By Jeannot LUNKES
translated by Nina JIMENEZ-RAMEISEL

The story of young Pierre Wagener from Tetange is known to perhaps only the fewest inhabitants of the Kayl valley. Even though his name appears in the general enumeration of soldiers serving in Napoleon's army, specific details about his life could not be found in either the local or in the national historical archives.

It can only be attributed to pure coincidence that after researching the private archives belonging to the Leon Laux family and Jean Laux-Kihn from Kayl, that the letters written by P. Wagener, in addition to other valuable documents, were found. Furthermore, the Laux Family can be credited with having carefully preserved these documents and have graciously made them available to me. For this, I wish to express to them my heartfelt gratitude.

Based on the information gained from the Laux documents, it was possible to conduct further research in the National Archive. There, more valuable material about Pierre Wagener was found. It was my aim to fully recreate the life story of this young man from Tétange, and how it connected to the 19^th Dragon-regiment to which he belonged from 1805 to 1812. This regiment was a part of the 4^th dragon-division. Only very few details could be found in the general historical writings, while in the beginning, there also were few details that could be uncovered about the 19^th dragon-regiment.

Research in the army museum (Musée de l' Armée) in Paris brought to light a unique book , which deals prevailingly with the 19^th dragons^[1], found thanks with the help of Mrs. Janula and Mr. Jean Hubert, curator. Thus it was possible to reconstruct the life of this young man from Tétange, especially his path of sufferance across Europe with Napoleon's armies.