On 24 February 1814, Antoine Roederer was appointed Prefect of the Aube department. At that time, the allied Russian, Swedish, Prussian and Austrian armies of the Sixth Coalition already occupied a large part of the north-east of the country. Antoine Roederer went to his official residence in Troyes, but had to leave the city again soon after the retreat of Marshals Macdonald and Oudinot. He withdrew to Provins, where he continued his administrative duties as best he could. After returning to Paris, Prefect Roederer went to see the Minister of the Interior, the Count of Montalivet, before returning to Aube and then going to the Emperor's headquarters. This is where his report begins, which takes him to Fère-Champenoise on the day of the battle with two provisional cavalry regiments... Its accuracy and sincerity make it an important testimony to what the soldiers and inhabitants of eastern France experienced at that time, which Antoine Roederer himself had already sensed when he presented a brief report on his journey to the Regency Council in the absence of the Emperor, who had once again donned his boots as a general and tactician to lead part of the now fragmented army against the two most important allied armies. Antoine Roederer was almost 32 years old, but already had five years of experience in this role. He was born in Metz on 14 May 1782 and was the youngest son of State Councillor Antoine Marie Roederer. He followed in his father's footsteps and began his career in 1805 as an auditor in the State Council before also entering the service of Joseph Bonaparte, then King of Naples, whose Director-General of Direct Taxes he became and Chamberlain in 1807. After returning to the State Council, Antoine Roederer was appointed Prefect of the Italian department of Trasimeno in Spoleto in September 1809, a position he held until 1814. On 4 November 1809, he married Adélaïde Catherine Berthier, the eldest daughter of General César Berthier and niece of the Marshal. The young prefect was appointed Baron of the Empire by decree on 3 December 1809 and by letter patent on 16 June 1810, and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour on 30 June 1811.
