Pierre-Emmanuel-Albert, Baron du Casse (also Ducasse; 16 November 1813 – 14 March 1893) was a French soldier and military historian born at

Bourges Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...

. He is best known for being the first editor of the correspondence of

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. He often published as Albert Du Casse. In 1849 he became '' aide-de-camp'' to Prince

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), Kingdom of Westphalia, King of Westphal ...

, ex-king of

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

, then governor of the

Invalides The Hôtel des Invalides (; ), commonly called (; ), is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and an old sold ...

, on whose commission he wrote ''Mémoires pour servir a l'histoire de la campagne de 1812 en Russie'' (1852). Subsequently, he published ''Mémoires du roi Joseph'' (1853–1855), and, as a sequel, ''Histoire des négotiations diplomatiques relatives aux traits de Morfontaine, de Lunéville et d'Amiens'', together with the unpublished correspondence of the emperor Napoleon I with

Cardinal Fesch Joseph Cardinal Fesch, Prince of the Empire (3 January 1763 – 13 May 1839) was a French priest and diplomat, who was the maternal half-uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte (half-brother of Napoleon's mother Laetitia). In the wake of his nephew, he bec ...

(1855–1856). From papers in the possession of the imperial family he compiled ''Mémoires du prince Eugene'' (1858–1860) and ''Réfutation des Mémoires du duc de Raguse'' (1857), part of which was inserted by authority at the end of volume ix of the ''Mémoires''. He was attached to Jerome's son, Prince Napoleon, during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, and wrote a ''Précis historique des operations militaires en Orient, de mars 1854 a octobre 1855'' (1857), which was completed many years later by a volume entitled ''La Crimée et Sebastopol de 1853 a 1856, docusnentl intiines et indits'', followed by the complete list of the French officers killed or wounded in that war (1892). He was also employed by Prince Napoleon on the ''Correspondence of Napoleon I'', and afterwards published certain letters, purposely omitted there, in the ''Revue historique''. These documents, subsequently collected in ''Les Rois fréres de Napoleon'' (1883), as well as the ''Journal de la reine Catherine de Westphalie'' (1893), were edited with little care and are not entirely trustworthy, but their publication threw much light on Napoleon I and his entourage. His ''Souvenirs d'un officier du le Zouaves'', and ''Les Dessous du coup d'état'' (1891), contain many piquant anecdotes, but at times degenerate into mere tittle-tattle. Ducasse was the author of some slight novels, and from the practice of this form of literature he acquired that levity which appears even in his most serious historical publications.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ducasse, Pierre Emmanuel Albert, Baron 19th-century French historians 1813 births 1893 deaths French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French male writers