Amazing photos of Napoleon's veterans

War History Online has this about Napoleon's troopers:

Among the oldest photographs of veterans in the world is a set of fifteen sepia portraits of former soldiers from Napoleon’s army. The photos were taken when the subjects were in their seventies and eighties. The pictures are currently in the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection at Brown University. It is unknown how Brown acquired the photos. Each is 12”x10” and mounted on stiff card; the name of each veteran and his regiment is written on the back of each in pencil. (Credit for all images of Napoleon’s Veterans: Brown University Library.)

They are likely the only remaining images of the veterans of the Grande Armée and the Guard in their original uniforms and insignia, although some of the uniforms appear to have been tailored in the 1850s. Each photo has been taken in a studio. Some of the subjects are standing while some are seated. Several images are blurry, an indication of the difficulty the elderly subjects had in standing still for the time it would have taken to expose a film plate.

It is not clear when and why the men were photographed. L’Epopée du Costume Militaire Français by Henri Bouchot gives some clue. In the book, there is a color plate showing ten Napoleonic veterans in full uniform passing the column which sits at the center of the Place Vendô. Two of the men bear wreaths. The photo is titled, Le Vieux de la Vieille, Le 5 Mai, 1855. A comparison shows that the ten veterans look very much like the veterans in Mrs. Brown’s collection.
5 May is significant because that is the day when veterans would gather in Paris to commemorate the death of Napoleon. The Times of London described the 1855 procession: “The base and railings of the column of the Place Vendôme appear this day decked out with the annual offerings to the memory of the man whose statue adorns the summit. The display of garlands of immortelles and other tributes of the kind is greater than usual. The old soldiers of the Empire performed their usual homage yesterday at the same place.” On that occasion, there was a funeral in the chapel of the Invalides. It was attended by Prince Jerome and other dignitaries. The entire personnel of the Invalides was present, along with soldiers of the First Empire.
The more likely date for these photographs, though, is 1858. All the photographed veterans are wearing Saint Helene medals. All those who fought in the wars of the Revolution and the Empire received these medals in August of 1857.

Napoleon Bonaparte:
“If you want a thing done well, do it yourself.”
“When soldiers have been baptized in the fire of a battle-field, they have all one rank in my eyes.”
“Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever.”
“Let France have good mothers, and she will have good sons.”
“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of colored ribbon.”
“The human race is governed by its imagination.”
“He who fears being conquered is sure of defeat.”

Rico says more almost-forgotten history.