Major General Armand Charles Guilleminot (2 March 1774–14 March 1840) was a French general during the Napoleonic wars. He is described as having been very intelligent, merciful, generous, resourceful, and experienced. He achieved the Legion of Honour's ''grand-croix'' title, the highest rank of the award.

Biography

Guilleminot was born on 2 March 1774 in

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.France, to

Burgundian Burgundian can refer to any of the following: *Someone or something from Burgundy. *Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe, who first appear in history in South East Europe. Later Burgundians colonised the area of Gaul that is now known as Burgundy (F ...

Claude Guilleminot and his wife Isabel-Barbe Lanscotte/Landschoote. He had 7 siblings: Anne (c. 1771), Julie-Ann (c. 1776), Marie-Françoise (c. 1777), Amable-Joseph-Claude (c. 1778), Pierre-Marie (c. 1779), Isabelle (c. 1781), and Adélaïde-Thérèse (c. 1783). He entered the army in July 1789 at age 15 when he volunteered for the 9th Battalion of the National Guard of Dunkirk to fight the House of Austria, including in the Brabant Revolution. In 1792, he was made a sous-lieutenant in the 4th Battalion of Volunteers of Nord. He then served in the Army of the North under Dumouriez, working as aide-de-camp to General Souham at the

Battle of Tourcoing The Battle of Tourcoing (17–18 May 1794) saw a Republican French army directed by General of Division Joseph Souham defend against an attack by a Coalition army led by Emperor Francis II and Austrian Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. T ...

. After Dumouriez's defection in 1793, Guilleminot was jailed in Lille on suspicion of treason. Following his stint in prison, he joined the Army of Sambre and Meuse and became a lieutenant (1796) and later a captain (1797); he then moved to the

Army of Mainz The Army of Mainz or Army of Mayence (''Armée de Mayence'') was a French Revolutionary Army set up on 9 December 1797 by splitting the Army of Germany into the Army of Mayence and the Army of the Rhine. Part of it split off on 4 February 1799 to ...

. Guilleminot participated in the Battle of Verona in 1799 and was promoted to battalion commander by General Schérer. General

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also recognized his military excellence and called him up to the Army of Italy to serve as his aide-de-camp. He also served with the Army of the Rhine in its final years. Due to his close relationships with Generals Moreau and Pichegru, he was again regarded with suspicion following an assassination attempt on

Cadoudal Georges Cadoudal ( br, Jorj Kadoudal; 1 January 1771 – 25 June 1804), sometimes called simply Georges, was a Breton politician, and leader of the ''Chouannerie'' during the French Revolution. He was posthumously named a Marshal of France in 18 ...

during the

Pichegru Conspiracy The Pichegru Conspiracy, otherwise known as the Cadoudal Affair was a conspiracy involving royalists Jean-Charles Pichegru and Georges Cadoudal who wished to overthrow Napoleon Bonaparte's military regime. They were apprehended and sentenced to ...

in the early 19th century. In 1802, Guilleminot was working in cartography services that were an attaché to the German Army. In 1805, he moved to the historical and geographic services and was subsequently sent to Dresden, Germany to work as an engineer and cartographer for the military. He then re-joined the

Grande Armée ''La Grande Armée'' (; ) was the main military component of the French Imperial Army commanded by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte during the Napoleonic Wars. From 1804 to 1808, it won a series of military victories that allowed the French Empi ...

under Marshal Berthier during the War of the Fourth Coalition. After the war ended, he traveled to Turkey to inform the Ottoman Empire of the Treaties of Tilsit between France and Russia. In 1808, he was the first Frenchman sent to

Bayonne Bayonne (; eu, Baiona ; oc, label= Gascon, Baiona ; es, Bayona) is a city in Southwestern France near the Spanish border. It is a commune and one of two subprefectures in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department, in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine re ...

, Spain for the Peninsular War, where he became

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

to Marshal Bessières and of the Army of the Western Pyrenees. He was present at the Dos de Mayo Uprising in Madrid, where he held back those pushing back against French rule, as well as the Battle of Medina de Rioseco, after which he was promoted to brigadier general. Shortly after, he was named

Baron of the Empire As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles of nobility to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both before and since, Napoleon found tha ...

and became Soult's chief of staff for the

II Corps 2nd Corps, Second Corps, or II Corps may refer to: France * 2nd Army Corps (France) * II Cavalry Corps (Grande Armée), a cavalry unit of the Imperial French Army during the Napoleonic Wars * II Corps (Grande Armée), a unit of the Imperial French ...

. In 1810, he was chief of staff of the Army of Catalonia. The same year, he became the German Army's chief of topography services, where he worked alongside Marshal Berthier during the Danube campaign. In 1812, he became chief of staff to Prince Eugène's IV Corps. He was wounded in the

Battle of Borodino The Battle of Borodino (). took place near the village of Borodino on during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. The ' won the battle against the Imperial Russian Army but failed to gain a decisive victory and suffered tremendous losses. Napoleon ...

but took charge of the 84th Infantry Regiment at the Battle of Maloyaroslavets only a month later after General Delzons' battlefield death. He led this regiment through the Battles of Vyazma,

Lützen is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Lützen is situated in the Leipzig Bay, approximately southwest of the Leipzig city limits and northeast of Weißenfels. The town has access to the Bundesstraße 8 ...

, Bautzen, and Krasnoi before the armies retreated in early 1813. Later that year, he participated in the Russia campaign and became a major-general after showing mercy at the Combat of Roßlau. He then took over the XII Corps from Marshal

Oudinot Nicolas Charles Oudinot, 1st Count Oudinot, 1st Duke of Reggio (25 April 1767 in Bar-le-Duc – 13 September 1847 in Paris), was a Marshal of the Empire. He is known to have been wounded 34 times in battle, being hit by artillery shells, sabe ...

and led them into battle in Großbeeren and the

Dennewitz Dennewitz is a village of Germany, in the federal state and old Prussian province of Brandenburg, near Jüterbog, 40 km. S.W. from Berlin. It is part of the municipality of Niedergörsdorf, Teltow-Fläming district. History It is memorable a ...

. He became the commander of the 13th Division and subsequently worked with both the VII Corps and the IV Corps, and led his men into battle at

Hanau Hanau () is a town in the Main-Kinzig-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located 25 km east of Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main and is part of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region. Its Hanau Hauptbahnhof, station is a ...

and Mainz.

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

abdicated in 1814 and was exiled to the Italian island of Elba as per the Treaty of Fontainebleau. Guilleminot was appointed to chief of staff to Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry by Marshal Davout in the meantime. When Bonaparte escaped exile and returned to power in 1815, Guilleminot was made chief of general staff of the 3rd Observation Corps and later the grand quartier général impérial in the Army of the North. Days before the Battle of Waterloo, Guilleminot moved to serve in the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

battle as second-in-command of Jérôme Bonaparte's division. Following this loss, Guilleminot was sent to negotiate the surrender of Paris to Prussian leader Marshal von Blücher. He was kept as prisoner until the

Convention of Saint-Cloud The Convention of Saint-Cloud was a military convention signed on 3 July 1815 by which the French army under Marshal Davout surrendered Paris to the armies of Prince Blücher and the Duke of Wellington, ending the hostilities of the Hundred Days. Th ...

was complete, which is against military law. He was a signee of the convention along with

Bignon Bignon is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Armand-Jérôme Bignon (1711–1772), French lawyer, royal librarian and conseiller d'État *Jean-Paul Bignon, (1662–1743), French ecclesiastic, statesman, writer, preacher, and libra ...

, de Bondy, von Müffling, and Hervey-Bathurst. At this point, Guilleminot transitioned from an active military career into a more administrative capacity. He was deeply interested in Freemasonry and studied it in his retirement. In 1816 and 1817, he worked to set French/Swiss land boundaries and in 1818 became part of the kingdom's defense commission. In 1821, he became the great standard-bearer of the Conseil d'État and in 1822, he was director of the war depot and aided in its reorganization. In 1823, during France's

Spanish campaign The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the war, military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying ...

, he became the head-of-state for the

duke of Angoulême Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

and handled the military initiatives. He was also made the major-general of the Army of the Pyrenees. Later that year,

King Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in e ...

gave him control of the French Embassy in Constantinople, where he served as

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

for nearly 10 years. While there, he worked with Sultan Mahmut II on Ottoman reformations. In 1831, he returned to France and became the chairman of the border commission of the eastern French borders following the July Revolution. He also joined the new defense commission in 1836.

Personal life

In 1798, Guilleminot married Aimée de Fernig, the sister of General de Fernig. They had four children: Charles Elie Théophile Léonidas Amé Guilleminot (1802—?), Eugène (1806—1825), Henriette Aimée (1811—1882), and Augustine Hortense (1812—1849). Henriette-Aimée was married to Édouard-Léon, Count Roger of the North; Augustine-Hortense was married to French diplomat Jules-Émile Humann and they had at least one son, Edgar Humann. When Aimée died in 1837, he remarried Henriette-Aimée "Marie" Ebray, the following year. Her first marriage was to the son of Nicholas Villeroy; they had at least one son, Nicolas-Henry-Charles, before Villeroy died in 1830. Guilleminot suffered from illness for a long time and eventually went to Baden, Germany for a change of air, hoping it would help. However, he died on 14 March 1840 at age 66 of "an inflammation of the chest." He is buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Honours

Following the Battle of Medina in 1808, he was awarded the officer's cross for the Legion of Honour. In 1810, he was recognized as a Commander of the Iron Crown and a knight of the Military Order of Max Joseph. In 1814, the king appointed him a grand officer of the Legion of Honour and a knight of

Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis (french: Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis) is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a rewar ...

. In 1823, he was made a

Peer of France The Peerage of France (french: Pairie de France) was a hereditary distinction within the French nobility which appeared in 1180 in the Middle Ages. The prestigious title and position of Peer of France (french: Pair de France, links=no) was ...

in recognition of his services. In 1823, he was made a grand cordon in the Legion of Honour and a commander in the

. In 1838, he was honoured with the Legion of Honour for the fourth time, this time at the rank of grand-officer. He was also made a saltier in the Order of the Crescent. There is a statue of Guilleminot outside of Dunkirk's town hall.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guilleminot, Armand Charles French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars French generals 1774 births 1840 deaths People from Dunkirk Ambassadors of France to the Ottoman Empire Peers of France 19th-century French diplomats Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe Military personnel from Paris Recipients of the Legion of Honour Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Order of Saint Louis recipients Knights of the Order of Saint Louis Recipients of the Military Order of Max Joseph Knights of the Military Order of Max Joseph Commanders of the Order of Saint Louis Knights of the Order of the Crescent People of the Battle of Waterloo People of the Brabant Revolution People of the Napoleonic Wars Military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars French military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars People of the Peninsular War Barons of France Barons of the First French Empire Bonapartists