LETTER FROM A CANTEEN WORKER. Original letter from Private A - Lot 486

Lot n° 486
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Estimation :
500 - 700 EUR
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Result : 593EUR
LETTER FROM A CANTEEN WORKER. Original letter from Private A - Lot 486
LETTER FROM A CANTEEN WORKER. Original letter from Private Aimé Enguehard, “Visbourg” [Würzburg], May 4, 1812, to his parents in Caen; 2½ pages, in-4 format, with “Garde Impériale Chasseurs Voltigeurs” letterhead featuring colored vignettes; address bearing a postmark from Würzburg (creases and minor damage, repaired). Decorated soldier’s letter. The vignettes, enhanced with watercolor, depict a voltigeur flanked by portraits of Napoleon and Marie-Louise. Enguehard, of the 6th Regiment of Chasseurs Voltigeurs of the Imperial Guard, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Company, writes to his parents; his father is a hardware merchant (“guigallier”) in Bayeux. The beginning of the letter was dictated, then the soldier took up the pen himself. He had to go to the hospital to have his hand treated: “I’m starting to recover.” Since he’s been on duty, he’s been earning 40 sous: “You can see there hasn’t been enough to make any major expenditures. I’ll tell you that since we passed through Mainz, we’ve been fed by the landlady, and before leaving Mainz, they began loading us up with ammunition […] I’ll tell you that during the first few days of our march, I didn’t think we’d make it this far […] we covered nine or ten leagues every day without stopping. It’s hailing and snowing every day; we do our drills and stand guard”… Attached to the letter is a small receipt from his comrade Gravelle, to whom Enguehard had lent 12 francs during the journey.
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