Tag: Reconnaissance

• Fourrier François Hinard’s letters on the Austerlitz Campaign …

  

  Here are several lengthy letters of Fourrier François Hinard who served in General (future marshal) Suchet’s Division during the Austerlitz campaign. He provides many interesting details on daily life in the Grande Armée, hardships, money issues, family matters and battlefield experiences. Landshut (1) in Bavaria, 29 October 1805. Dear Rosalie, I can still enjoy the…

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  May 10, 2024

  1805 Campaign, Allied (Coalition) forces, Anecdotes, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, Diplomacy, Engineers, General staff, Generals, Imperial Guard, Infantry, Letters – Correspondence, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Officer, Reports, Soldier

  Accomodation, Archduke Charles, Austerlitz, Austria, Battle of Austerlitz, Bavaria, Biberach, Billet, Bivouac, Blockade, Bourgeois, Brünn (Brno), Brest, Bulletin, Celebration, Chasseur à Cheval, Conscript, Conscription, Corporal, Coutances, Daily life, Danube, Donauwörth, Dysentery, Emperor, Emperor Francis of Austria, Family, Fatigue, Flag, Foodstuffs, Fourrier, France, Günzburg, General Beker, General Klein, General Mack, Grants, Hardship, Hospital, Howitzer, Hungary, Hunger, Illness, Injuries, Inn, Italy, Landshut, Line infantry, Linz, Locals, Marengo, Marshal Lannes, Marshal Masséna, Marshal Murat, Marshal Ney, Marshal Soult, Marshal Suchet, Money, Moral, Moravia, Napoleon, Normandy, Outpost, Paris, Peace, Postal service, Pressburg, Prisoner of war, Reconnaissance, Recovery, Religion, Retirement, Rhine, River, Russia, Russian Imperial Guard, Schönbrunn, Siege, Skirmishers, Spire, Strasbourg, Supplies, Talleyrand, Tsar Alexander, Tyrol, Ulm, Vienna

• The experiences of Dragoon Auguste de Maupas in Spain and Portugal, 1808-1812 (II)

  

  Valladolid, 5 December 1809. – I only have time to send you an embrace and inform you that I am in good health. We have arrived at Valladolid, where we will stay with General Kellerman until further notice. We engaged in a number of affairs which I am sure you will be able to find…

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  May 6, 2024

  Anecdotes, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Letters – Correspondence, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Memoirs, Officer, Peninsular War, Soldier

  Abrantes, Accomodation, Administration, Alba de Tormes, Alcanizas, Alenquer, Almeida, Ammunition, Army of Portugal, Avila, Battle of Bussaco, Billet, Bivouac, Brigands, British, Burgos, Cadre, Captain, Coimbra, Daily life, Depot, Desertion, Dragoons, Duke of Wellington, Equipment, Extremadura, Fatigue, Foodstuffs, Fortifications, France, General Brenier, General Kellerman, General Montbrun, Guerilla, Lancers, Leiria, Lieutenant, Limoges, Lisbon, Madrid, Marshal Masséna, Marshal Ney, Ourém, Outpost, Placencia, Pombal, Portugal, Prisoner of war, Promotion, Punhete, Rain, Rearguard, Reconnaissance, Redinha, Retirement, Retreat, River, Rodrigo, Salamanca, Spain, Supplies, Tagus, Valladolid, Viseu, Zamora, Zêzere

• 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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  April 8, 2024

  1813 Campaign, Allied (Coalition) forces, Anecdotes, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Imperial Guard, Infantry, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Marshals, Medicine – Surgery, Memoirs, Officer, Soldier

  Accomodation, Aide-de-camp, Ambulance, Austria, Baden, Baggage, Battle of Bautzen, Battle of Lützen, Bautzen, Bischofswerda, Bivouac, Blücher, Brandy, Bread, Captain, Conscript, Cossacks, Crime, Daily life, Dresden, Elbe, Elster, Emperor, Espionage, Fatigue, Foodstuffs, Görlitz, General Bertrand, General Bonnet, General Brenier, General Charpentier, General Compans, General Gérard, General Kirgener, General Marchand, General Morand, General Ricard, General Roguet, General Souham, General Wittgenstein, Grand Marshal Duroc, Grenadiers, Hessians, Hunger, Hussars, Imperial Guard, Kaya, Lancers, Lützen, Leipzig, Locals, Marshal Berthier, Marshal Macdonald, Marshal Marmont, Marshal Ney, Marshal Oudinot, Medical Officer, Money, Napoleon, Old Guard, Peasants, Pegau, Pillage, Poland, Prussia, Quartermaster, Reconnaissance, Retreat, River, Russia, Saxony, Sergeant-major, Silesia, Spree, Supplies, Te Deum, Theft, Transport, Tsar Alexander, Weisig, Weissenfels, Woods, Young Guard

• Correspondence of grognard Jean-Henry Rattier (II) …

  

  Paris, 10 January 1810. The 2nd Division of the Guard, of which our regiment is a component, set out yesterday for Spain. But, as His Majesty deemed that we were not yet in a position to return to the campaign, he sent the regiment of fusilliers in our stead. We still have 600 men in…

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  December 1, 2023

  Anecdotes, General staff, Imperial Guard, Infantry, Letters – Correspondence, Officer, Peninsular War

  Angoulême, Archchancellor Cambacérès, Bayonne, Bordeaux, Brigands, Castile, Chasseur, Conscript, Daily life, Ebro, Family, Fatigue, General Curial, Grants, Grenadier-Tirailleurs, Grenadiers, Guerilla, Insurgency, Knighthood, Lérida, Marshal Masséna, Money, Mont-de-Marsan, Paris, Poitiers, Portugal, Reconnaissance, Religion, Service, Spain, St-Jean-de-Luz, Vitoria

• A letter on the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Guard, after Friedland …

  

  Here we present an unpublished letter from Colonel Claude-Étienne Guyot (1768-1837) to Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais about the plight of the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Imperial Guard after the battle of Friedland. We learn that Guyot regularly kept Eugène informed about the state of the regiment (Eugène having served in the prestigious unit) and…

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  November 25, 2023

  1807 Campaign, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Imperial Guard, Letters – Correspondence, Logistics – War Commissionary – Intendancy, Officer, Reports

  Baggage, Battle of Eylau, Battle of Friedland, Bivouac, Captain, Chasseur à Cheval de la Garde Impériale, Clothing, Cold, Colonel, Daily life, Depot, Emperor, Eugène de Beauharnais, Fatigue, General Guyot, Grants, Imperial Guard, Injuries, Major, Napoleon, Pregel, Reconnaissance, Supplies, Tilsit, Uniforms, Vistula, Winter

• An Imperial Guard commander and the 1813 Campaign (IV) …

  

  … The tremendous enthusiasm that had always motivated our battalions was shattered. Ambition had replaced emulation; the army was now commanded only by officers who were brave to the point of recklessness, but without experience or instruction. Soldiers were only looking for the opportunity to leave their corps, to enter hospitals, to flee from danger.…

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  May 15, 2023

  1813 Campaign, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Imperial Guard, Infantry, Memoirs, Officer, Soldier

  Accomodation, Austria, Bivouac, Colonel, Cossacks, Daily life, Depot, Desertion, Dresden, Elbe, Emperor, Fatigue, General Mouton-Duvernet, General Ornano, Grants, Gross-Garten, Halle, Hospital, Hunger, Illness, Injuries, Inspection, Insubordination, Leipzig, Moral, Napoleon, Pirna, Prussia, Punishment, Reconnaissance, Regiment of Tirailleurs, Russia, Young Guard

• The plight of a Belgian Guard of Honour, 1813 …

  

  Here we have a lengthy letter of a Belgian Garde d’Honneur, Ferdinand de Caigny (1794-1848), recounting in detail the events he and his fellow soldiers of the 1st Regiment experienced in the autumn months of the year 1813 … Gruinestadt, 19 November 1813, three leagues from Worms and Frankenthal. My dear Parents, We left Frankenthal…

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  April 5, 2023

  1813 Campaign, Battle, Cavalry, French-Allied forces, Letters – Correspondence, Soldier

  Accomodation, Austria, Battle of Hanau, Battle of Leipzig, Bavaria, Belgian, Belgium, Captivity, Clothing, Cossacks, Daily life, Desertion, Dresden, Erfurt, Foodstuffs, Frankfurt, General Corbineau, Gotha, Guards of Honour, Hunger, Illness, Imperial Guard, Mainz, Naumburg, Prussia, Reconnaissance, Retreat, Saale, Saxony, Supplies, Vermin, Weimar, Weissenfels, Worms

• General Lasalle’s 1809 correspondence (III) …

  

  The provisioning of such a quantity of cavalry must indeed have been very problematic. Without having the habit of complaining, Lasalle demonstrated the greatest solicitude to ensure the sustenance of his eleven regiments and Marulaz’s brigade, with the latter being qualified as a division because it had the numerical importance, having been placed under his…

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  March 6, 2023

  1809 Campaign, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, Engineers, General staff, Generals, Infantry, Letters – Correspondence, Marshals, Reports

  Altenburg, Archduke Charles, Archduke John, Austria, Battle of Aspern-Essling, Bivouac, Bohemia, Bridge, Colonel, Daily life, Danube, Desertion, Engerau, Foodstuffs, General Lasalle, General Marulaz, General Montbrun, Hainburg, Hungary, Intelligence, Island, Landwehr, Marshal Bessières, Napoleon, Pontoon, Prague, Pressburg, Provisioning, Reconnaissance, Supplies, Vienna

• General Lasalle’s 1809 correspondence (II) …

  

  Lasalle’s standing with General Marulaz was delicate. Marulaz was his senior: he had been appointed colonel long before him. The same decree had named them both generals of brigade on 1 February 1805. At Essling, General Marulaz had displayed the greatest bravery: he had had two horses killed under him and, in sabering two Austrians,…

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  February 27, 2023

  1809 Campaign, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Infantry, Letters – Correspondence, Reports

  Austria, Bivouac, Chasseur à Cheval, Daily life, Danube, Engerau, Foodstuffs, General Bruyère, General Marulaz, General Montbrun, General Nansouty, Hainburg, Hungary, Hussars, Intelligence, Light Infantry, Marshal Bessières, Marshal Davout, Pressburg, Reconnaissance

• General Lasalle’s 1809 correspondence (I) …

  

  The correspondence of General Lasalle during his final campaign began on 26 May 1809. From 26 to 31 May, his reports cover the results of the reconnoitring and the necessities of setting up camp. He reported to his superior, Marshal Bessières, Duke of Istria, commander of the cavalry reserve of the Army of Germany, who…

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  February 22, 2023

  1809 Campaign, Artillery, Battle, Cavalry, General staff, Generals, Imperial Guard, Infantry, Letters – Correspondence, Reports

  Archduke Charles, Austria, Battle of Aspern-Essling, Bivouac, Captain, Chasseur à Cheval, Daily life, Danube, Dragoons, Ebersdorf, Eugène de Beauharnais, Foodstuffs, General Lasalle, General Marulaz, General Montbrun, Hainburg, Intelligence, Lobau, Marshal Bessières, Patrol, Pressburg, Reconnaissance, Sentry, Supplies