Jean-Michel Beysser (4 November 1753, in Ribeauvillé – 13 April 1794, in Paris) was a French general.

Life

Before 1789

He began his military career as a

dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat w ...

in the

régiment de Lorraine A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service and/or a administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large bod ...

from 1769 to 1778. He was later part of the armée de Bretagne from 1778 to 1781, apparently as a surgeon-major. He served in the Swiss regiment de Moron as a surgeon-major under the orders of the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...

, then as the captain of a Dutch regiment, before returning to France in 1788.

Revolution

In July 1789, he was made major of the National Guard dragoons at Lorient, rising to lieutenant colonel in 1790 then a captain in the National Gendarmerie of

Morbihan Morbihan ( , ; br, Mor-Bihan ) is a department in the administrative region of Brittany, situated in the northwest of France. It is named after the Morbihan (''small sea'' in Breton), the enclosed sea that is the principal feature of the coastli ...

in 1791. Thanks to the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

he rose rapidly through the officer ranks: *10 February 1793, adjudant-général as supernumerary lieutenant-colonel without appointments, to the armée des Côtes. *7 March 1793, chef de brigade to the 21e chasseurs à cheval. *6 May 1793, adjudant-général chef de brigade to the armée des Côtes-de-Brest *20 June 1793, général de brigade. In this last post he repulsed the Vendéens at the end of June 1793. Signing the federalist manifesto of 5 July 1793, he was forced to take refuge in Lorient. On 2 August 1793 he defended himself before the

National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

, which restored him to the same army and the same rank as before. On 17 September 1793, he was defeated by the Vendéens at Montaigu. Already suspecting him, the government arrested him and on 2 October 1793 imprisoned him in the

Prison de l'Abbaye The Prison de l’Abbaye was a Paris prison in use from 1522 to 1854. The final building was built by Christophe Gamard in 1631 and made up of three floors, flanked by two turrets (or more exactly, '' échauguettes''). It was the scene of a portio ...

. He appeared before the Revolutionary Tribunal of Paris and was condemned to death by it on 24 March 1794 (4 germinal year II), as an accomplice of Jacques-René Hébert,

Charles-Philippe Ronsin Charles-Philippe Ronsin (1 December 1751 – 24 March 1794) was a French general of the Revolutionary Army of the First French Republic, commanding the large Parisian division of ''l'Armée Révolutionnaire''. He was an extreme radical leader ...

François-Nicolas Vincent François-Nicolas Vincent (born 1766 or 1767; died 24 March 1794) was the Secretary General of the War Ministry in the First French Republic, and a significant figure in the French Revolution. A member of the Cordelier Club, he is best known as a ...

, Mazuel,

Antoine-François Momoro Antoine-François Momoro (1756 – 24 March 1794) was a French printer, bookseller and politician during the French Revolution. An important figure in the Cordeliers club and in Hébertisme, he is the originator of the phrase ''″Unité, Indi ...

(all already condemned) in trying to dissolve the national representative assembly and put a tyrant in place over the state. He was guillotined at the same time as Arthur de Dillon,

Pierre Gaspard Chaumette Pierre Gaspard Anaxagore Chaumette (24 May 1763 – 13 April 1794) was a French politician of the Revolutionary period who served as the president of the Paris Commune and played a leading role in the establishment of the Reign of Terror. H ...

, Jean-Baptiste Gobel,

Lucile Desmoulins Anne-Lucile-Philippe Desmoulins, born Laridon-Duplessis (18 January 1770 in Paris – 13 April 1794) was a French revolutionary, diarist, and author during the French Revolution. She was married to the revolutionary Camille Desmoulins. She was ...

and

Marie Marguerite Françoise Hébert Marie Marguerite Françoise Hébert, née Marie Goupil (1756, Paris – 13 April 1794, Paris), was a figure in the French Revolution who died by guillotine during the Reign of Terror. Biography Marie Goupil was born in Paris to Jacques Goupil ...

on 13 April 1794 (24 germinal an II).

Sources

* Jean Tulard, ''Jean-François Fayard et Alfred Fierro, Histoire et dictionnaire de la Révolution française. 1789–1799'', Robert Laffont, coll. "Bouquins", Paris, 1987 {{DEFAULTSORT:Beysser, Jean-Michel 1753 births 1794 deaths People from Ribeauvillé Republican military leaders of the War in the Vendée