Napoleon's youngest brother, Jerome was born in Ajaccio (Corsica) on 9 November 1784. A spoilt child he basked in the fame of his elder brothers. Under pressure from Napoleon for a member of the family to have a naval career he joined the "Indivisible", a 74 gunner with Ganteaume's Mediterranean fleet at Toulon as a midshipman on 29 November 1800. He was with Ganteaume's squadron when it twice broke the English blockade in early 1801 and headed for Egypt with reinforcements, only to scurry back to port as the Royal Navy closed in.

The third attempt that sailed on 4 May met with more success, and made a landfall at Derna on the Libyan coast within a day's sail of Alexandria on 8 June. The local Bey, mindful of English threats in Egypt, would not allow the French to land. Ganteaume equally aware of the omplications in landing 5,000 troops and with news of the Royal Navy just over the horizon weighed anchor. On the way home Jerome saw his first action when Ganteaume captured the English 74, Swiftsure off the coast of Crete on 21 June before reaching Toulon on 22 July 1801.

Promoted midshipman first class on 29 November 1801 he joined the "Foudroyant," flagship of Latouche-Treville's fleet fitting out for the expedition to Santo Domingo. The fleet left with great ceremony on 14 December 1801 when Napoleon came down to Rochefort to see off his brother and sister Pauline, who had recently married his close colleague Leclerc who headed the expedition.

Arriving off Santo Domingo at the end of January he took part in the bombardment of Port-au-Prince on 4 February 1802. On 4 March he was promoted to ensign and given the small sloop the "Epervier" to return to France with dispatches announcing the landing and the capture of Cap Francois. News that was apparently supposed to herald the imminent fall of the whole island. He reached Brest on 11 April and with his mission complete sat around the port relishing the life of a celebrity and running up debts.

Soon called to account by his brother, he was given a severe dressing down and sent back to the West Indies with the "Epervier" on 28 August 1802. He arrived off Martinique on 28 October where he was given the news he had been promoted lieutenant and given command of the vessel.

With the resumption of hostilities between England and France he had frequent opportunities to distinguish himself, but after cruising off Tobago for a few months doing nothing word reached Napoleon, and he received another severe rebuke in June 1803. Disgusted, he quit the navy, left his vessel in Martinique, sailed for the United States and landed at Norfolk Virginia on 20 July 1803.

He soon became a celebrity amongst local society and before long was in debt. He was caught by the charms of a certain Elizabeth Patterson (1785-1879), a southern belle of Irish descent from Baltimore, who he married on Christmas Eve of 1803. The couple remained in America running up considerable debts as Napoleon refused to recognise the marriage or offer any help.

In March 1805 they left for Europe with creditors on their heels and the threat that Napoleon would not allow "Miss Patterson" to land on any territory under French control. They landed at Lisbon on 8 April 1805. Jerome left his wife and was escorted to Milan where he tried to plead his case to Napoleon, but the Emperor had other ideas and his marriage was annulled by Imperial Decree on 6 May 1805. Abandoned Elizabeth found her way to London and in July 1805 she gave birth to a son whom she took back to Maryland in October. In 1905 their grandson became the United States Naval Secretary.

On 18 May 1805 Jerome returned to sea in charge of the frigate "La Pomone" and commander of a squadron of five vessels based at Genoa. With Nelson away scouring the West Indies in search of Villeneuve's fleet he was able to set sail for Algiers on 7 July.

By threat of force he secured the release of two hundred and fifty French and Genoese held prisoner by the Bey. The French press made him a hero.

Capitaine

On 1 November 1805 he was promoted capitaine and given command of the "Veteran", a 74 gunner with Willaumez's squadron at Brest that sailed on one of the most useless voyages of the Napoleonic Wars. For fifteen months they zigzagged across the Atlantic, down to the Cape of Good Hope, up to Brazil, north to the West Indies, then across and up and down again. The total bag for this frenzied activity was seventeen merchantmen.

In the Bahamas on 29 July 1806, Jerome tired of the useless cruise, left the squadron without orders and headed for France via Newfoundland and the Azores. He came across an English convoy on 18 August, captured eleven merchantmen and made port safely on 28 August 1806. Proclaimed a hero in Paris, he was then promoted contre admiral (rear admiral) on 6 September 1806.

Further recognition came when on 24 September 1806 Napoleon awarded him the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honnour and made him an Imperial Prince. His naval career came to an end when contre admiral Prince Jerome joined his brother during the Prussian campaign. Given command of the 2nd Bavarian Division he was fortunate to have a competent general the calibre of Wrede as his deputy.

He stormed the fortresses of Plassembourg and Culmbach near Bayeruth on 8 October and then leaving his command joined Napoleon at Jena on 14 October 1806. Satisfied Jerome had won his spurs as division commander Napoleon then put him in charge of the newly formed IX Corps on 8 November 1806 with the task of conquering Silesia. With the rough, tough, hard-fighting Vandamme as his deputy he acquitted himself well, gradually reducing the fortresses. Glogau fell on 3 December, Breslau on 8 January 1807, Brieg on 17 January and Schweidnitz on 8 February 1807. For this he was promoted general de division on 14 March 1807 and was still in Silesia when the campaign was renewed in Poland in June.

He was present at Tilsit on 7 July 1807 when the treaty was signed establishing the Kingdom of Westphalia and proposing him as the new king. He quit his command on 22 July and returned to Paris where he entered into a crash course on kingship. On 22 August 1807 he married Catherine of Wurttemberg, whose father two years before had been elevated to a throne by Napoleon. He arrived at his capital Cassel on 7 December 1807 and was proclaimed king the same day. He immediately set about removing the hard core of French generals who had established a regency on his behalf before his arrival.

In the years to follow his government was reasonably efficient. Amongst his ministers he had a good blend of locals combined with Frenchmen. His greatest fault was his extravagance, the Cassel court trying to out rival the Imperial court in Paris. His womanising become legendary, but was treated more with wry amusement than concern by his subjects. The military burden and enforcement of the Berlin Decrees were more the cause for Westphalia's poor economy than Jerome's profligacy. Apart from a brief crisis in 1809 his throne was never under any real threat. His subjects recognised a genuine attempt at liberal reform compared to the autocratic ways of the former princes.

In military matters, Jerome set about building up the Westphalian army to the 25,000 men as required by his constitution. In addition he had to finance a French garrison of 12,500 men at Magdeburg. By April 1809 he had fulfilled this commitment and had 16,000 men in Germany and another 9,500 in Spain. Between January 1808 and October 1813 some 70,000 men were drafted and a further 30,000 volunteered.

The cost was great, in 1809 he lost 2000 men in the German Campaign and 7000 from the original draft sent to Spain. In 1812 some 22,000 men were sent to Russia and only 1,500 returned whilst a further 2,000 were isolated in the Baltic fortresses. Yet in 1813 he produced another 27,000 men for the campaign in Germany.

His generals such as Ochs and von Hammerstein were among the finest in Napoleon's service. As the wars intensified he had to support increasing numbers of French troops in his country rising to 30,000 in 1813. His Westphalian troops were generally loyal and the desertion rate was no greater than that of France. Jerome was concerned for the welfare of his troops and took his soldiering seriously. The people grew restive, with the pressure of taxes, levies, conscription, news of heavy casualties but somehow accepted Westphalia's contribution to Napoleon's war effort was far in excess in proportion to her size or population.

First Test

His first test came in April 1809, when the exiled Duke of Brunswick and the Elector of Hesse Cassel with the backing of Austria tried to raise the populace. Then Pan-German nationalists from Prussia with the support of Scharnhorst, Blucher and Gneisenau secretly encouraged von Schill and his followers to start a war of liberation.

Trouble first broke out on 22 April when a rather unstable fanatic in the form of Baron von Dornberg tried to persuade the Royal Guard at Cassel to defect. While at Homberg, Sigismund Martin a discontented local merchant raised a half armed mob of peasants, ex-soldiers and foresters to march on the capital.

Jerome showing a decisiveness not seen before, had the previous day sent out two screening forces, each of less than three hundred men, under his reliable French generals Reubell and D'Albignac to cover the capital. Left with only his Royal Guard of 1,500 men in Cassel, he faced a sleepless night. Next day he confronted his troops and called upon his officers either to go freely and join the enemy or swear an oath of loyalty to him. To a man his officers swore loyalty. Meanwhile Reubell's three hundred men, five miles from Cassel confronted Dornberg's five thousand. The rebels taunted the troops to desert. Delay being fatal, Reubell opened fire with his two cannon and scattered Dornberg's force. From that day Jerome never looked back with regard to threats from within his country and showed that he was not lacking in a crisis.

Schill marched from Berlin on 28 April, supposedly to exercise his troops, who were unaware of their true destination. At the border he announced to his men they were the vanguard of the Prussian Army in a "War of Liberation". Ignoring orders to return, he crossed into Westphalia and seized Halle. Jerome pulled together the forces of the X Corps of the Grand Army, of which he had been made commander of on 9 April 1809 expecting to made short work of Schill. Gratien's Dutch division moved in from the west while d'Albignac's, came much reinforced from the north. Schill broke out of what would have been an encirclement, by routing a small Westphalian French detachment at Todendorf and headed for the comparative safety of Stralsund in Swedish Pomerania with his 6,000 men. Jerome followed and on 31 May Gratien broke into the port and Schill was killed during the struggle.

Hardly had Schill been dealt with, when Jerome was called to help Saxony, which had been invaded by the Duke of Brunswick with his "Black Legion" 2,000 strong, supported by some 7,500 Austrians and 500 men under the Elector of Hesse. The Saxons were unable to contain the enemy as the bulk of their army was on the Danube with Napoleon. On 11 June Dresden fell and the Leipzig on 19 June 1809. Jerome with his force of 11,000 joined the 2,000 Saxons under Thielman, which had retired to the Westphalian border. Brunswick seeing the approach of Jerome's superior force realised the game was up, hurriedly left Leipzig and two days later Jerome entered the city amidst pealing church bells and public jubilation on 24 June.

On 1 July Jerome took Dresden and then marched for Hof to join Junot's Reserve Corps to try to pin down the Keinmayer's Austrian XI Corps, which was causing mischief in Franconia. Keinmayer was no fool and after having halted Junot's 10,000 men at Berneck and Gefraess on 8 July, turned on Jerome and drove him from Hof on 11 July. Shaken, Jerome fell back through Plauen to Schliez, where Keinmayer after a few well placed shots had his troops streaming from the town in confusion on 13 July.

Another action took place at Neustadt on 15 July and two days later his troops showing every sign of panic were cowering in Erfurt, when news of an armistice between Napoleon and Austria arrived. The Brunswickers with Keinmayer were excluded from the negotiations and on 26 July were abandoned by the Austrians near Erfurt. For two weeks they ranged free, with Jerome's generals at their wits end trying to catch this force of two thousand men. On 6 August they reached Elfleth on the Weser, embarked on English ships and sailed to safety. Humiliated, Jerome turned on Reubell, who was dismissed from Westphalian service.

1812

In March 1812, while in Paris Jerome was offered the command of the Right Wing of the Grand Army for the invasion of Russia. His force comprised 77,100 men in four corps. There was the Polish V Corps of Prince Poniatowski with 34,600 men, the Saxon VII Corps under Reynier of 18,500 men, his own Westphalian VIII Corps of 16,700 men headed by Vandamme. While Latour Maubourg led the IV Cavalry Corps comprising a mixture of 7,300 Polish, Westphalian and Saxon cavalry. Jerome assumed command on 22 April at Kalicz and then soon after moved to Praga outside Warsaw as his troops moved up to the Russian border. Rumours abounded that he was to be offered the Polish crown after the campaign, and not averse to such stories he dallied in Warsaw as his headquarters moved on to Pultusk.

Napoleon's main army crossed the Niemen on 24-25 June 1812 and reached Vilna on 28 June. Jerome was held back with the bulk of his forces north of the Narew. This was anticipating that Bagration's Second Army would attempt a thrust on Warsaw to cut Napoleon's communications and he would be able to fall on their flank. Once it was apparent that Bagration had not fallen for the trap and was retiring eastwards Napoleon ordered Jerome to press forward hard to pin the Russians down. Jerome reached his first objective Grodno on 30 June where he remained for four days to rest and reorganise his troops. He could make little further progress as torrential rain had made the roads impassable, lowered the soldiers morale and made operations very difficult. Nevertheless he was harshly rebuked by Napoleon for the delays.

Napoleon received news that Bagration was heading north east to join up with Barclay de Tolley's main army. To keep the two forces apart Davout's I Corps and Jerome's wing marched on a parallel course to force Bagration to the south-east away from Barclay. Near Minsk, Davout mistook Bagration's rearguard for his advance guard and reported the Russian army was in the city when it actually was to the north. Belatedly discovering otherwise that he was not faced by the whole Russian army, he occupied the city and awaited orders, complaining that had Jerome appeared he would have engaged Bagration.

Jerome in the meantime was in hot pursuit of Bagration, who had veered south and on 10 July his Polish cavalry flushed the Russian rearguard from Mir and found Bagration's main body at Bobruisk. On 14 July he sent a courier to Davout requesting help and on the courier's return was informed by Davout that Napoleon had replaced him as the new commander of the right wing and Jerome was subordinated to him. Not prepared to serve under Davout, Jerome sent a courier to Napoleon informing him of his decision to resign. Waited two days for a reply, which did not come, then left the army. Not knowing who was in command and where the next orders were coming from the army was thrown into utter confusion, and Bagration had little trouble slipping away.

Jerome appeared back at Cassel on 11 August, whilst his Westphalian troops went on to distinguish themselves in Russia. At Borodino they were in action under Ney against the Russian centre. While Napoleon was in Moscow they kept open the road to Smolensk, the Army's main supply route. During the retreat they fell in with Poniatowski's Poles and the Imperial Guard. At the end when Ochs mustered VIII corps at Kustrin in January 1813, only 760 men remained.

Having cooled down during his journey from Russia Jerome devoted himself to raising men and money to support the war. A further 1,500 reinforcements were sent to the Grand Army before it reached Borodino. By the end of the year he had despatched another 3,500 bringing the total contribution to 24,400.

1813

In January 1813 Napoleon ordered Jerome to raise a new army of 20,000 men and provision Magdeburg for 15,000 French troops. Having anticipated the need Jerome readily complied. At the end of February Magdeburg was ready and by May 22,800 Westphalians had joined the Grand Army in Germany increasing to 26,000 by the Autumn. Through intermediaries he pleaded with his brother to be given a command but Napoleon would have none of it after his behaviour in Russia. As it was he was of more use during the campaign raising men, horses and supplies. The Westphalians never fought as a single body, divisions were broken up and scattered throughout the army.

In April 1813, with von Hammerstein and 6,000 men he repulsed the first Allied invasion of Westphalia when Winzingerode's Russians crossed the Elbe seized Halle and advanced on Cassel.

During the Armistice he was in Dresden pleading with Napoleon to be allowed to lead a Westphalian Corps using the argument that they would fight better together. With the renewal of hostilities in the autumn, rumours abounded that offers had been made that he would keep his kingdom if he abandoned Napoleon. He however stood by his brother and refused to consider any possible pacts or leave his kingdom. On 27 September he defended Cassel with 3,000 men against Chernyshev's force of 9,000 Cossacks. Forced to abandon the city on 30 September he returned on 16 October after French reinforcements from Mainz arrived. He left Cassel for the last time on 26 October after the French defeat at Leipzig. His troops fought on, several units in France and in particular the garrison at Kustrin in Prussia, which held out till March 1814.

He did not take part in the campaign in France but joined his wife and children at Compiegne. Then as the situation worsened moved to Paris. On 29 March 1814 with the imminent fall of the city he accompanied Empress Marie Louise to Blois. Both his, and his brother Joseph's behaviour as the Allied armies approached Paris bordered on that of near panic, and had they kept their heads in the crisis and awaited the arrival of Napoleon, Paris could have been saved. Fearing for his and his family's safety after the Abdication he first fled to Berne in Switzerland, then after the dust had apparently settled moved to Graz in Styria and finally to Trieste on the Adriatic coast in August 1814.

He was in continuous contact with Napoleon on Elba and when news reached him of his brother's landing in France, fearing arrest as he was living in Austrian territory he secretly left Trieste on a Neapolitan vessel on 25 March 1815. A storm forced him to disembark in Istria, which nearly resulted in his capture by an Austrian patrol before the vessel managed to cast off. He landed at Ancona on 28 March and met Murat who, was leading his army north to liberate northern Italy. Not too impressed with his brother in law's madcap scheme to wage war against Austria, while Napoleon was trying to pacify the Allies, he moved on. After a brief stay in Florence and Naples he caught a French frigate and landed at Gulf Juan on 22 May.

1815 Campaign

Warmly welcomed by Napoleon he was made a Peer of France on 2 June 1815 and the next day was posted to the Army of the North. Napoleon, not sure what to do with him, on 10 June gave him the 6th Infantry Division of Reille's II Corps, replacing the experienced Rottembourg, who was packed off to the Army of the Rhine. In order to assist Jerome or rather to keep him in check Napoleon gave him Guillemont one of the army's foremost experts in infantry tactics to act as his deputy. The quality of his division was excellent comprising over 8,000 veterans, the largest in the army.

He fought at Quatre Bras on 16 June, only reaching the battlefield around 3 pm., his division being the third in line on the route de marche after Bachelu's and Foy's. Ney at once launched him against the Dutch positions holding Pierrepont Farm and Bossu Wood to the left of the Charleroi road after Foy's initial assault had failed. His infantry drove the Dutch from the farm and forced them to retire into the wood. One brigade then supported Foy's advance between the wood and the main road while the other pushed on to clear the wood of its defenders. Apart from one battalion which tenaciously held onto the north east corner, the Dutch were driven from Bossu while the Brunswick Corps advancing south from Quatre Bras was driven back to the outskirts of the village. By this stage, around 6 pm. Wellington was pouring reinforcements into the battle and after a desperate charge by Kellerman's cuirassiers to break the British line, as it formed up the battle turned. Jerome's division was gradually forced back by Maitland's and Byng's brigades of the Guards division advancing from the Nivelle road.

At the end of the battle around 8 pm. he was back at his starting point before Pierrepont, having lost in the day over 1,000 men and been nicked on the left side by a musket ball.

At Waterloo on 18 June 1815, Jerome's objective was the chateau at Hougoumont. The plan to draw Wellington's attention to this secondary part of his line and induce him to draw forces away from his centre where Napoleon intended to launch his main assault.

The battle opened at 11.30 am. when Jerome's cannon opened fire and the skirmishers of Baudin's brigade were thrown out. The copse and the field before the chateau was soon taken and Guillemont mindful of Napoleon's plan tried to persuade him not to push the attack any further. Jerome did not listen and sent in his second brigade, that of Soye's, against the chateau. This attack reached the northern end of the courtyard, where lieutenant Legros a man of great strength, broke open the gate with an axe and burst in with a handful of men. After a fierce struggle, Legros and his men were killed and the gate was shut and secured.

Jerome had totally misread Napoleon's plan and throughout the day continued to batter away at this strong point, which was never at any time held by more than 2,000 men. Bachelu's division was committed and finally even one of Foy's brigades was swallowed up in this pitiless fray bringing up to over 15,000 French engaged. A sustained howitzer bombardment from the outset would have set Hougoumont alight and made it difficult to defend. But Jerome insisted that his generals continue the poorly coordinated, costly infantry assaults against their advice. Whilst he was not wanting in courage, he was wounded in the head leading one of the assaults, he showed neither sense, maturity or generalship.

After Waterloo he rallied the remnants of his division at Avesnes and led them to Laon where he rejoined the army under Soult on 22 June. The severity of the fighting was reflected when his regimental returns were submitted, only 2,300 men remained. He left his troops on 23 June to join Napoleon in Paris only to find on his arrival his brother had abdicated. On the advice of Fouche he quit Paris on 26 June and fled to Wurttemberg where he took refuge at Goeppingen Castle, one of his wife's homes.

Kept a virtual prisoner by his father in law he managed to secure by Austrian intervention the title of Prince de Montfort in July 1816, which enabled him to reestablish a home in Trieste. He then settled in Rome in 1823, and moved to Florence in 1832. Cholera forced him to move to Switzerland in 1835 when his wife Catherine died. He returned to Florence where five years later he secretly married a local widow Giustina Bartolini-Baldelli (1811-1903). After numerous petitions he was allowed to return to France in September 1847.

His fortunes changed dramatically when his nephew Louis Napoleon became president of France. His rank of general de division was restored on 11 October 1848. He was made governor of the Invalides on 23 December 1848, and was made a Marshal of France on 1 January 1850. President of the Senate followed on 28 January 1852. Then when childless Louis become Emperor Napoleon III on 2 December 1852, Jerome became First Prince of the Blood until the birth of the Prince Imperial in 1856.

After the succession was secure his influence diminished and he receded from public life. He died of bronchial pneumonia at Villegenis (Seine-et-Oise) on 24 June 1860. He was interred in the Invalides. His great-grandson, Prince Napoleon (b.1914), is the present head of the House of Bonaparte.

History's Verdict

History's verdict of Jerome Bonaparte as the spoilt younger brother, who ruined the Emperor's chances at Waterloo by persisting with costly assaults against Hougoumont is correct. Had there been a victory he would undoubtedly have been a hero, fixing the Allied right whilst the hammer blow fell on their centre. He was a capable commander, who did not lack courage in a crisis and genuinely cared for his men.

He hero worshipped his brother, his mannerisms were similar and he tried to emulate him in every way. This led him often to taking excessive chances against good advice, which often did not work out because he simply did not possess the genius or ability of his brother. To sum him up as a commander he possessed average ability, was brave, conscientious, tenacious and impetuous, but lacked little strategical or tactical common sense.

Order of Battle Waterloo Campaign

6th Infantry Division, II Corps, Army of the North, June 1815

Commander: General de Division Prince Jerome Bonaparte

Unit (bttns)	10.06.1815		25.06.1815
1st Brigade: Baudin
1st Light Infantry Regt. (3)	64	1824	35	572
2nd Light Infantry Regt. (3)	94	2247	43	634
2nd Brigade: Soye
1st Line Infantry Regt. (3)	59	1736	21	535
2nd Line Infantry Regt. (3)	65	1730	29	585
Division Artillery
2nd Foot Artillery Regt. 2nd coy six, 6lb canon, two 5.5" howitzers	4	92	4	64
1st Train Squadron, 10th coy	2	102	2	79
Total Division Strength (12)	288	7731	134	2469

The article is an extract from "Volume 1 Bachelu - Dejean, The Generals of the 1815 Campaign in Belgium" by Tony Linck. Reproduction is by kind permission of Castle Books & Publishers, Bank Street, Castletown, Isle of Man. The book is available direct from the publishers at £ 7.95 plus œ1.05 postage and packaging.