Charles, comte Lefebvre-Desnouettes or Lefèbvre-Desnoëttes (14 September 1773, in
Paris – 22 April 1822) became a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
officer during the
French Revolutionary Wars and a general during the
Napoleonic Wars. He later emigrated to the
United States.
French Revolutionary Wars
He joined the army in 1792, and served with the armies of the North, of the
Sambre et Meuse and
Rhine et Moselle in the various campaigns of the
French Revolution. Six years later he had become captain and aide-de-camp to General
Napoleon Bonaparte. At the
Battle of Marengo
The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Mi ...
in June 1800 he won further promotion.
Empire
Under the Empire, Lefebvre-Desnouettes fought with distinction at the
Battle of Elchingen
The Battle of Elchingen, fought on 14 October 1805, saw French forces under Michel Ney rout an Austrian corps led by Johann Sigismund Riesch. This defeat led to a large part of the Austrian army being invested in the fortress of Ulm by the ar ...
in 1805. Later that year, he became colonel after the
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805/11 Frimaire An XIV FRC), also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of the most important and decisive engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle occurred near the town of Austerlitz i ...
. He served also in the Prussian campaigns of 1806–1807. He was promoted to
general of brigade in September 1806 and
general of division in November 1807. He was created a count of the Empire in March 1808.
Sent with the army into Spain, he conducted the first and unsuccessful
Siege of Saragossa. Later he commanded the IV Corps in several actions in Spain. On 29 December 1808, he was taken prisoner in the action of
Benavente by the British cavalry under
Henry Paget (later Lord Uxbridge, and subsequently Marquess of Anglesey).
For over two years Lefebvre-Desnouettes remained a prisoner in
England, living on parole from
Norman Cross Prison at
Cheltenham
Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral ...
with his wife Stephanie. In 1811 he broke his parole, an act which greatly offended British public opinion, and escaped; in the invasion of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
in 1812, he led the Guard ''Chasseurs à cheval'' cavalry. In 1813 and 1814, he and his men distinguished themselves in most of the great battles, especially
Brienne
The County of Brienne was a medieval county in France centered on Brienne-le-Château.
Counts of Brienne
* Engelbert I
* Engelbert II
* Engelbert III
* Engelbert IV
* Walter I (? – c. 1090)
* Erard I (c. 1090 – c. 1120?)
* Walter ...
(where he was wounded),
La Rothière,
Montmirail,
Vauchamps and
Arcis-sur-Aube
Arcis-sur-Aube (, literally ''Arcis on Aube'') is a commune in the Aube department in the Grand Est region of north-central France.
The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Arcisiens'' or ''Arcisiennes''.
The commune has been awarded "th ...
. He joined Napoleon in the
Hundred Days and was appointed commander of the Guard Light Cavalry Division, which he commanded at the
Battle of Quatre Bras
The Battle of Quatre Bras was fought on 16 June 1815, as a preliminary engagement to the decisive Battle of Waterloo that occurred two days later. The battle took place near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras and was contested between ele ...
.
At the
battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armies of the Seventh C ...
he was taken prisoner and placed under the guard of a single Dragoon, on his solemnly pledging his honour that he would not attempt to escape. When the Dragoon had taken him to the place where he was to be received, and had taken the saddle off his own horse, the General clapped spurs to his horse, and rode off, but the Dragoon, as quick as lightning, followed him on horseback, gave him a cut with his sabre on the forehead, and brought him back.
Later career and death
For his part in the Hundred Days he was condemned to death by the royalists, but he escaped to the United States and spent the next few years farming in the ill-fated
Vine and Olive Colony
The Vine and Olive Colony was an effort by a group of French Bonapartists who, fearing for their lives after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Bourbon Restoration, attempted to establish an agricultural settlement growing wine grapes and ...
, beginning in 1817.
His frequent appeals to
Louis XVIII eventually obtained his permission to return. However, the vessel on which he was returning to France, the American
packet
Packet may refer to:
* A small container or pouch
** Packet (container), a small single use container
** Cigarette packet
** Sugar packet
* Network packet, a formatted unit of data carried by a packet-mode computer network
* Packet radio, a form ...
''Albion'' of the
Black Ball line, went down off the coast of
Ireland on 22 April 1822. Mr Everart, the only passenger surviving reported that the general had been injured in the wreck and presumed drowned, the bodies washing up over a number of weeks were not identifiable.
His body is one of those buried in Templetrine Graveyard in County Cork, near Kinsale.
Tributes
He is recognized as LEFÈBVRE-DESNte on the 31st column of the
Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...
in
Paris.
[Information on the 'Pain de Sucre' from visit and inscription on monument.]
His widow had an obelisk, known as the "''Pain de Sucre''" (
Sugarloaf
A sugarloaf was the usual form in which refined sugar was produced and sold until the late 19th century, when granulated and cube sugars were introduced. A tall cone with a rounded top was the end product of a process in which dark molasses, a r ...
) due to its shape and frequent re-painting in white, erected to his memory and that of the sailors who perished with him. It stands above the sea on the crest of a low hill in
Sainte-Adresse
Sainte-Adresse () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the region of Normandy, France.
Geography
A coastal suburb situated some northwest of Le Havre city centre, at the junction of the D147 and the D940. The English Channel forms ...
, now a suburb of Le Havre, and doubled as a navigation mark helping other sailors avoid the hazards in the approach to the port.
See also
*
List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea
Throughout history, people have mysteriously disappeared at sea, many on voyages aboard floating vessels or traveling via aircraft. The following is a list of known individuals who have mysteriously vanished in open waters, and whose whereabouts r ...
References
External links
* Smith, Digby. ''The Napoleonic Wars Data Book.'' London: Greenhill, 1998.
Charles Lefebvre Desnouettes Letters, 1818-1819. Wilson Library at the
University of North Carolina
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lefebvre-Desnouettes, Charles
1773 births
1820s missing person cases
1822 deaths
Commanders in the French Imperial Guard
French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars
French emigrants to the United States
French generals
French prisoners of war
Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Hundred Days
Military personnel from Paris
Missing person cases in Ireland
Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
People lost at sea