Antoine Marie Chamans, comte de Lavalette (14 October 1769 – 15 February 1830) lived during the turbulent era of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Whilst fighting in the 1796 Italian campaign he came to the attention of Napoleon Bonaparte, who took him into his personal staff. It was from this moment he became one of Napoleon’s most trusted adherents. He recounts in these fascinating memoirs his service to the Emperor in both military and civil capacities, including as head of clandestine postal surveillance. His escape from the guillotine of the Bourbons, following Napoleon’s fall, is worthy of a novel on its own. But perhaps most interesting at all is the accounts of the Emperor, with whom he had the most close association.
