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

Colmar Colmar (; ; or ) is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Alsace region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is the seat of the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin department ...

(

Alsace Alsace (, ; ) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in the Grand Est administrative region of northeastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. In January 2021, it had a population of 1,9 ...

) and died on 30 August 1833 at

Sélestat Sélestat (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Schlettstàdt''; German: ''Schlettstadt'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Grand Est region of France. An administrative division (Subprefectures in France, sous-préfecture) of the Bas-Rhin Depa ...

(

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

), was a French general and statesman of 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 ...

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 use ...

. 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 ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

on 17 October 1814, Knight of

Order of St. Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis () is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, notable as the firs ...

. He married Josephine Aglaée Bon Fabry. During the French Revolution, he was one of the commanders of the Republican army, especially during the

Siege of Mainz (1792) The siege of Mainz was a short engagement at the beginning of the War of the First Coalition. The victorious French army of Custine seized the town on October 21, 1792, after three days of siege. The French occupied Mainz, and tried to install t ...

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, 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 ...

under

Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine (4 February 174028 August 1793) was a French general. As a young officer in the French Royal Army, he served in the Seven Years' War. In the American Revolutionary War he joined Rochambeau's ''Expédition Parti ...

; 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 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 ...

Army of Helvetia The Army of Helvetic Republic, Helvetia, or (), 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 (France), Army of the Rhine. It was officially m ...

. He entered full retirement on 4 September 1815. His name is inscribed 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 ...

, 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 People from the Province of Alsace 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 Military personnel from Haut-Rhin 1747 births 1833 deaths Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe