Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes

Count of the Empire

Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes (or Desnoëttes) was born on September 14, 1773 in Paris, into the capital's petty bourgeoisie, where his father was a cloth merchant.

With little interest in studies, he joined the Paris National Guard in December 1789, then fought from 1792 to 1797 in the armies of the Alps, of the North, of Sambre et Meuse and of Rhin et Moselle, before moving on to the Army of Italy, taking part in the Battle of Marengo on June 14, 1800.

He entered the service of First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800.

From 1802 to 1804, he commanded the 18th Dragons in the Armée des Côtes de l'Océan, then distinguished himself at the battles of Elchingen on October 14, 1805, and Austerlitz on the following December 2.

On July 1, 1806, Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes married Marie-Louise-Stéphanie Rollier, fourteen years his junior, daughter of Marie Benielli, first cousin of Napoleon Bonaparte. The ceremony took place in the chapel of the Hôtel Thélusson, owned by Joachim and Caroline Murat. As a wedding gift, the Emperor gave the couple his own house on rue Chantereine, where he himself had become engaged to Joséphine de Beauharnais.

Promoted to Major General in 1808, Lefebvre-Desnouettes distinguished himself in Poland and was elevated to the dignity of Count of the Empire.

He then fought in Spain, but was wounded and taken prisoner by the English at Benavente on December 29, 1808. Paroled to England, he escaped in the spring of 1812 to take part in the French Invasion of Russia. At the end of the retreat, he accompanied the Emperor on his departure from Smorgoni, with Grand-Ecuyer Armand de Caulaincourt and Count de Lobau, escorted by a detachment of Imperial Guard cavalry.

In 1813, Lefebvre-Desnouettes fought victoriously in Saxony, and fought throughout the campaign in Northeast France the following year. Although wounded at Brienne, he fought bravely at La Rothière and Montmirail. After the first abdication of Napoleon, he commanded the cavalry escort that accompanied the fallen Emperor to Roanne on the road to exile.

Appointed Chevalier de l'ordre de Saint-Louis and commander of the Corps-Royal des Chasseurs à cheval during the First Restoration, he nevertheless rallied to the Emperor at the start of the Hundred Days, and was elevated to the dignity of Pair de France by Napoleon on June 2, 1815.

He commanded the Vieille Garde light cavalry division in the Belgian Army, and fought under Marshal Michel Ney at Fleurus, Quatre-Bras and Waterloo, where he was again wounded.

As one of the traitors named in the royal decree of July 24, 1815, he had to go into hiding, then leave France for the United States, where he became President of the Vine and Olive Colony in Alabama. He was sentenced to death in absentia in July 1816.

Warned of his imminent rehabilitation, he sailed for Amsterdam, but died on April 22, 1822 when his ship, the Albion, sank off Kinsale [Cionn tSáile], Ireland.

Charles Lefebvre-Desnoëttes received 180,000 francs in Napoleon's will. His heirs benefited.

Lefebvre-Desnouettes' name (spelled "LEFÈVRE DESNte") is inscribed on the 31st column (west pillar) of the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile .

The general's widow had a white building erected at Sainte Adresse, near Le Havre, to warn sailors of the dangers of the coast, nicknamed "Le pain de sucre" (the sugar loaf) because of its shape, and was buried there.

A street in the 15th arrondissement of Paris is named after Desnouettes.