Jean-Baptiste Hastray (1785-1828)
France
Chasseur, 2ème Régiment, Chasseurs à Pied,
Garde Impériale, Waterloo, 1815
2nd Battalion, 2nd Chasseurs à Pied, Garde Impériale, Waterloo,1815
Standing before Napoleon’s last Headquarters at the farm of Le Caillou, Hastray is shown wearing the blue Imperial Guard Greatcoat with the red piping and the green and red epaulettes of the Chasseurs.
He has the 10 year long service stripe of the Guard on his left arm – a bit of artistic licence here – he only served a matter of months in the Guard but he had had over 10 years service in Napoleon’s Grande Armée.
The Chasseurs bearskin was worn without a plate unlike the Grenadiers, and without cords or plume as befits campaign dress.
Jean-Baptiste Hastray (1785-1828)
Born on the 24th May 1785 in Merny, Carlsbourg
Died on the 23rd August 1828 in Bouillon, aged 43
Jean Baptiste Hastray is my 1st cousin, 6 x removed. He was born in Merny, Carlsbourg (near Bouillon), on May 24 1785. His father was also called Jean-Baptiste and his mother Marie Elizabeth Gerard. Bouillon, hitherto an independent Duchy was annexed by Revolutionary France in 1795 and incorporated into the Department of the Ardennes.
In 1805, at the age of 20, he was conscripted into the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte and served throughout the remainder of the 1st Empire, up to and including the 100 Days and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
We know the following about him from the army record. He was 1m 64 tall – about 5’ 4” – with grey eyes and brown hair. He was described as having a low forehead and a small mouth and nose with a round chin.
He was incorporated firstly into the 55th Régiment de Ligne on the 5th November 1805, and served with the Regiment in the Grande Armée through 1806, 1807 and 1808. He would have been with the Regiment when it fought at the battles of Austerlitz, Jena and Eylau, battle honours of the regiment. In 1809 the Regiment was sent to Spain and Jean Baptiste served there until the end of the Penninsula campaign in 1814.
Shako plate of the 55th Line Regiment
Between the defeat of France by the Allied Powers and the abdication of Napoleon in 1814 and his subsequent return in 1815 from Elba, we have no record of Jean Baptiste, but can assume he remained in the army as upon Napoleon’s return he joins him from the 55th Line Regiment and is incorporated into the Garde Impériale, into the 2nd Régiment de Chasseurs à Pied de la Garde, with a new numéro de matricule, or army number, of 2477, on 9th May 1815.
He fought with the Old Guard at the Battle of Waterloo and was eventually discharged on 29 September 1815, leaving the Regiment to return to the Ardennes Region of his birth.
Soon after his return he married on 22nd August 1818 a Thérèse Picard, in Bouillon, (in the present day province of Luxembourg in modern day Belgium, and the home town of my mother).
The next time we have news of him is the record of his death on 23 August 1828, in Bouillon, at his brother-in-law’s house, though he is recorded at the time as being domiciled just over the border in Sedan, in France.
Jean-Baptiste Hastray (1785-1828)
Born: 24th May 1785 Merny, Carlsbourg
Died: 23rd August 1828 in Bouillon, aged 43
Jean Baptiste Hastray is my 1st cousin, 6 x removed. He was born in Merny, Carlsbourg (near Bouillon), on May 24 1785. His father was also called Jean-Baptiste and his mother Marie Elizabeth Gerard. Bouillon, hitherto an independent Duchy was annexed by Revolutionary France in 1795 and incorporated into the Department of the Ardennes.
In 1805, at the age of 20, he was conscripted into the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte and served throughout the remainder of the 1st Empire, up to and including the 100 Days and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.
We know the following about him from the army record. He was 1m 64 tall – about 5’ 4” – with grey eyes and brown hair. He was described as having a low forehead and a small mouth and nose with a round chin.
He was incorporated firstly into the 55th Régiment de Ligne on the 5th November 1805, and served with the Regiment in the Grande Armée through 1806, 1807 and 1808. He would have been with the Regiment when it fought at the battles of Austerlitz, Jena and Eylau, battle honours of the regiment. In 1809 the Regiment was sent to Spain and Jean Baptiste served there until the end of the Penninsula campaign in 1814.
Shako plate of the 55th Line Regiment
Between the defeat of France by the Allied Powers and the abdication of Napoleon in 1814 and his subsequent return in 1815 from Elba, we have no record of Jean Baptiste, but can assume he remained in the army as upon Napoleon’s return he joins him from the 55th Line Regiment and is incorporated into the Garde Impériale, into the 2nd Régiment de Chasseurs à Pied de la Garde, with a new numéro de matricule, or army number, of 2477, on 9th May 1815.
He fought with the Old Guard at the Battle of Waterloo and was eventually discharged on 29 September 1815, leaving the Regiment to return to the Ardennes Region of his birth.
Soon after his return he married on 22nd August 1818 a Thérèse Picard, in Bouillon, (in the present day province of Luxembourg in modern day Belgium, and the home town of my mother).
The next time we have news of him is the record of his death on 23 August 1828, in Bouillon, at his brother-in-law’s house, though he is recorded at the time as being domiciled just over the border in Sedan, in France.