Charles Louis Joseph de Gau de Frégeville

General Gau de Frégeville

Charles Louis Joseph de Gau de Frégeville (born November 1, 1762 in Teillet , † April 4, 1841 in Paris ) was a French général de division and politician.

Live and act

Gau de Frégeville came from a royal family of officers; his father was Lieutenant-général Jean de Frégeville, seigneur de Grandval et de Plegades, his half-brother was General Jean-Henri de Frégeville and his brother Henri de Frégeville. He was born at Château de Grandval in the Midi-Pyrénées , which had been in the family since 1746. He received his lessons from private tutors , who, however, geared them towards a military career from the start.

In 1774, Gau de Frégeville joined the royal army as a cadet and joined a regiment in Brittany . He was soon able to distinguish himself and was also promoted several times. On July 11, 1779, he was already a sous-lieutenant .

In 1781 he served with the rank of captain in the Régiment de Condé-Dragons . Supported by his superiors, Gau de Frégeville went on a long study trip to and through Prussia . In the process he learned the German language and as far as possible informed himself about the status of the Prussian army . During this time he was married to Mlle Rodier de Manilargues - possibly for camouflage.

At the beginning of the revolution , Gau de Frégeville returned to France. When the Marquis de La Fayette restructured the Régiment des Gardes françaises to the Garde nationale , he entrusted Gau de Frégeville with the leadership of the Garde national a cheval of Montpellier on May 17, 1790 .

After further promotions, Gau de Frégeville fought under the leadership of General Charles-François Dumouriez before Valmy (September 20, 1792) and Jemappes (November 6, 1792).

From 1792 to 1793 he was a Colonel in command of the 2 ^e régiment de hussards

On May 15, 1793 he was promoted to Général de brigade and fought alongside Eustache Charles d'Aoust and Louis Antoine Goguet in front of Peyrestortes (September 17, 1793). In this battle, he and his aide-de-camp were taken prisoner in Spain and were only able to return to Montpellier two years later.

Without a military mandate, Gau de Frégeville began to become politically active. He was elected to the Conseil de Cinq-Cent , where he represented the Hérault department . On October 31, 1798, he married Claire Sicard in Béziers and had four children with her.

He had become a supporter of Napoleon early on . When he was planning his Italian campaign in 1796 , Gau de Frégeville volunteered and fought under Marshal Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr a . a. before Valvasone (March 16, 1797).

Gau de Frégeville supported Napoleon in his coup on November 9, 1799 and was also one of his staff officers for some time . He fought on the Mincio (December 25, 1800) and took part in the siege of Gaeta (February / July 1806). After the Peace of Tilsit (July 7/9, 1807) Gau de Frégeville returned to France.

Due to the different evaluations and views of the warfare, it came to a break with Napoleon and Gau de Frégeville was put into "temporary retirement" until 1814. After the Battle of Paris (March 30, 1814) Gau de Frégeville joined the Bourbons and supported King Louis XVIII. When Napoleon left the island of Elba and his " rule of the hundred days " began, he switched back to the emperor.

During the restoration , Gau de Frégeville was taken over by Marshal Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr a. a. entrusted with political-administrative tasks. In 1833 he sold the family estate Château de Grandval to his legal advisor Hippolyte Charamaule for cost reasons . He retired into private life and settled in Paris with his wife.

Because of his merits, he was invited by King Louis-Philippe I to commemorate the July Revolution of 1830 on July 28, 1835 . On the Boulevard du Temple , the former soldier Joseph Fieschi committed an assassination attempt with some supporters using a hell machine . The king was unharmed but twelve people were killed. Gau de Frégeville was with many others z. T. seriously injured.

Charles Louis Joseph de Gau de Frégeville died on April 4, 1841 in Paris and found his final resting place there.

Honors

• June 14, 1804 Commander of the Legion of Honor
• July 8, 1814 Chevalier de Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis
• December 27, 1814 Grand Officier of the Legion of Honor
• His name can be found on the western pillar (34th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris)

literature

• Philip J. Haythornthwaite: Who was who in the Napoleonic Wars . Arms & Armor, London 1998, ISBN 1-85409-391-6 .
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the c'lébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 volumes).
• Stephen Pope: The Cassell dictionary of Napoleonic Wars . Cassell, London 1999, ISBN 0-304-35229-2 .
• Digby Smith : The Greenhill Napoleonic wars data book . Greenhill, London 1998, ISBN 1-85367-276-9 .

Web links

• Charles Louis Joseph de Gau de Frégeville at Geneanet .