Antoine-François SERGENT, known as SERGENT-MARCEAU... - Lot 551 - Rossini

Lot 551
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Antoine-François SERGENT, known as SERGENT-MARCEAU... - Lot 551 - Rossini
Antoine-François SERGENT, known as SERGENT-MARCEAU (1751-1847) engraver and politician, Conventional (Paris), brother-in-law of General Marceau. Autograph manuscript, Notes sur les derniers momens du Gal Marceau recueillies sur les lieux par son beaufrere Sergent, [septembre 1796-1798]; 5 pages in-4. Interesting testimony on the death of Marceau, and the tributes that were paid to him by his enemies. [General François-Séverin MARCEAU (1769-1796) was mortally wounded in the forest of Höchstenbach, while covering the retreat of the army after the lifting of the blockade of Mainz; he died of his wounds at Altenkirchen]. This manuscript by Sergent-Marceau is later than the death of Hoche (September 19, 1797), whose funeral he mentions; it is earlier than the report of Mortier-Duparc to the Council of Five Hundred (28 Messidor VI, July 16, 1798), to whom he proposes the use of these notes. "The impossibility of transporting him forced Jourdan, who had just bathed with his tears this young hero perishing for his glory, to order that he be carried to Altenkirchen, he wrote a letter to the Archduke Charles to urge him to respect the azile of the dying Warrior, and not to make him a prisoner. - Prisoner! This idea was more cruel than Death itself for the soul of Marceau. "Finish me my friends", he said when he saw the Austrian hussars enveloping his troops, "I have only a few hours left to live... In the name of friendship, do not let me fall alive in their power, since I cannot defend my days any longer. The next morning Gal Haddig sends to occupy Altenkirchen he knows that Gal Marceau is at the Governor of this small city, that an escort of Dragons and two French officers accompanied him there. He received orders from Prince Charles, and he remains at a distance from Altenkirchen [...] The General will not be taken prisoner, nor will the two officers and his orderly. .... He waited until the escort had evacuated the city, and sent his hussars to form a guard of honor at Marceau, to whom he sent his surgeon. "Two hours later the GalKray commanding the vanguard arrived" at Marceau's bedside. "For two years, they had been fighting each other, with that courage and loyalty worthy of the heroes of the Round Table. Kray after having tested the value and the genius of the young Marceau had been able to know his diplomatic talents, his amiability, his noble and touching frankness in the conferences which they had had together at the time of the glorious rmistice concluded between the two armies. There they had promised each other friendship, and to meet each other after the peace to taste its sweetness. On seeing this illustrious warrior lying on a bed and suffering, the Baron de Kray pours out a torrent of tears [...] In spite of all this help Marceau dies in the arms of the Cape de Génie Souhait [...] Two hours later the Archduke Charles accompanied by several gals enters the governor's courtyard, he comes to visit the French hero whose valour cost him so dearly in Limburg a few days before. He is told that he is no more. If I were French," he says, "I would rather have lost a battle"... While the Austrians prepare a grand funeral, the French claim his remains. "His body is taken back to Coblence", and a suspension of arms to allow him to be buried "in the fort that 23 months before he had taken with an unequalled audacity on the Imperials, at the bridgehead of Coblence". A subscription is launched in the army to raise a monument to him... "The day after Hoche's funeral, Marceau's body was exhumed from the fort that bears his name, burned, and his ashes reunited deposited in an obelisk raised by friendship, at the place where he was wounded"... Etc.A P.A.S. "Androphile Sergent" is attached, following an exposé of the "Political life of Citizen Chaney during the time he was head of the Surveillance Bureau at the Commune".
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