Edouard Thomas Burgues de Missiessy

Edouard Thomas Burgues de Missiessy

Édouard Thomas Burgues de Missiessy , actually Édouard-Thomas de Burgues, comte de Missiessy (born April 23, 1756 in Forcalquier , † March 24, 1837 in Toulon ) was a French admiral.

Live and act

Burgues came from a noble family loyal to the king. At the age of ten, he volunteered for the Royal Navy in 1766.

During the American War of Independence he served under Admiral Charles Henri d'Estaing and was able to distinguish himself several times through bravery. In 1781 he took over the ship "Vaisseau" with the rank of lieutenant, on which he had already sailed at the beginning of his career.

In 1789, at the beginning of the revolution in his homeland, Burgues commanded a frigate in the Mediterranean . He became part of Napoleon's early on . In January 1792 he was promoted to captain and took over the ship "Centaure" in Admiral Laurent Truguet's fleet.

Burgues continued to excel through bravery and was promoted to Contreadmiral in January 1793 . When the revolution turned into a reign of terror , Burgues was noticed because of his aristocratic origins and the welfare committee had him arrested. As a partisan of Napoleon, he managed to avoid the guillotine . After some time he was released and reinstated in his previous rank.

General Charles Leclerc d'Ostin put together an expeditionary army of 25,000 men on the orders of Napoleon in 1801 to put down the uprising under the leadership of Toussaint Louverture on Saint Domingue ( Hispaniola ). In addition to Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse and Jean-Baptiste Philibert Willaumez was u. a. also choose Burgues to bring the troops to Haiti . (→ French colonies )

As part of Napoleon's party, Burgues gave up his offices after the Battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815) and retired into private life. He did not support King Charles X before the July Revolution of 1830 , or King Louis-Philippe I during the July Monarchy .

Four weeks before his 81st birthday, Édouard Thomas Buruges de Missiessy died on March 24, 1837 in Toulon, where he found his final resting place.

Honors

• Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
• Grand Cross of the Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis
• Ordre de la Réunion
• Commander of the Ordre du Saint-Esprit
• Comte de l'Émpire
• His name can be found on the north pillar (1st column) of the Triumphal Arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle ( Paris )

Fonts (selection)

• Aperçu sur le material de la marine . Toulon 1829.

literature

• David G. Chandler : The campaigns of Napoleon . Weidenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 (reprint of the London 1966 edition).
• Alain Chappet, Roger Martin, Alain Pigeard: Le guide Napoléon. 4000 lieux de mémoire pour revivre l'épopée (Bibliothèque napoléoniènne). Tallandier, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-84734-246-X .
• Philip J. Hawthornthwaite: Who was who in the Napoleonic wars . Arms & Armor, London 1998, ISBN 1-85409-391-6 .
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 volumes).