Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes

Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes was born in Paris on 14 September 1773. He entered military life during the early Revolution, serving first in the Paris National Guard (December 1789) and then, from 1792, in mounted service with Revolutionary armies. Commissioned in the dragoons in 1793, he served in successive campaigns with the Armies of the Alps, the North, Sambre-et-Meuse, and the Rhine-and-Moselle, and later with the Army of Italy. He participated in the campaign culminating at Marengo (14 June 1800), after which he entered the service of the First Consul as an aide-de-camp and served in the staff structures associated with the Consular Guard.

Under the Empire he advanced through field and court appointments. He fought in the 1805 campaign, including actions at Elchingen (14 October 1805) and Austerlitz (2 December 1805). Promoted général de brigade in 1806, he took part in operations during the Prussian and Polish campaigns, and then entered the orbit of Jérôme Bonaparte’s court and army. He became général de division in 1808 and was created comte de l’Empire the same year. In 1808–1809 he served in the Peninsular War and held significant mounted and command responsibilities during the opening phase of operations, including at Zaragoza. While commanding the chasseurs à cheval of the Imperial Guard during the retreat toward Corunna, he was captured at the combat of Benavente (29 December 1808) after a cavalry engagement with British forces.

Held in Britain as a prisoner of war, he later returned to French service and reappeared with the Guard cavalry during the 1812–1814 campaigns. During the 1814 campaign in France he served with the mounted elements of the Guard in the series of operations around Brienne, La Rothière, and the battles of February and March. During the Hundred Days he rallied to Napoleon, received the dignity of Pair de France, and commanded the light cavalry of the Vieille Garde in the Armée du Nord, serving in the Belgian campaign and fighting at Quatre Bras and Waterloo.

After the second Bourbon Restoration he was proscribed and condemned to death par contumace, and he went into exile in the United States. He became associated with the French Bonapartist settlement enterprise in Alabama known as the Vine and Olive Colony, serving as its president. In 1822, while attempting to return to Europe, he was lost in the wreck of the packet ship Albion off the coast of Ireland on 22 April 1822. His name was later inscribed among those commemorated on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and his widow erected a maritime memorial at Sainte-Adresse, commonly known as the “Pain de Sucre.”

Sources

• BnF Data: Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes (1773–1822)
• Archives nationales (Base Léonore): LEFEBVRE DESNOUETTES Charles
• Napoleonica (Fondation Napoléon): Lettre au général Lefebvre-Desnouettes, 29 décembre 1808
• FranceArchives: Lefebvre-Desnouettes, Charles (1773–1822)
• Encyclopedia of Alabama: Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes
• Wikipedia (French): Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes
• Napoleon-Empire.org: Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes (biographie)