Tag: Surgeon
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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 (IV) …
Bayonne, 15 March 1812. We arrived here the day before yesterday, and we are leaving tomorrow for Paris, where we will arrive on 16 April. I would have obtained permission to go to Ardèche, but I had to be in the capital by 15 April, which prevented me from obtaining it. I could only have…
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Letters of a battalion commander, Russia 1812 …
The military operations of 1812 commenced in June. On the 15th, the 33rd Infantry Regiment numbered 4,252 men divided into five battalions. This is the unit of our officer, whose letters we reproduce. On the 18th, Napoleon, who was at Gumbinnen (Prussia), inspected the 33rd Regiment, part of the 2nd Division (led by General Friant)…
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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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Soldiers’ letters related to the campaign in Austria, 1809 …
In June 1809, this soldier wrote to his family from the Austrian capital. In particular, after mentioning his involvement at the battle of Essling, Bellot describes his uniform in detail and announces that he has just been appointed corporal in the line troops (1) : At Vienna, this 30 June 1809. My dear father and…
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A Belgian cavalryman in Moscow, 1812 …
A relative of our Belgian soldier here, Constant de Limon (officer in the 1st Regiment of Chasseurs à Cheval, General Bordessoule’s Brigade, part of Davout’s I Corps), forwarded the latter’s letter to a younger brother of our protagonist: Mister Delimon (sic, De Limon), place du Carrefour de Lodeau n° 4, in Paris. Ypres, 6 November…
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Eyewitness accounts of the campaign in Russia, 1812 (II) …
TO COUNT DE LAVALETTE, DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE EMPIRE’S POSTAL SERVICES, IN PARIS. Moscow, 16 October 1812. My dear Count, I have the honour of informing you that the Intendant General has ordered me to bring down the postal service between France and Gumbinnen to one courier every two days, and the one between the…
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Captain Sibelet’s 1813 experiences …
Here we have an excerpt of the unpublished military memoirs of Jean-Pierre Sibelet, Officer of the Legion of Honour, retired captain of the 11th Regiment of Chasseurs à Cheval. He returned to the service in 1812 in the 25th Cohort and became a grenadier captain for the 145th Line Regiment on 18 February 1813. Readers…
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The Berezina in the spring of 1813 …
The Württemberg surgeon Henri de Roos, taken prisoner at the Berezina and attached to the Russian hospitals, was still at Borisov in 1813. In his ‘Memoirs’, he describes what had become of Studienka and the region itself a few months later. Arthur CHUQUET. One Sunday during spring I carried out the plan I had been…