GOURGAUD Gaspard, baron Versailles, 1783 - Paris,... Lot 50

GOURGAUD Gaspard, baron [Versailles, 1783 - Paris, 1852], French general, companion of Napoleon at St. Helena. Autograph letter signed. Paris, June 8, 1840; 1 1/2 page in-4°. "My departure for the island of Saint Helena is too close for me to be able to take note of the work that you propose to publish ..... of memoirs, voyages and campaigns in Europe since the campaigns of Egypt until Waterloo. Although I do not remember the places where we met during our wars, full of confidence in the sincerity of the accounts of an old soldier and persuaded that your book will not contain anything that does not touch the memory of the Emperor Napoleon, I accept with pleasure the dedication that you want to make me. One should not gather former soldiers who belonged to the imperial guard to go to St. Helena. Several requests for this purpose have not been granted. There is still no question of the arrangements that will be made for the honors to be paid to the ashes of the Emperor.