1858: Veterans of the Napoleonic army
The only known surviving photographs of veterans of Napoleon's Grande Armée and Guard dressed in their uniforms and regalia.
The pictures were taken after 1857. Each man is wearing the Saint Helene medal, issued on August 12th, 1857 to French veterans of the wars of the Revolution and the Empire. While the exact date is uncertain, it is highly likely to have been Wednesday May 5th, 1858. Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5th, 1821, and each year on the anniversary of his death, veterans gathered and paraded through Paris to his tomb.
In 1858, the veterans were in their 70s and 80s. Some of the portraits suggest that the men have had their uniforms retailored over the decades to accommodate their changing body shapes.
