Jean-Baptiste Symon de Solémy

Jean-Baptiste de Solémy. Portrayed with the Chevalier de l'ordre de Saint-Louis .

Jean-Baptiste Symon de Solémy (born October 30, 1746 in Verdun , † January 5, 1834 in Bourg-Saint-Andéol ) was an officer in the royalist French army.

Life

De Solémy came from a noble family that was originally from Provence . He was the eldest of six children of Louis François Simon de Solémy (1719–1774) and Marie-Catherine Laurent de Moranville († 1778).

On September 20, 1774 he married Rose Agathe de Brunel (1743-1808) daughter of Joseph Alexandre Simon de Palmas in Bourg-Saint-Andéol.

At the age of twelve he entered the Régiment de Conti as a sous-lieutenant , which was only possible with a special permit, which he owed to his origins.

He took part in the campaigns of 1757 and 1758 of the Seven Years' War . In 1761, while still serving in the same regiment, he was promoted to captaincy and in 1777 took over the regiment's hunters department as "Capitaine-commandant des chasseurs" (captain in command of the hunters). On September 1, 1781 he was awarded the Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis . On April 27, 1783, de Solémy left the standing in the Île-de-France regiment in the position of major and moved to the Régiment de Brie , where he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel on April 20, 1788 . On July 25, 1791 he became a colonel and commandant of the now 24e regiment d'infanterie de ligne .

In September 1791 he emigrated and joined the army of the emigrants of the royalists (the royalists of the counter-revolution). Here in Ath he was ordered to set up a company from the officers of his regiment who had also emigrated. In 1792 he became chief of staff of the "2 ^e division d'infanterie" (2nd infantry division) of the emigrant army, with which he took part in the campaigns of the year. After the dismissal of this army, he entered the service of Louis V Joseph de Bourbon-Condé , where he took over the post of fourrier major in a noble company and as major de brigade of the "Régiment noble à pied de Condé" that formed from nobles Jäger battalion led. With this he was in use until 1793.

On July 30 of the same year during the Battle of Bellheim 80 men of the emigre army stormed an entrenchment which had been held by 300 Republicans. Large numbers of them were captured and awaited reprisals and brutal treatment. However, Condé instructed de Solémy to inform them of the following:

«Vous nous égorgez, quand nous avons le malheur de tomber entre vos mains; mais fidèle aux principes de religion et d'humanité que nous professons tous, le prince qui nous commande m'a ordonné de vous faire thunder tous les secours qui vous sont nécessaires. »

“You would butcher us if we were unlucky enough to fall into your hands, but out of faithfulness to the principles of religion and humanity to which we all profess, the Prince de Condé, our commander, has ordered all your assistance that is necessary. "

Solémy was involved in combat operations on August 20 and 21, September 12 and October 13. On December 2, he was wounded in a battle near Berstheim . On December 27th, he took over the post of First Assistant to the Chief of Staff of the Army (1er aide-major-général). He took part in the battles of 1794, 1795 and 1796. In the battle near Oberkammlach he had commanded the right column of the army and was seriously wounded in this operation. He then returned to the army and remained there until 1801. On January 6, 1797, he had already been promoted to Maréchal de camp . In April he visited the Prince de Condé in Volhynia (after the Peace of Campo Formio , the Condé's army entered Russian service) and was instructed by him to go to Constance . At the beginning of October 1799, the Condé's army was under the command of Archduke Karl and had arrived in Constance to defend the city against the French who were advancing after the Second Battle of Zurich . Throughout October 7th, the duc d'Enghien once again demonstrated his military skills and courage. In the midst of the defeat of the Prussian allies, the battle at Constance stands as a victory for the duc d'Enghien and his army.

From October 7th, he took over command of the Russian Razumovsky infantry regiment and on December 1st, 1800 covered the retreat of the cavalry at the Inn Bridge in Rosenheim with this regiment .

Solémy did not return to France until the First Restoration and was honored by King Louis XVIII for his services . awarded the Commander's Cross of the “Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis”.

On August 23, 1814, he announced that he would retire at the end of the year.

Honors

The later King Louis XVIII. sent Monsieur de Solémy a handwritten letter on the occasion of his wounding:

“Blankenburg on January 5th, 1797
I am extremely satisfied with your services, sir, which I hereby express to you. At the same time, I learned with interest of your wounding, which I hope will not be too bad for you. With your zeal, losing an arm would probably not be an obstacle to you, but I don't think so, you should keep both arms. My recommendation, sir

Louis "

He also received commendations from the Prince de Condé, dated October 1, 1797 in Überlingen and April 29, 1801 in Windisch-Feistritz

Solémy's father was a captain in the de Conti infantry regiment; he was wounded in a battle near Pierrelongue . Another ancestor served in the same regiment, he is mentioned as a lieutenant colonel and later "Brigadier d'infanterie des armées et du roi" (about brigadier general). He took part in all the campaigns of 1703 and earned merit in 15 sieges and four battles by 1744, such as the battle of Madonne de l'Olmo and the siege of Cuneo .

literature

• Dictionnaire historique et biographique des généraux français , Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Jullien de Courcelles , 1820

Footnotes

1. ↑ for example: Regiment of the nobles on foot
2. ↑ Chronicle of Oberkammlach (26 thermidor on IV-August 13, 1796)
3. ↑ Brevets militaires, Mémoires de la maison de Condé , in-8 °, 1820, tom. II, p. 72.
4. ↑ Chronologies militaires , Section VIII, p. 416.

Web links

• Sa généalogie sur le site geneanet samlap