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Bonaparte at Valence


“At last, free”… This is the cry of a sixteen years old teenager who, having passed the exam of Lieutenant of artillery, arrives in Valence, its first garrison, which played an important lead in his formation.

Since his arrival in Valence in 1785, the young Napoleone de Buonaparte goes every day to the artillery camp “the most beautiful of the kingdom” to learn the bombardier manoeuvres. He begins as a simple canonman and must mount guards on the Place des Clercs. Two months after, he becomes lieutenant. In 1786, the young officer leaves Valence to go to Corsica. When he comes back to Valence in 1791, he’s twenty one years old and the Revolution has been declared. Due to war threats, volonteers groups take shape, but he goes to Corsica to be in charge of a battalion.

During his regular journeys in the Rhône Valley between 1788 and 1799, Bonaparte will often stop in Valence…. And the last time travelling through Valence to go the Elbe island, he heard “long live to the Emperor” Robert FERRIER.