In 1811, a dozen young men among the families in Napoleon's personal service were chosen to be ushers in his apartments. Serving in this capacity alongside the emperor (and paying close attention), Louis-Joseph Marchand was well-poised to write this memoir, and he offers detailed observations from the Russian campaign, battles in Germany and France, Napoleon's exile to Elba and subsequent escape, and his defeat at Waterloo. A friend and confidante to the leader, Marchand was beside him at the Tuileries during the Hundred Days, and as he records here, he was there to hear Napoleon's last words.