Luc Siméon Auguste Dagobert de Fontenille (8 March 1736,
La Chapelle-en-Juger
La Chapelle-en-Juger () is a former commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. On 1 January 2016, it was merged into the new commune of Thèreval.
The local name of the commune is La Chapelle-Enjuger, as indicated in ...
, near
Saint-Lô
Saint-Lô (, ; ) is a Communes of France, commune in northwest France, the capital of the Manche department in the region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy.Manche
Manche (, ; Norman language, Norman: ) is a coastal Departments of France, French ''département'' in Normandy (administrative region), Normandy on the English Channel, which is known as , literally "the sleeve", in French. Manche is bordered by ...
– 18 April 1794,
Puigcerdà
Puigcerdà (; , ) is the capital city, capital of the Catalan ''comarques of Catalonia, comarca'' of Cerdanya (comarca), Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the Segre River and on the border with France (it abuts ...
) was a French general 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 ...
.
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 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...
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 under the jurisdiction of the abbey of
Lagrasse
Lagrasse (; ) is a commune in the Aude department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Lagrasse is part of the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France ("The most beautiful villages of France") association.
Geography
Lagrasse is about south ...
with his cousin, Jean-Pierre François Duhamel, correspondent of the Académie des sciences and commissaire of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...
Grand Orient de France
The Grand Orient de France (, abbr. 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 absorbe ...
'', 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 () was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797, initially against the Constitutional Cabinet of Louis XVI, constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French First Republic, Frenc ...
Nice
Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionFrench National Convention declared war on Spain on 7 March 1793, de Fontenille moved to the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, 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 (, , ; ; ) is the prefectures in France, prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales departments of France, department in Southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the Me ...
. 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 is a natural comarca and historical region of the eastern Pyrenees divided between France and Spain. Historically it was one of the counties of Catalonia.
Cerdanya has a land area of , divided almost ev ...
within 24 hours, before defeating the Spanish again on 4 September 1793 at Mont-Louis, 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.
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 (; , ) is the capital city, capital of the Catalan ''comarques of Catalonia, comarca'' of Cerdanya (comarca), Cerdanya, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, northern Spain, near the Segre River and on the border with France (it abuts ...
in April 1794. The Convention decided to engrave his name on the raised column at the
Panthéon
The Panthéon (, ), is a monument in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, France. It stands in the Latin Quarter, Paris, Latin Quarter (Quartier latin), atop the , in the centre of the , which was named after it. The edifice was built between 1758 ...
.
Family
François-Gilles Dagobert, a cousin of Dagobert de Fontenille via a
cadet
A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...
(and
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
**Breton people
**Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Gale ...
) 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 () was a counter-revolutionary insurrection that took place in the Vendée region of French First Republic, France from 1793 to 1796, during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately so ...
.
Sources
"Luc Siméon Auguste Dagobert" in Charles Mullié, Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850, 1852