Maurice Joseph Louis Gigost d'Elbée
Maurice Joseph Louis Gigost d'Elbée (born March 21, 1752 in Dresden , † January 6, 1794 on the island of Noirmoutier ) was a commander in the Armée catholique et royale de Vendée during the uprising there at the time of the French Revolution .
biography
Maurice d'Elbée came from a family of French descent based in Saxony. After his return and reintroduction in 1777, he joined a regiment of the cavalry and was made lieutenant there. In 1783 he said goodbye, married a few years later and lived on his estate near Beaupréau ( Anjou ).
Vendée uprising
With the beginning of the Vendée uprising, the peasants around Beaupréau chose him as their leader. His troops allied with those of Bonchamps , Cathelineau and Stofflet . He defeated the Republican troops at Coron and Beaulieu, but in the battles of Luçon (July 30 and August 13, 1793) and Cholet (October 17, 1793) he was only confronted with retreat skirmishes.
death
Maurice d'Elbée was seriously wounded in the Second Battle of Cholet . He was first brought to his estate near Beaupréau and then to the island of Noirmoutier off the coast of the Vendée, where he was tracked down by Republican troops three months later and sentenced to death by a court-martial at short notice. Since he could not stand because of his wounds, he was shot while sitting in an armchair. The armchair can still be seen today in the Château de Noirmoutier .
His wife was also shot a few days later; their son Louis-Joseph Maurice d'Elbée took part in the final phase of the Napoleonic Wars ( Battle of Leipzig , Battle of Hanau ), where he was so badly wounded that he died the following year in a hospital in Potsdam.
Historical assessment
Because of his addresses to his soldiers, characterized by religious metaphors, in which he repeatedly spoke of divine providence as the origin of all victories, they ironically called him Général la Providence.
See also
- Louis de Salgues de Lescure
- Henri de La Rochejaquelein
- François Athanase de Charette de la Contrie
- Gaspard de Bernard de Marigny
- Victoire de Donnissan de La Rochejaquelein
literature
Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850. 1852
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Elbée, Maurice d ' |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Elbée, Maurice Joseph Louis Gigost d '(full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French commander in the French Revolution |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 21, 1752 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dresden |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 6, 1794 |
| Place of death | Noirmoutier Island |