Elzéar Auguste Cousin de Dommartin (; 26 May 1768 in Dommartin-le-Franc – 9 August 1799 in

Rosetta Rosetta ( ) or Rashid (, ; ) is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Rosetta Stone was discovered there in 1799. Founded around the 9th century on the site of the ancient town of Bolbitine, R ...

) became a French general 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 ...

, fought in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

under

Napoleon 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 ...

Bonaparte, and commanded the artillery division of the Armée d'Orient during the French invasion of Egypt in 1798.

Life

Dommartin received his first commission in 1785, serving as a captain of the artillery. Seriously wounded during the siege of Avignon, he was unable to take up his appointment as artillery commander 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 ...

in 1793. Therefore, an ambitious young artillery captain named

Bonaparte assumed command of the French artillery, with notable success. Dommartin then served in the Army of Italy. During the Montenotte Campaign, he led a brigade in the Second Battle of Dego and in the

Battle of Mondovì The Battle of Mondovì was fought on 21 April 1796 between the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte and the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont led by Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi. The French victory meant that they had put the Li ...

. Later, he commanded the artillery at the

Battle of Rovereto In the Battle of Rovereto (also Battle of Roveredo) on 4 September 1796 a French army commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte defeated an Austrian corps led by Paul Davidovich during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary War ...

.Boycott-Brown, p 425 Dommartin was appointed commander of the artillery of the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

in 1797. Bonaparte then chose him in 1798 to command the artillery for the invasion of Egypt as acting

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 ...

. During that campaign, Dommartin organised the Siege of El Arish and the Siege of Acre, but was wounded in a skirmish and died of blood poisoning. His name is engraved on the south side of 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 ...

References

* Boycott-Brown, Martin. ''The Road to Rivoli.'' London: Cassell & Co., 2001.

Footnotes

External links

A miniature of Dommartin

The History of the French RevolutionDommartin at JaffaThe Life of Napoleon BonaparteGuns in the Desert: General Jean-Pierre Doguereau's Journal of Napoleon's Egyptian Expedition
1768 births 1799 deaths French Republican military leaders killed in the French Revolutionary Wars French Republican military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars People from Haute-Marne French generals Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe {{France-mil-bio-stub