Boy Soldier in Napoleon's Army

In 1800, Jacques Chevillet enlisted in Napoleon's French Army. He was 14 years old. Assigned to a light cavalry regiment, Chevillet learned to ride, to fight, and to mix it up with his comrades in duels and barracks pranks. He fought his first duel at age 15 over a girl. In the next decade, Chevillet travelled through France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Croatia, and Hungary. He fought in three major battles as well as many skirmishes and patrol actions and received wounds from bullets, sabers, and artillery. He stole food from his colonel, looted farm houses, fell in love, spent more than his share of time in military prisons, and eventually he even grew up, receiving a battlefield promotion to sergeant in 1809. Despite serving in the army of one of history's great authoritarians, Chevillet kept a fierce independent streak, and he refused to obey orders that he felt violated his personal liberty. In this, he was representative of a generation that served Napoleon, but came of age in the heady times of the French Revolution, and who still believed in "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" even as they rode to victory in the Emperor's conquest of Europe. Chevillet's military career came to end at the Battle of Wagram on July 5, 1809, when he lost his right arm to an Austrian howitzer shell. Wagram was the largest battle in the world up to that time, and one of the bloodiest. Afterwards, Chevillet met Napoleon in person (the only time he ever spoke to the Emperor), received a pension, and returned to France, where he wrote these memoirs in 1810-1811. They are as far as we can tell the very first memoirs of the Napoleonic Wars to be written down, and one of only a few by private soldiers. They represent a rare, detailed, and vivid glimpse into the daily life of the common soldier.
About the Author: Thomas Cardoza holds a Ph.D. in French History from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master's Degree in Military History from Purdue University, where he studied with the legendary scholar of the Napoleonic Wars, Gunther Rothenberg. Professor Cardoza is also the author of Intrepid Women: Cantinières and Vivandières of the French Army (Indiana University Press) as well as many articles and chapters on military history. Professor Cardoza has taught at the University of California, Santa Barbara, the University of California, San Diego, and Barrett, the Honors College at Arizona State University. He is currently Professor of Humanities at Truckee Meadows Community College. He is the editor and translator for the New Napoleonic Memoir Series, which provides access to primary sources from the Napoleonic Wars previously unavailable in English.