Georges Henri Eppler
Command Ratings
Georges Henri Eppler was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars and the early Empire whose career began in Swiss regiments in French service, then accelerated during the Revolution and reached général de brigade during the Egyptian expedition. He is recorded as a native of Strasbourg, born on 15 July 1764, and he spent much of his early military life in foreign regiments under French pay.
He entered service in 1774 as a soldier in the Swiss regiment of Salis-Grison. After a first period of service he left the army, then re-entered on 15 April 1784 in the Swiss regiment of Salis-Samade. Within that regiment he advanced through non-commissioned grades, becoming caporal on 1 April 1785, sergent on 1 April 1786, and sergent-major in May 1788. When his regiment was disbanded in 1792, he was released with it. Soon afterward, on 1 December 1792, he was commissioned as sous-lieutenant in a volunteer unit described as the “franche de la Dordogne,” a company he had formed himself in response to an order issued under the authority of General Biron.
Eppler’s active wartime service is associated above all with the French expedition to Egypt. During the campaign in southern Italy he participated in the seizure of Naples on 11 June 1798 (23 Prairial Year VI). After the French landing in Egypt he was attached to the division of General Desaix. In the early phase of the occupation, after French forces secured Cairo, Desaix was tasked with operations to bring provincial areas under control; Eppler was left at Fayoum with a detachment in command. In an episode described in French biographical summaries as a Major turning point in his advancement, Arab fighters supported by a large number of peasants entered the town in strength, and Eppler, forced back into the courtyard of the ambulance, organized a counterattack by dividing his troops into two columns and leading a bayonet assault that drove the attackers out of the town. For this action he was promoted to chef de brigade and appointed commander of the 21st Light Infantry Demi-Brigade on 29 October 1798 (8 Brumaire Year VII).
He continued to serve in the Egyptian theatre through the later battles of the expedition. He is credited with distinguished conduct at Samanhoud (1799), at Coptos and Bénout (1799), and at Heliopolis (1800). He was promoted to général de brigade on 27 April 1801 (7 Floréal Year IX). During the final stage of the French position in Egypt, he was charged with the defence of the approaches to Alexandria in August–September 1801 during the blockade of the city. In that fighting he suffered a severe wound to his left hand that cost him three fingers.
After returning to France, he remained in active employment under the Consulate and early Empire. In Year XI he served in the army under Marshal Ney employed against insurgents in the Helvetic Republic. In Year XII he was employed at the Camp of Bruges, one of the Major concentration areas for troops assembled for projected operations against Britain. He was appointed chevalier of the Légion d’honneur on 11 December 1803 (19 Frimaire Year XII), and then promoted to commandeur of the order on 14 June 1804 (25 Prairial Year XII), indicating recognition at a high level for sustained service and for his record in Egypt.
In the War of the Third Coalition he fought on 2 December 1805 (11 Frimaire Year XIV) at Austerlitz. Not long after, his health deteriorated under what is described in contemporary-style summaries as exhaustion from the burdens of campaigning. He died on 2 April 1806 at Altkirch (Bas-Rhin). His career thus spanned the ancien régime’s Swiss regiments, the Revolution’s volunteer and line structures, the climactic overseas expedition to Egypt in which he reached general rank, and the early Empire’s Major campaigns, ending shortly after Austerlitz.
Sources
X 05 Austerlitz