Heading: (Napoleon in Russia)
Author: Philippe Paul, Comte de Segur
Title: 1825 letter, historical debate prompts duel of Bonaparte’s former Aide-de-Camp and St. Helena confidante
Place Published:
Publisher:
Date Published: 1825
Description:

Long Autograph Letter Signed. [Chateau] Bois-Boudran, par Nangis, Seine-et-Marne. August 8, 1825. French text. 4pp. To the Count [Narcisse-Achile] de Salvandy, political writer, historian and later French Minister of Education. With a post-script, possibly in a secretarial hand, in which Segur refers to the "seventh edition of my work."

Untranslated, but apparently defends Segur's classic memoir of Napoleon's 1812 Russian campaign - during which he was the Emperor's Aide-de-Camp - against an "unjust" attack by General Gaspard Gourgaud, who followed Bonaparte into exile on St. Helena, and subsequently published a "critical examination" of Segur's writing. This led to a duel between the two men, just three weeks before, in which Segur was wounded. He probably wrote this while convalescing at the Chateau of the Greffulhe-Castellane family, east of Paris. A dramatic reminder of conflicting historical memories of the Emperor - just four years after his death - which could lead to violence.

Very good.