"The Garrison on Elba during Napoleon's stay?" Topic

(A friend of mine is a direct descendent of Dr. Arnott, who attended Napoleon on St. Helena. He is researching Arnott currently, but also Napoleon's treatment previously on Elba.)

What Alliance forces were charged with guarding Napoleon? And is anything known about medical matters, doctors, etc. during his stay on Elba?

A simple Google search resulted in several books your friend and you can read to acquire that information.

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Jim

médecin en chef Louis Foureau de Beauregard (1774-1848)
chirurgien Joseph-Augustin-Apollinaire Émery (or "Emeri", 1786-1821), service de santé de la garde, assisted in the return from Elba
pharmacien François-Charles-Gabriel Gatti (or "Gatte", 1789-1832)

The docteur Foureau de Beauregard was also at Sainte-Hélène.
A portrait sketch, by Ingres:

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- Sasha

On Elba there were no alliance forces, Napoleon was not a prisoner there but the ruler of the island. He had his own miniature army of about 1.000 veterans from the old guard, mainly a batalion of ex old guard Grenadiers and chasseurs (Patrice courcelle has an excellent colour plate on this); a squdron (understrenght) of Polish lancers and small detachments of marines (sailors) and artillery.
Of course there were plenty of smies on the island and the British had a "liason officer on the Island(colonel Campbell) but he was more or less an invited guest of Napoleon; and there was a british warship patroling the area around Elba (the Patrridge I believe) but no systematic guarding of the emperor. at St Helena the situation was completely differnt oof course with a real British garrison in place to guard him (under the infamous Hudson Lowe)

Hansard during early 1815 has some interesting comments about the "security" on Elba.

"Lord Castlereagh

replied, that no other instructions had been given than to make such a distribution of our force as might serve to confine Napoleon at Elba. There was certainly an understanding with our officer stationed at Elba, that Napoleon was to be confined within certain limits, and that he should not be allowed to exceed those limits."

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Thank you very much. Most helpful!

This forum is always quoted as gospel for 1815, but I have to admit, he is good and does change things if they are later proved wrong. A unique resource……

He gives this and one other source for the Elba guard (ie under Napoleon, not his captors). Their job was to protect him from a Mediterranean that was none too safe then!

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Short online article in French on the subject:

lestafette.unblog.fr/2015/05/24/1814-1815-les-effectifs-de-lempereur-a-lile-delbe

I found this remark interesting…

"…On s'était arrêté un moment à l'idée de former ce bataillon de 3 compagnies de chasseurs. Elle fut abandonnée…"

…as the soldiers destined for this envisaged battalion may have been those listed here:

memoiredeshommes.sga.defense.gouv.fr/fr/arkotheque/visionneuse/visionneuse.php?arko=YToxMDp7czoxMDoidHlwZV9mb25kcyI7czo3OiJhcmtvX2lyIjtzOjg6ImltZ190eXBlIjtzOjM6ImpwZyI7czo0OiJyZWYwIjtzOjM6IjEwOCI7czo0OiJyZWYxIjtpOjIyO3M6NDoicmVmMiI7czozOiIxNDMiO3M6NDoicmVmMyI7czowOiIiO3M6NDoicmVmNCI7czowOiIiO3M6MTI6ImltYWdlX2RlcGFydCI7czo3NjoiL1BBUkNPVVJTSU5ESVYvQ09OVFJPTEVUUk9VUEUvR1IyMFlDLzIwWUMwMTA1WC9TSERHUl9HUl8yMF9ZQ18wMTA1WF8wMDAxLkpQRyI7czoxNjoidmlzaW9ubmV1c2VfaHRtbCI7YjoxO3M6MjE6InZpc2lvbm5ldXNlX2h0bWxfbW9kZSI7czo0OiJwcm9kIjt9#uielem_move=0%2C0&uielem_rotate=F&uielem_islocked=0&uielem_zoom=36

I didn't take a closer look at the matter, however, and leave it to those who are interested.

Checked a few entries of the register concerning the "Battalion de chasseurs de l'île d'Elbe". Actually, most soldiers have Italian (or Corsican) names and were born in Corsica. So, this register appears to be that of the "Chasseurs corses" rather than that of Old Guard chasseurs…

(Sorry about the formatting. Don't know what happened. Has this something to do with that very long URL?)

As for those who'd like to know what (former) Guard members belonged to the "Battalion de l'île d'Elbe" and the "Escadron Napoléon", Marco de Saint-Hilaire has compiled a list of names:

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However, this list appears to be incomplete and the names may not always have been rendered correctly. Presumably, the only way to get to know all names would be to compare Saint-Hilaire's list with the registers at Vincennes concerning the Old Guard grenadiers, chasseurs, Polish lancers, and attached units (an extremely laborious undertaking). Members following Napoleon into exile would have received an accompanying comment to that effect.

I tentatively spot-checked just a couple of pages from only two registers.

First, from register GR 20 YC 160 "3e régiment d'éclaireurs, attaché au 1er régiment de chevau-légers lanciers "polonais" de la garde impériale, 1er janvier 1814-21 mars 1814 (matricules : 1 à 957)":

Manuscript page 96 = digital version page 100 (enter "100" into the white field in the lower right): "N°. 478, Bielinski, Joseph Antoine", with the following comment in the column at the right: "Parti Pour L'ile D'elbe Le 11 avril 1814".

This person may or may not have been the same as the one called "Bielmiski (Antoine)" in Saint-Hilaire's Squadron Napoleon list.

Second, from register GR 20 YC 8 "1er régiment de grenadiers à pied, 1799-1814.28 septembre 1813-19 juin 1814 (matricules 3 321 à 3 900)":

Manuscript page 2 = digital version page 6: "N°. 3327, Conrad, Adam", with the comment "Parti le 7 avril 1814 au B[ataill]on de Lisle D'Elbe".

I couldn't find a "Conrad (Adam)" in any of Saint-Hilaire's company lists, though, so this would be an example of a soldier omitted from Saint-Hilaire's list (unless I've overlooked something) …