Mediterranean Battalion. AUTOGRAPH LETTER FROM SOLDIER JEAN-LOUIS ABRY, on the Isle of Corsica, in Ajaccio on May 6, 1810, ADDRESSED TO NOËL ABRY, Mont-Blanc department. 18857-3

Battalion of the Mediterranean. AUTOGRAPH LETTER FROM SOLDIER JEAN-LOUIS ABRY, on the Isle of Corsica, in Ajaccio on May 6, 1810, ADDRESSED TO NOËL ABRY, his brother and friend, department of Mont Blanc. 18857-3

With a military postal mark "AJACCIO". Addressed to "Monsieur / Monsieur Noelle Abrÿ commune of Refÿot Canton of Refÿot Department of Mont Blanc poste restante at Rumilly very urgent letter".

Jean-Louis ABRY, soldier on the "Isle of Corsica", 5th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Mediterranean, asks for help from his brother Noël Abry.
"… I will tell you that I am on the Isle of Corsica and that it is a very bad country and that living is expensive. I will tell you that we are paid one sou a day. So you can imagine that there isn't enough to live on… I am writing to ask you to send me some money…".
He mentions another person in his family (?) : "Laurent Abrÿ is on the Isle of Corsica in a place called Calvÿ at the hospital…".
"Here is my address Isle of Corsica in Ajaccio in the fifth Company of the Third Battalion of the Mediterranean. In Ajaccio in Corsica Department of Liamone *".

Double leaf. 2 written pages.
8.2 cm x 8.2 cm. In fairly good condition, lower part of page cut, foxing, fold marks.

* The Liamone is a French coastal river in the island of Corsica, in the department of Corse-du-Sud, which flows into the Mediterranean Sea.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:
1808-1814: REGIMENTS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
By decree of June 8, 1808, an organization was set up in Corsica for a battalion intended to serve as a depot for refractory conscripts from the Italian departments of the Empire. Made up of 6 companies of hunters, it was named the "Battalion of the Mediterranean" in August 1809. The decree of January 27, 1810 transformed this unit into a light infantry regiment with 5 battalions, without an elite company: the regiment of the Mediterranean. At the beginning of 1811, the unit was garrisoned in Corsica, on the island of Elba, and in Corfu, and took part in several naval expeditions. Due to the regiment's overabundant numbers, Napoleon ordered - by decree of March 11 - the formation, in Bastia and on the island of Elba, of a 2nd regiment of the Mediterranean. This time, it was a unit of line infantry.