Amédée Emmanuel François Laharpe (born de La Harpe; , 27 September 1754 – 8 May 1796) was a Swiss military officer who served as a volunteer in the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

. He rose to become a

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

of the Revolutionary Army, and led a division in Italy under

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

until his death in battle after being hit by

friendly fire In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy or hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while ...

. He was a cousin of the Swiss political leader Frédéric-César de La Harpe.

Early life and career

Amédée de La Harpe was born into a noble family in

Rolle Rolle () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Cantons of Switzerland, Canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It was the seat of the district of Rolle (district), Rolle until 2006, when it became part of the district of Nyon District, N ...

Vaud Vaud ( ; , ), more formally Canton of Vaud, is one of the Cantons of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of Subdivisions of the canton of Vaud, ten districts; its capital city is Lausanne. Its coat ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

on 27 September 1754. He was the son of Louis Philippe de La Harpe, ''

Seigneur A seigneur () or lord is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. The seigneur owned a seigneurie, seigneury, or lordship—a form of ...

des Uttins'' and member of

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

's Council of Sixty, and Sophie Hugonin. He attended a philanthropinist school in Haldenstein along with his cousin Frédéric-César de La Harpe, who would become the leader of the successful movement for the independence of Vaud from the

canton of Bern The canton of Bern, or Berne (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. The bear is the heraldic symbol of the c ...

. As a young man La Harpe served as a

mercenary A mercenary is a private individual who joins an armed conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any other official military. Mercenaries fight for money or other forms of payment rather t ...

in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. After returning home he commanded a Vaud militia company, and between 1780 and 1791 sat at the Council of Two Hundred of Lausanne. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, he renounced his seigneurial privileges. On 15 July 1791, La Harpe held a

banquet A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes inc ...

in Rolle to celebrate the second anniversary of the

Storming of the Bastille The Storming of the Bastille ( ), which occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, was an act of political violence by revolutionary insurgents who attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison k ...

. As the Bernese authorities persecuted those involved, La Harpe fled to France while others were already being arrested and imprisoned in Chillon Castle. He was then sentenced to death ''

in absentia ''In Absentia'' is the seventh studio album by British progressive rock band Porcupine Tree, first released on 24 September 2002. The album marked several changes for the band, with it being the first with new drummer Gavin Harrison and the f ...

'' by Bern, and his property in Switzerland was confiscated. In 1792, in accordance with the laws of revolutionary France and his own beliefs, La Harpe dropped the

nobiliary particle A nobiliary particle is a type of onomastic particle used in a surname or family name in many Western cultures to signal the nobility of a family. The particle used varies depending on the country, language and period of time. In some languages, it ...

"de" from his surname and changed it to ''Laharpe''.

French Revolutionary Wars

In late 1791, Laharpe joined the French Army as a lieutenant-colonel of the 4th volunteer battalion of

Seine-et-Oise Seine-et-Oise () is a former department of France, which encompassed the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris. Its prefecture was Versailles and its administrative number was 78. Seine-et-Oise was disbanded in ...

, first being deployed with the

Army of the Rhine An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

and then the

Army of the Alps The Army of the Alps (''Armée des Alpes'') was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It existed from 1792–1797 and from July to August 1799, and the name was also used on and off until 1939 for France's army on its border with Italy. 1792� ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the 35th Infantry Regiment in January 1793 and distinguished himself at the

Siege of Toulon The siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) was a military engagement that took place during the Federalist revolts and the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. It was undertaken by forces of the French Re ...

, being rewarded with the rank of brigade general in December of that year. This rank was confirmed when Laharpe was assigned to the Army of Italy in August 1794, and in the following month he fought at the First Battle of Dego. His promotion to

general of division Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French Revolutionary System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

came in August 1795, and later that year Laharpe took part in the Battle of Loano. When Napoleon Bonaparte took command of the Army of Italy in March 1796, his division commanders included Laharpe,

André Masséna André Masséna, prince d'Essling, duc de Rivoli (; born Andrea Massena; 6 May 1758 – 4 April 1817), was a French military commander of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original eighteen Marshal of the ...

, Pierre Augereau, and Jean Sérurier. In the Montenotte Campaign, these four divisions rapidly defeated the Austrian army and forced the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont to sue for peace. Laharpe fought at the battles of Montenotte and, once again, at Dego. Thereafter, his troops guarded the east flank of the army against a possible Austrian counterattack. With the Sardinians subdued, Bonaparte moved against Johann Beaulieu's Austrian army. After marching along the south bank of the

Po River The Po ( , ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy, starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is , or if the Maira (river), Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. The headwaters of the Po are forme ...

, Laharpe's division crossed near

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

and thrust north to turn Beaulieu's left flank. Laharpe, with his own division and the army's advance guard, defeated Anton Lipthay's Austrians at the

Battle of Fombio The Battle of Fombio was fought between the French Army of Italy led by Napoleon Bonaparte and the Austrian army under '' Feldzeugmeister'' Johann Peter Beaulieu between 7 and 9 May 1796. It was the decisive strategic point of the campaign, as ...

during the day on 8 May. After this action, the French pursued as far as Codogno, and that evening another Austrian unit blundered into the French units in the area. Amid a night of confused clashes and low visibility, Laharpe was accidentally shot by his own troops as he returned to camp from a

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

Legacy

During his

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

Saint Helena Saint Helena (, ) is one of the three constituent parts of Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, a remote British overseas territory. Saint Helena is a volcanic and tropical island, located in the South Atlantic Ocean, some 1,874 km ...

, Napoleon described Laharpe as "an officer of distinguished bravery. A

grenadier A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was historically an assault-specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in siege operation battles. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when ...

in heart and stature. Beloved by his troops whom he led with intelligence". He is honored on the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, 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 Plac ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, where the name LAHARPE is inscribed on column 24, right below that of fellow

ois volunteer Jean Reynier.

Family

In 1775, during his mercenary service in the Netherlands, La Harpe married Baroness Charlotte d'Auvin de Burdinne, from the

County of Namur The County of Namur () was a county of the Holy Roman Empire with its military and administrative capital at the town of Namur (city), Namur, at the merging of the Sambre and Meuse rivers in what is now Wallonia, French-speaking Belgium. Under t ...

. Two of their sons, Sigismond (1779–1858) and Emmanuel de La Harpe (1782–1842), went on to briefly serve in the French Army during the Revolutionary Wars.

References

* Chandler, David. ''The Campaigns of Napoleon.'' New York: Macmillan, 1966. {{DEFAULTSORT:Laharpe, Amedee Emmanuel Francois 1754 births 1796 deaths People from Rolle Swiss nobility Swiss generals French generals French Republican military leaders killed in the French Revolutionary Wars Military personnel killed by friendly fire 18th-century Swiss military personnel Swiss mercenaries killed in action People sentenced to death in absentia Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe