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Memoirs ofSergeant Bourgogne
1812-1813
Compiled from the Original MS. by Paul Cottin
ILLUSTRATED
New York
Doubleday & McClure Company
1899
Copyright 1899, by
DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO.
SERGEANT BOURGOGNE.
(From a portrait made in 1830.)
Adrien Jean Baptiste François Bourgogne was the son of a cloth-merchantof Condé-sur-Escaut (Nord). He reached his twentieth year on November12th, 1805, a time when military glory was the one dream of youth. Tomake this dream real, his father procured his admission into a corpsof the Vélites of the Guard, where a fixed income was a necessaryqualification.
The Vélites were originally Roman soldiers lightly armed, forskirmishing with the enemy (velitare). In the year XII. when theRevolution was at an end, two corps of Vélites, consisting of 800men each, were attached to the foot Grenadiers, and to the mountedGrenadiers of the Consul's Guard.
In times of peace each cavalry regiment had attached to it a squadronof Vélites made up of troops of 125 men each, and each infantryregiment a battalion of two companies of 150 Vélites each. The uniformworn by the Vélites was always that of the corps into which they weredrafted.
The Vélites were trained first at Saint Germain-en-Laye, then at Écouenand at Fontainebleau. Bourgogne attended the writing, arithmetic,drawing, and gymnastic classes which were meant to complete themilitary educa[Pg vi]tion of these future officers; for, after a few years,the more efficient of the Vélites were promoted to the rank ofSub-Lieutenant.
After a few months, Bourgogne and his comrades were among the troopsrequired for the campaign of 1806 in Poland, where Bourgogne becamecorporal. Two years later he took part in the Battle of Essling, wherehe was twice wounded.[1] From 1809 to 1811 he fought in Austria, Spain,and Portugal. In 1812 he was at Wilna, where the Emperor re-assembledhis Guard before marching against the Russians. Bourgogne was nowsergeant. Already he had travelled a great deal. He had seen somethingof most countries, and he had taken note of what he saw wherever he hadbeen.
How immense would be the value to the intimate history of the ar