Tag: Spain
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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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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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The battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, recounted by a staff officer …
Here follows an excerpt from Emmanuel-Frédéric Sprünglin’s (1773-1844) exceptional memoirs, which he wrote based on his detailed journal he kept during his service in the Peninsular War. On 3 October 1810, our Swiss-born officer was appointed deputy (adjoint) battalion commander in the general staff of the Army of Portugal. When the decision was made for…
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Correspondence from Charleroi conscripts under Napoleon (II) …
Letters from Pierre-Joseph Guilbert to his father Pierre-Joseph Guilbert was born in Jumet on 18 March 1781. He was the son of Charles and Marie Perony. A conscript of the Year IX (1800), he became a fusilier in the 5th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the 94th Line Infantry Regiment, 3rd Division of the…
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Dedicated to the Imperial Cause – Letters of the Dandalle Family (IV) …
Cantonment in Germany – 1810-1811 In February 1810, the regiment left Upper Austria and arrived at Magdeburg on 1 March. It did not return to France, but remained in Germany to ensure public order and to be ready to intervene if necessary to the south against Austria, to the north to enforce the Continental Blockade,…
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An account on the battle of the Gebora and the siege of Badajoz, February-March 1811 …
Some time after the capture of the fort of Pardaleras, General Jérôme-Dominique Bourgeat (1760-1827) again assumed an active and decisive role in one of the key events of the siege of Badajoz, known as the battle of the Gebora. Charged with preparing the action of the attacking troops, he bombarded the enemy camp so effectively…
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Extracts from the livre d’ordre of the 12th Light Infantry Regiment during the Peninsular War …
Order of 18 March 1811 The regiment is hereby informed that His Excellency Marshal Soult has achieved the most brilliant success during his expedition following the capture of Olivera, where he took 4,500 prisoners. He battled two Spanish and Portuguese divisions whose positions covered the city of Badagos [sic, Badajoz]. These two divisions were defeated,…
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Dedicated to the Imperial Cause – Letters of the Dandalle Family (III) …
The Austrian Campaign of 1809 The Erfurt conference had, at least in appearance, strengthened the friendly relations between Napoleon and the Tsar. The two emperors divided Europe between themselves. Napoleon sought to consolidate the Russian alliance in order to have a free hand to re-establish the situation in Spain, where the capitulations of Bailén (22…