Tag: Salamanca
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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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The experiences of Dragoon Auguste de Maupas in Spain and Portugal, 1808-1812 (I)
Born on 5 September 1786 in Laon, Aisne, into a noble family originally from Berry, Auguste-Marie was the son of Jérôme Clément Agard, the Marquis of Maupas, and Marie-Madeleine de La Fons d’Happencourt. He married Geneviève-Stéphanie-Félicité-Cécile de Martiny on 2 January 1821. Maupas entered the École Militaire of Fontainebleau on 17 February 1805, and was…
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Recollections on the battle of Salamanca, 1812 …
Alphonse d’Hautpoul was born at Versailles on 4 January 1789. He was a cousin of the cavalry general of the same name, who lost his life at the battle at Eylau. Alphonse’s brother, Amand, served in the horse artillery of the Imperial Guard. Attending the Military School at Fontainebleau, Alphonse departed there as a second…
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Correspondence of grognard Jean-Henry Rattier (III) …
Puente la Reina, 13 November 1810. The regiments of our division are gathering at this moment to move from Navarre to Castile. Our (supply) wagons leave at noon for Pamplona, in order to follow the main road to Vitoria, as well as the artillery. The troops will travel via the secondary roads; the main roads…
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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…