Luc Siméon Auguste Dagobert de Fontenille (8 March 1736,

La Chapelle-en-Juger La Chapelle-en-Juger () is a former Communes of France, commune in the Manche Departments of France, department in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Thèrev ...

, near Saint-Lô,

Manche Manche (, ) is a coastal French département in Normandy, on the English Channel, which is known as ''La Manche'', literally "the sleeve", in French. It had a population of 495,045 in 2019.Puigcerdà Puigcerdà (; es, Puigcerdá) is the capital of the '' Catalan comarca'' of Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the Segre River and on the border with France (it abuts directly onto the French town of Bourg-Ma ...

) was a French general 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, Pruss ...

Life

Ancien Régime

Descended from a noble family, Dagobert de Fontenille was major of the bataillon de chasseurs royaux du Dauphiné in 1788. Sous-lieutenant in the régiment de Touraine, he served in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...

as an officer in Le Royal-Italien, and remained in that unit for the Corsican campaign of 1769. Whilst on Corsica he came into direct contact with the Bonaparte family. By his marriage on 8 August 1780 to Jacquette Pailhoux de Cascastel (daughter of a Conseiller souverain of Le Roussillon), he became master of the forges and formed a company to exploit the mines at Les Corbières and Le

Razès Razès (; oc, Rasés; ca, Rasès) is a historical area in southwestern France, in today's Aude ''département''. Several communes An intentional community is a voluntary residential community which is designed to have a high degree of ...

under the jurisdiction of the abbey of

Lagrasse Lagrasse (; oc, La Grassa) is a commune in the Aude department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2016, it had a population of 560. Lagrasse is part of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France ("The most beautiful villages of France") ...

with his cousin, Jean-Pierre François Duhamel, correspondent of the Académie des sciences and commissaire of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

for mines and forges.

Under the French Revolution

In 1789, he and Louis-Philippe d'Orléans, grand-maître of the ''

Grand Orient de France The Grand Orient de France (GODF) is the oldest and largest of several Freemasonic organizations based in France and is the oldest in Continental Europe (as it was formed out of an older Grand Lodge of France in 1773, and briefly absorbed the ...

'', rallied to the revolutionary cause. He was made colonel in May 1792, at the outbreak of the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that suc ...

, and sent to the Army of the Var, in which he had many successes. Moved to the Army of Italy under d'Anselme and Biron, he distinguished himself before

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

and at the col de Negro.

War against Spain

When the

French 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 ...

declared war on Spain on 7 March 1793, de Fontenille moved to the

Army of the Eastern Pyrenees The Army of the Eastern Pyrenees (''Armée des Pyrénées Orientales'') was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It fought against the Kingdom of Spain in Roussillon, the Cerdanya and Catalonia during the War of the Pyrenees. This army and th ...

, under general de Flers, and commanded an entrenched camp of 8,000 men. He repulsed a Spanish attack on this position on 19 May but was still forced to abandon it, though he then stopped an enemy column of 6,000 men marching on

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

. Made commander in chief of the Armée centrale des Pyrénées after de Flers was removed from this post, he seized Puycerda on 29 August 1793 and the whole of the Spanish

Cerdagne Cerdanya () or often La Cerdanya ( la, Ceretani or ''Ceritania''; french: Cerdagne; es, Cerdaña), is a natural comarca and historical region of the eastern Pyrenees divided between France and Spain. Historically it was one of the count ...

within 24 hours, before defeating the Spanish again on 4 September 1793 at

Mont-Louis Mont-Louis (; or ''el Vilar d'Ovansa'') is a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France. Geography Mont-Louis is located in the canton of Les Pyrénées catalanes and in the arrondissement of Prades. Mont-Louis-La Cab ...

, capturing 14 cannon and recapturing part of Le Roussillon. Made commander in chief of the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees in September after Barbantane's removal, he renounced this position after his defeat on 27 September at Truillas by the Spanish general

Antonio Ricardos Antonio Ricardos Carrillo de Albornoz (1727 in Barbastro – 13 March 1794) was a Spanish general. He joined the army of the Kingdom of Spain and fought against Habsburg Austria, the Portugal, and the First French Republic during a long military ...

Fall from and return to favour

He was discharged for this defeat and returned to Paris to give an account of his conduct. He was imprisoned, then released and returned to his previous post at the head of the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees. Arriving back at Perpignan in March 1794, he could not obtain some battalions from Dugommier (12,000 infantry and 600 cavalry in total) which had been put at his disposal. He nevertheless invaded Spain, where he removed several enemy positions and won various victories, taking Urgel on 10 April 1794, before dying of illness at

Puigcerdà Puigcerdà (; es, Puigcerdá) is the capital of the '' Catalan comarca'' of Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the Segre River and on the border with France (it abuts directly onto the French town of Bourg-Ma ...

in April 1794. The Convention decided to engrave his name on the raised column at the

Panthéon The Panthéon (, from the Classical Greek word , , ' empleto all the gods') is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was b ...

Family

François-Gilles Dagobert, a cousin of Dagobert de Fontenille via a

cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

(and Breton) branch of the family, took up the revolutionary torch in 1793 at the time of the

War in the Vendée The war in the Vendée (french: link=no, Guerre de Vendée) was a counter-revolution from 1793 to 1796 in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the river Loir ...

Sources

"Luc Siméon Auguste Dagobert"
in Charles Mullié, Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850, 1852

Bibliography

* ''Le général Dagobert'' by Arthur Chuquet 1913 * ''Campagne de la Révolution française dans les P-O'' by J.-N. Fervel, chef de bataillon du Génie * ''Nouveaux Lundis'' Tome 2 by Sainte-Beuve - 1864 * ''Notes et histoire de la Famille Dagobert'' by Mme Destors, née Hayaux du Tilly (1962) non édité * ''Le Roi Dagobert. Histoire d'une famille et d'une chanson'' 1990, prix d'histoire de la société Académique de Nantes et de Loire-Atlantique *''Le général Dagobert'' by Christian Laroze - 2000 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dagobert, Luc 1736 births 1794 deaths French generals People from Manche French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars French Republican military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe