PROTEAU (Guillaume Marcellin). Signed autograph... - Lot 104 - Osenat

Lot 104
Go to lot
Estimation :
450 - 500 EUR
PROTEAU (Guillaume Marcellin). Signed autograph... - Lot 104 - Osenat
PROTEAU (Guillaume Marcellin). Signed autograph letter (copy) to Napoleon I. Rochefort, 18 September 1809. 2 pp. in-folio (32.5 x 20.5 cm) on a double sheet. Begged the Emperor for a position. Born on the island of Groix (Morbihan) in 1772, Guillaume Marcellin Proteau joined the Navy in 1793. Lieutenant of the ship, he participated in the 1797 Irish expedition. In 1803, he became captain of the ship. On April 12, 1809, while commanding the Indian frigate, he was attacked by the British on the island of Aix and set fire to his ship. Judged for this act, he was sentenced to three months of simple arrests in his room and lost his job. At the end of this period, he wrote this letter to the Emperor: "Rendered to all my rights to honour and trust, I offer him for future services, the sword that I was awarded in homage to my firm and courageous conduct in the days of April 11 to 16 in the bay of the island of Aix [...]. I dare to humbly beg His Majesty to allow me to accidentally carry my services there in the ranks of his great army. I will find the opportunity to erase before his eyes even the slightest traces of prevention that may remain on my account...". Proteau did not find a position in the Navy until 1811. He then served in the Grand Army and became a brigadier general in 1813. He was disqualified in 1816 and resumed his service in the army in 1818, until his retirement in 1834. He died in Lorient in 1837. Cf. Six, Dictionnaire biographique des généraux & admraux français de la Révolution et de l'Empire, t. II, pp. 333-334. Very readable and well preserved document.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue