DAVOUT (Louis-Nicolas). Autograph letter... - Lot 1 - Osenat

DAVOUT (Louis-Nicolas). Autograph letter signed to his wife Aimée Leclerc. Domnau [near Königsberg in East Prussia, now Domnovo near Kaliningrad in Russia], February 11 [1807]. 2 pp. 1/2 in-4, good condition in spite of marked curling. LETTER WRITTEN FOUR DAYS AFTER THE BATTLE OF EYLAU. At the head of the 3rd corps of the Grande Armée, Marshal Davout played one of the main roles in this great military engagement won by Napoleon I on February 8, 1807 against the Russo-Prussian army commanded by the Russian general Bennigsen. Perfectly assisted by his divisional generals, Louis-Nicolas Davout proved both his qualities in attack and his resistance in defense. "It is not, my little Aimée, to give you news of MY INJURY that I will write to you since [...] it HAS BEEN SO LIGHT THAT IT IS NOT THE POINT TO SPEAK OF IT - IT HAS NOT PREVENTED ME FROM RIDING, and in a short time there will be no trace of it left - I want to speak with my excellent and beautiful wife, to speak to her of my strong attachment and to swear to her that it will only end with me. Soon we will have definitive quarters in the winter, and THE VICTORY WE HAVE WON OVER THE RUSSIANS CAN ONLY HAVE GREAT RESULTS AND IN ANY EVENT A DEFINITIVE PEACE. I recommend you to be without worries until this time and to have the most unlimited confidence in my fortune which has been so favorable to me on this last occasion. It will never abandon me. I have a premonition of it. DESESSARTS HAD TWO HORSES KILLED UNDER HIM, for this time, Beaupré to his great regret had nothing. It is not his fault, it is all his enemies who have delayed the work of advancement. In a few days it will be resumed, and as Desessarts has acquired, as well as Beaupré, new rights to the emperor's benevolence, I have no doubt that he will soon obtain them. [General Nicolas-Marin Leclerc Des Essarts, chief of staff of the Friant division in the 3rd Corps of the Grande Armée, was the brother of Marshal Davout, and General Jean-Charles Musquinet de Beaupré, attached to the staff of the 3rd Corps of the Grande Armée, was the maternal uncle of the same]. It is likely that I will be a few more days without receiving news from you. The course of the posts being interrupted, they are necessary for me as well as for you and our little Josephine [their eldest daughter, born in 1804], to whom I send a thousand caresses and to you the assurance of my love and my fidelity. Receive moreover kisses at your discretion. Your good sposo [husband in Italian] L. Davout " LA MARECHALE DAVOUT, BELLE-SŒUR DE PAULINE BONAPARTE. Raised in the institution of Madame Campan, Aimée Leclerc (1782-1868) made friends with other famous boarders, Hortense de Beauharnais or Aglaé Auguié (future marshal Ney) or Pauline Bonaparte who married her brother, General Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc (died in 1802). Aimée Leclerc married the future Marshal Davout in 1801.