
… My injury prevented me from taking part in the German campaign. The Emperor left Paris on 15 April 1813 to put himself at the head of the new army that his genius had reorganised. You had to behold him the preceding days in the courtyard of the Tuileries, at the daily parades, having the…
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The outset of the 1815 campaign, through French reports …
A couple of reports from the early stages of the 1815 campaign, starting with documentation from 15 June … Report from Marshal Ney to the major-général Soult. Gosselies, 15 June 1815, 11 o’clock in the evening. To His Excellency the Marshal major-général. MR. MARSHAL, I have the honour of reporting to Your Excellency that, in…