Description
Manuscript DS, in French, signed “Np,”
one page, 7.75 x 12
December 13, 1813
Official military document approving the substitution of a sick general, in part (translated): “I have the honor to inform His Majesty that the General of Artillery Pernety is sick at Mayence [Mainz, Germany] & will not be able to report at Douay [Douai, France] to take over the command of the artillery of the Army of the North. As it is feared that General Pernety will not be able to assume command for some time, I beg His Majesty to authorize me to replace him with General D’Aboville (the elder) who is at this moment at Maestricht [Maastricht, Netherlands] for the inspection of the designs of the Meuse & the Rhine.” Approved at the conclusion by Napoleon Bonaparte, and countersigned by the French Minister of War, Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke, “Duc de Feltre.” In very good condition, with intersecting folds and overall creasing.
The invalid general, Joseph Marie de Pernety (1766-1856), was a career artillery officer. His combat experience during the Napoleonic Wars was extensive; Pernety served in Italy, Switzerland, and Austria before playing a pivotal role in the invasion of Russia when his artillery forces obliterated the Raevsky redoubt at the Battle of Borodino (September 7, 1812). Pernety was with Napoleon when the decimated Grande Armée retreated, and he participated in the Battle of Berezina (November 27-29, 1812). Pernety was appointed Baron of the Empire in 1809. His name appears on the south pillar of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Pernety’s replacement was almost certainly Augustin Gabriel d’Aboville (1773-1820). The Duc de Feltre was careful to specify which D’Aboville he was nominating, for D’Aboville the elder had a younger brother and a father who were also artillery officers in the French military! D’Aboville the elder participated in campaigns in Italy, Holland, Portugal, and Spain. In December 1813, he was appointed commander of nearby Lille, 39 km northwest of Douai.
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