François Ignace Schaal, born and baptized on 5 December 1747 in Colmar (

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

) and died on 30 August 1833 at

Sélestat Sélestat (; Alsatian: ''Schlettstàdt''; German: ''Schlettstadt'') is a commune in the Grand Est region of France. An administrative division (sous-préfecture) of the Bas-Rhin department, the town lies on the Ill river, from the Rhine and th ...

(

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin (; Alsatian: ''Unterelsàss'', ' or '; traditional german: links=no, Niederrhein; en, Lower Rhine) is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est super-region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its low ...

), was a French general and statesman of 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 France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

and the

First Empire First Empire may refer to: * First British Empire, sometimes used to describe the British Empire between 1583 and 1783 * First Bulgarian Empire (680–1018) *First French Empire (1804–1814/1815) * First German Empire or "First Reich", sometimes u ...

. He was one of six children (four of whom grew to adulthood) of Jean-Baptiste Schaal, a lawyer in Colmar and Anne Barbe Kubler.Jean-François Robinet, ''Dictionnaire historique et biographique de la Révolution et de l ..., Volume 1''. Librairie historique de la Révolution et de l'Empire, 1898
p. 741

Military career

He entered service on 1 August 1768, as an ensign in the artillery, and was appointed second lieutenant on 8 May 1770. When the French Revolution started, he was a captain in the Nassau Regiment (later the 96th regiment). He was raised to general of brigade provisionally on 8 March 1793, he was appointed major general on 13 June 1795. He was a Commander of the Royal Order of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

on 17 October 1814, Knight of Order of St. Louis. He married Josephine Aglaée Bon Fabry. During the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

, he was one of the commanders of the Republican army, especially during the Siege of Mainz (1792) and he distinguished himself in Cassel (Mainz). In 1793, shortly after the military reorganization, he was a lieutenant colonel of the 93rd Regiment, formerly the Duke of Enghien's regiment; the first battalion of this regiment served in the

Army of the Rhine An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

under Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine; the second at Strasbourg, and the grenadiers at Mainz. Léon Hennet, ''Etat militaire de la France pour l'année 1793'', Société de l'histoire de la Révolution française, 1903
pp. 161–162
Although only a brigadier general, he commanded the Army of the Rhine from 14 February to 29 April 1795. He had not sought command of the Army of the Rhine—indeed, Desaix, and others had flat out refused to take command and had finally convinced the Committee in Paris that Schaal was the man for the job, despite his being a brigadier and they, generals of division—but Schaal had taken the command against his better judgement and executed it as best he could. To give the others credit, they had followed his orders precisely, as uninspired as they were. At the 1795 engagement at Mainz, Schaal commanded two columns, one from the Army of the Rhine and the other from the Army of Moselle, that had been separated from their respective armies to take Mainz. However, when it came to the renewal of siege at Mainz, he commanded the united columns, one from each army, that comprised the ''Armée devant Mayence'' (the Army before Mainz). When the critical time came, however, Schaal was a mere figurehead implementing a strategy at Mainz that he had neither thought of, or approved. He entered retirement.Phipps, p. 239. He tried to re-enter the military in 1799, seeking an appointment to

André Masséna André Masséna, Prince of Essling, Duke of Rivoli (born Andrea Massena; 6 May 1758 – 4 April 1817) was a French military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.Donald D. Horward, ed., trans, annotated, The Fre ...

Army of Helvetia The Army of Helvetia, or (french: Armée d'Helvétie), was a command of the French Revolutionary Army. It was formed on 8 March 1798 from the remnants of the first unit to be known as the Army of the Rhine. It was officially merged into the comman ...

. He entered full retirement on 4 September 1815. His name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe, on the eastern side of the fourteenth column facing the Champs-Élysées. He was mayor of

from 1800–1807 and a delegate of the Bas-Rhin to the Legislative Assembly from 1808–1812. He was the father-in-law of General Henri-Jacques Martin de Lagarde, who married his daughter, Marie, Augustine (born 1796) in Mainz, on 1 February 1815.Legarde
Specifically, ''Dictionnaire Historique et biographique des Généraux Français ''(Courcelles-1822).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaal, Francois Ignace French generals French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars French Republican military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars Military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars Counts of the First French Empire Order of Saint Louis recipients People from Colmar 1747 births 1833 deaths Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe