Pierre Wagener's Entry into the Grand Army

One can only speculate about Pierre Wagener's motivation to join the " Grande Armée" voluntarily. It is estimated that the reason was simply the financial need to help his mother that forced him to undertake this difficult step. As we will learn from his letter later on, he and his mother had a very good relationship.

To emphasize this theory, one has to understand the methods of recruitment used by the French army.

The corresponding law, call the "loi de conscription dite Jourdan-Delbrel" (Jourdan-Delbrel law of conscription) of Sept. 5 ^th 1798 called for two types of recruitment:

1. Voluntary military service with the possibility of a military care.
2. Conscription. It applied to all young French men between the ages of 20 to 25. Those who had reached their 20^th birthday were "written in" to the military register (thus the name "conscripts", and their names were kept on the register until they reached the age of 25. So it was that Pierre Wagener, who was born on 9-21-1782, was registered as a recruit in the year 11 (1804). The different ranks could only be called in through special legal decisions; and these had to start with the lowest rank. Mobilizations were formed through a lottery system, so that all registered men were at equal risk of being called in for service. The lists ere put together by local city governments, under the direction of the departmental administration and the ministry of war. Before being call in for duty, the conscripts were given physical exams.

 On the 2nd of March of the year 13 (3-24-1805), a doctor Dutreux certified:

"The undersigned doctor of medicine declares that the young man by the name of Pierre Wagener is fit to serve in the army.

Luxembourg, the 2^nd March of the year 13" ^[40]

A so-called revision-council was called upon to determine the service-readiness of the recruits. This council consisted of three family fathers whose sons were already on active duty, one county commissioner of the board of directors, one physician or other health official. The latter were only called upon for their advice, and the ultimate decision as to whether or not a recruit was to perform active duty was up to the three family fathers. On the document by the family fathers concerning Pierre Wagener, there are not only five signatures, but nine, belonging to inhabitants of Kayl, Tétange, and Rumelange. It is estimated that the reason for this lay in the fact that the county of Kayl was comprised of the three towns mentioned above. The document reads as follows:

"We who are undersigned below,Michel Kaufmann, Nicolas Hyppert, Jean Kremer, Nicolas Peporté, Michel Kirsch, Michel Pierre, all farmers, and Jean-Baptiste Peiffer, day-labourer, all seven residing in Kayl, county of Bettembourg, Jean Pissinger, farmer, living in Rumelange, and Jean Redinger from Tétange, certify and attest to the fact that Pierre Wagener is known to us, this young man was born in and residing in Tétange, community of Kayl, is not afflicted by bouts of epilepsy, in good faith of this, we have declared this man here before us to be fit to render service.

Enacted in Luxembourg, the second of March of the year 13" ^[41]

Mayor Dominique Wilhelm, a friend of the Wagener family, who is to play a major role in Pierre Wagener's life, write the following good reference:

"The here undersigned mayor of Kayl, county of Bettembourg, district of Luxembourg, certifies that Pierre Wagener, born in Tétange, inhabitant of the village of Kayl, is living a good and moral life, and has never been brought before a criminal tribunal nor has he faced any correctional police charges. This I have signed in good faith in Luxembourg, the second of March of the year 13." ^[42]

Dominique Wilhelm attests further:

"The below undersigned mayor of Kayl, county of Bettembourg, district of Luxembourg, certifies that Pierre Wagener, born and living in the community of Tétange, in this town of Kayl, is being recruited in the year 11, and that he has been recruited as a result of the examination given to conscripts of his class, and that he was not designated to be drafted to meet the quota of the army nor that of the reserves." ^[43]

So it appears that Pierre Wagener entered into service voluntarily and wasn't affected by the lottery system being used at that time to draft members of his class. The only way for him to enter the service voluntarily was to become a replacement for someone else who had been drafted.

The French law concerning the draft at that time by the name of Jourdan Delbrel, didn't find much popularity and was the cause of many desertions. It was amended on the 17th of April, 1799 to permit draftee replacement. According to the text of this law, conscripts who were drafted through the lottery system could propose a volunteer, who was between the age of 18 to 20, to take their place. A subsequent change of this law permitted replacements of recruits of the 2^nd and 3 ^rd class only.

It soon turned out that wealthy recruits oftentimes had themselves replaced by paying substantial sums of money to poorer members of society. But this replacement soon proved to be an effective method to curb the number of desertions: "Replacement of like infusing gold into the lap of poor families..." (Delpierre au Tribunal) ^[44]

The replacement recruit became a speculator. Assuming that he didn't squander this hefty lump sum, he was able to make a solid start into civilian life upon his release from the army. Sums in the range from 500 to 6,000 Francs (Lux.) were paid out, even amounts up to 12,000 Francs were often paid in certain regions of France. More that two million soldiers were recruited under this system between the years of 1800 to 1814. ^[45]

Frédérick Melchior paid 83 Louis d'Or in compensation money to his replacement Pierre Wagener. We'll get back to this in further detail a little later on.

On this 4^th of March of the 13^th year of the republic (3-26-1805), Pierre Wagener signed the document that made him a replacement for Frédérick Melchior. This would change his life dramatically. The following is the complete text of this document:

Military Bureau

Division of Recruitment

Today, on the 4^th of March of the year 13, before us are Jean-Baptiste Lacoste, director of the Department of Forests, member of the legion of honnor, are present on the one side, Mr. Frédérick Melchior of the community of Leudelange, conscripted in the year 13, designated to serve in active duty under the number 6, in the county of Bettembourg. On the other side is Mr. Pierre Wagener, conscripted in the year 11, from the community of Tétange. Both have declared, concluded and arrive at the fact that the above mentioned Pierre Wagener will serve as replacement for the above mentioned Frédérick Melchior.

Consequently the have produced:

1. A certificate by Monsieur Temonlet, captain of the 108^th line regiment, commander of recruitment of the department, on the date of this day, affirm the admission made by this official of the aforementioned Pierre Wagener to be the replacement of the aforementioned Frédérick Melchi.
2. A receipt from the head collector stating that the above mentioned Frédérick Melchior has deposited the sum of 100 Francs with him as payment for the uniform and equipment of his replacement named above. We have explained to them the articles 49 and 52 of the Imperial Decree, as they relate to the responsibility of the replacement conscripts and the arrangements considering the replacement conscripts who will not rejoin or who are going to desert after having joined.

After this lecture, they both declared that they wanted to continue with their intentions according to which the aforementioned Pierre Wagener will serve in the army in lieu of Frédérick Melchior, in return for the compensation stipulated in the notarized contract which the presented to us, and a copy of which is attached to the present contract which we have drawn up conforming to article 49 of the Imperial Decree cited before and which the aforementioned Frédérick Melchior and Pierre Wagener have signed before us on the day and year noted below: Frédérick Melchior

Frédérick Melchior

X-mark of Pierre Wagener who has declared not knowing how to sign.

Lacoste

For Pierre Wagener, there was no turning back. He had to remain at home and await the command for march-off. He was only permitted to travel beyond county lines by way of a special permit issued by the mayor, and it also needed to be authorized by the head of departments (of what?). In addition, no leave in excess of eight days was permitted. The following permit was issued by Mayor Wilhelm on the 24^th of March 1805:

This certifies that Pierre Wagener, as named in the Birth Register, and otherwise known by this Name, is indeed the replacement who had volunteered to take the place of Frédérick Melchior of Leudelange, community of the same named canton.

There follows this description:

Pierre Wagener, born and residing in Tétange, community of Kayl, height 1.699 meters, haircolor and browcolor; light chestnut, eyes; blue, face unmarked.

....certifies that Pierre Wagener has never left this county and that he has resided here uninterruptedly in this county during the last year. ^[46]

[40] AEL B584
[41] ibidem
[42] ibidem
[43] ibidem
[44] Tulard: Dictionary
[45] ibidem
[46] AEL B584