Porte-Aigle Memoirs?

Thanks Brendan, I think I’ve tracked him down in Meulenaere’s Bibliography as Larreguy de Civerieux “Souvenirs d’un Cadet (1812-23) published by his grandson, Commandant Larreguy de Civrieux in 1912. It notes “Le jeune Larreguy de Civrieux, âgé alors de 19 ans, participa à la campagne comme sergeant-major au 93eme régiment”

So he started out as a cadet in 1812 aged 15-16 but just 3 years later he is a Sergeant Major.at the tender age of 19! Certainly puts paid to that “veteran” tag some people put on L’Armeé du Nord. Then again, Colour Sergeant Bourne at Rorke’s Drift was just 23 in January 1879, so perhaps only a little more extreme.

He is noted by Paul Dawson on page 165 of his Napoleon’s Waterloo Army and quotes extensively on page 179 of The Truth at Last. Here he relates “the order came to leave the eagles behind in the custody of the sergeant-majors. My friends and I had refused to obey this provision, but by this act of disobedience we won the cheers from our regiment”. An even fuller account (in French) is given in Les Carnets de Waterloo No1 Hougoumont on pages 56-57 and Patrice Courcelle even has an illustration of the Eagle Party.

However, this illustrates the regular Porte-Aigle, Informative as this account is as a snapshot of someone who had custody of an eagle, it’s not really a full account of a Porte-Aigle. Perhaps Leeke spoils us, leaving as he does an eye-witness account from behind the colour pole. It should, I suppose, be expected as Waterloo does not hold as much glory for the French. Might explain why we don’t really have a French Mercer either.

Thank you though for reminding me of him, definitely an interesting vignette. The search goes on though for an undiscovered or little known bona-fide Porte-Aigle account!