Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc
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Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc (born March 17, 1772 in Pontoise , Yonne Department , Burgundy ; † November 2, 1802 Cap-Haïtien on Tortuga ) was a French Général de division .
Life
Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc was the son of Marie Jeanne Musquinet (* 1743) and Jean-Paul Leclerc (1735-1790). His father ran a large grain and salt warehouse and had the royal privilege of trading in salt. He had made his fortune before the revolution. Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc's siblings were Jean Louis Leclerc (1767–1822), Jean (died in early childhood), Nicolas Marin Leclerc (1770–1820) and Françoise Charlotte (1776–1853, ∞ General Louis de Friant ) and Louise- Aimée-Julie (1782–1868, ∞ Louis-Nicolas Davout ).
Leclerc d'Ostin joined the army at the age of 18 and was elected Sous lieutenant in the Revolutionary Army by a battalion of volunteers in 1792 . In 1793 he was already commanding a battalion. He was involved in the Battle of Fleurus (1794) and accompanied Napoléon Bonaparte on his campaign to Italy in 1796 .
In 1797 Leclerc became General de brigade and in 1798 he was chief of staff at Berthier during the expedition to Rome , and later in the same capacity at Charles Edward Jennings de Kilmaine . Eventually he was appointed governor of Lyon .
During Napoleon's coup d'état on 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799), Leclerc rendered important services by dissolving the Council of Five Hundred . For this he was promoted to Général de division and was allowed to marry Napoleon's sister, Pauline Bonaparte . In 1800 he commanded the 2nd Division of the Rhine Army under Moreau and took part in the Battle of Hohenlinden on December 3, 1800 .
In 1802 he led an invading army to Saint-Domingue on the island of Hispaniola on behalf of Napoleon , in order to overthrow the black general Toussaint Louverture and to reintroduce slavery. The company was initially successful and Louverture was captured and deported to France. The fighting continued, however, and in the unfamiliar climate the French soldiers fell victim to yellow fever in large numbers , so that the enterprise ultimately failed. Leclerc did not live to see the final defeat. He died of yellow fever on November 2, 1802, before the fighting was over on the island of Tortuga off Hispaniola . Leclerc's brothers traveled there specifically to bring his body back to France.
His successor in command, the Vicomte de Rochambeau, surrendered to the black general Jean-Jacques Dessalines a year later after the battle of Vertières , which was lost on November 18, 1803 . As a result, Haiti gained independence and France was finally lost.
Honors
His name is entered on the triumphal arch in Paris in the 34th column (LECLERC).
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Leclerc, Charles Victoire Emmanuel |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 17, 1772 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Pontoise |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 2, 1802 |
| Place of death | Tortuga |