Camille Armand Jules Marie de Polignac

Camille Armand Jules Marie Prince de Polignac

Camille Armand Jules Marie Prince de Polignac (born February 16, 1832 in Millemont , Département Seine-et-Oise , † November 15, 1913 in Paris ) was a French nobleman . In the Civil War he served as an officer in the Confederate Army , most recently with the rank of major general .

Life

Polignac was the son of Jules de Polignac , Prime Minister at the time of King Charles X and his wife Marie Charlotte Parkins . He studied mathematics and music at the Collège Saint-Stanislas. From 1853 to 1859 he served as a lieutenant in the French army, including in the Crimean War .

After the end of his military service, he went to Central America and studied economics and geography . When the civil war broke out in 1861, he offered his services to the Confederates . He was promoted quickly and led a Texan infantry brigade as brigadier general , u. a. during the Red River Campaign in Louisiana . On June 13, 1864, he became major general and division commander. In January 1865 he tried unsuccessfully in a diplomatic mission, the French Emperor Napoléon III. move to intervene in favor of the Confederate. The news of the confederation surrender reached him in Spain.

Polignac withdrew to his estates in France and from then on devoted himself to his studies. He also wrote books and articles about the civil war. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 he served in the French army as a brigadier general.

On November 4, 1874, he married Marie Adolfine Langenberger , born in Ober-Ingelheim . on June 7, 1853 in Frankfurt am Main . Marie died on January 16, 1876, eight days after the birth of her daughter Marie Armande Mathilde (1876–1962). Marie Adolfine de Polignac was buried in the Frankfurt main cemetery. Her gravestone bears the inscription

" We let them go with mourning and weeping, but God will give them back to us with bliss and joy forever ." ( Bar 4,23 EU )

On May 3, 1884, Polignac married Mabel Elizabeth Knight (1864-1940) in London . With her he had three other children, Mabel Constance (1884–1973), Hélène Agnès Anne (1886–1978) and Victor Mansfield Alfred (1899–1998).

Camille Armand Jules Marie Prince de Polignac died on November 15, 1913 in Paris as the last surviving Major General to have participated in the American Civil War. He was buried at the side of his first wife in Frankfurt. His grave is still a magnet for Confederate supporters to this day.

Polignac's grave in the crypt in Frankfurt's main cemetery

literature

Alwyn Barr: Polignac's Texas Brigade. Texas Gulf Coast Historical Association, Houston TX 1964 ( Texas Gulf Coast Historical Association. Publication Series ), (Review: Roy O Hatton. In: Louisiana history. Autum 1965, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 418-419).
Jeff Kinard: Lafayette of the South. Prince Camille de Polignac and the American Civil War. Texas A&M University Press, College Station TX 2001, ISBN 1-585-44103-1 ( Texas A&M University Military History Series 70, ZDB ID 1121648-7 ).

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Polignac, Camille Armand Jules Marie de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH	February 16, 1832
PLACE OF BIRTH	Millemont , Seine-et-Oise department
DATE OF DEATH	November 15, 1913
Place of death	Paris