#desaix

also the bedroom where Napoleon slept before his campaigns of Austerlitz and Wagram (in the palace of rohan) + empress josephine

From Left to Right :

Kléber , Desaix , Dumas and Junot

Little series that im going to start where i share some tidbits of the book Desaix, le "sultan juste" by Armand Sauzet about desaix and his life

Chapter 4 'the suspects'

In this letter, Desaix adresses to his sister (I forgot if she was younger or older then desaix) where he expresses concern for her and their mother since they emigrated during the start of the revolution, and are suspects for royalist believes (that's what i mostly understood sorry if i got it wrong)

a letter addressed from Reichstett to his sister Françoise on 21 Brumaire, Year II (11 (November 11, 1793), Louis announces his promotion: "Pity me, charming sister, I have been raised to a difficult and painful rank, which I accepted only with the greatest regret; I am a divisional general and commander of the vanguard, it is a lot of work for your brother, whom you know is still very young and not very experienced." Desaix shows no presumption in this language, but his satisfaction shines through when he writes complacently: "In the midst of my riches, with the rich apartments that have been given to me. However, he must be disillusioned: "I cannot raise a considerable sum to help [Mother]. She has not yet told me that she needs it. I fear that she will hide it from me.... Tell me, do you need anything?... If I knew in need, I would be in despair, I would be far from happiness. He is so deeply attached to the one he always calls "mother!" I love her beyond all that can be said. How I would like to know that she is content and happy. As for his sister: "I would like every minute to learn that you are cheerful, that you dance and that you are happy." From the bottom of his heart finally rises a wish that he will not be able to fulfill.

Onto the next page the author writes his own thoughts of desaixs wish linking it to his final moments which i find depressing to be reminded of constantly in this book.

forbid him from thinking about the fatal day of Marengo: "When the terrible and dreadful war that ravages and devastates, that separates friends, is finally over, simple, unknown, peaceful, happy to have contributed to reestablishing peace and repelling the cruel enemies, the foreign barbarians who want to rule us, I will come near you and we will never separate again; we will soften the old age of the good mother, we will seek to make her happy, I long for that moment." Who would prevent him from realizing this dream? The risks of war? He scorns them in his youthful optimism... or he keeps them silent to reassure those he loves: "I am still very well, my health is good, my wound is completely healed, I only expect a few more, provided they are glorious and useful to my country...

Again and reminder of desaixs fate and the harsh reality of what happend to his mom and sister when he wrote the letter.

Alas! Wounds do not only bring "glorious scars, they kill. He will never grow old in Veygoux among the rocks and heather." Therein lies his great error. He is also mistaken in hoping that his mother is content and happy, that his sister, his "dear Desaix," is cheerful and dancing in the company of her good friend, Mlle de Ségonzat. Since September 28, 1793, the two women have been under an arrest warrant. They will be imprisoned on November 15.

For my last tidbits I wanted show how he truly felt connected in the place he grew up in when even his wish was to retire from the army and return to his beloved home.

Chapter 1 'childhood'

His true home was Veygoux. He became attached to it. Not only did he identify with it when he chose the name Chevalier de Veygoux, but he also expressed, during his campaigns, his nostalgia for this residence where he wished to retire: At the end of all duties, jobs, and honors, Veygoux, its fields and its heaths, will be my reward.

Detail of Napoleon Bonaparte in front of the pyramids contemplating the mummy of a king in the countryside of Egypt by Maurice Orange, 1895

Maurice Henri Orange