Francois-Etienne Kellermann
Profile
by Terry J. Senior, UK
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Kellermann by comparison, had a remarkable career which really started to take shape when he lead the decisive charge which secured the victory at Marengo on the 14th June 1800, but only after the brilliant, reliable General Louis-Charles-Antoine Desaix chevalier de Vergoux had returned to the battlefield. The diminutive little Desaix appeared in the nick of time and paved the way for Kellermann to make his name and turn, what seemed an inevitable defeat into a stunning success for Napoleon. Sadly, it was to cost Desaix, himself a very able commander with a brilliant future, probably a Marshalate, his life. Thereafter Kellermann was to serve Napoleon all through his reign as Premier Consul and then Empereur right up to his fallen leaders last throw of the dice at the battle of Waterloo.
The Kellermann family could trace their origins back to the beginning of the 17th century and came from German territory. Francois-Etienne was the first child of le Marechal Francois-Etienne-Christophe Kellermann and his wife Marie-Anne Barbe. He was born in the city of Metz which was also coincidentally Lasalle ’s birthplace, on the 14th August 1770. He had just one sister, Marguerite-Cecile who was born on the 15th March 1773. He commenced his military career when he enlisted in the regiment Colonel-General des Hussards as a Sous lieutenant on the 14 August 1785.
He was a well-educated man and in 1791, Chevalier de Ternan decided to take the young soldier with him when he was posted to America to carry out duties as French Ambassador. Kellermann acquitted himself well. In mid 1793 he left America and returned to France where he was first placed at the disposal of the Ministrie de Guerre. He then took a position as ADC to his father, serving in l’Armee des Alpes and was present at the siege of Lyon. Both the Kellermann’s were relieved of their duties and placed under arrest in October 1793. Kellermann senior was imprisoned in l’Abbaye. The
charge against Kellermann junior was of communicating with his father. This charge was soon dropped and he returned to active service serving in the 1re Regiment des Hussards in l’Armee des Alpes in July 1794.
Just nine months later he was again posted as ADC to his father whose liberty had also been restored some months earlier. This was soon followed by an appointment as adjutant general chef de brigade serving with Bonaparte in l’Armee d’Italie in March 1796. This appointment was confirmed by the all powerful Directory on 8th May and two days later he was present at Lodi. This was quickly followed by the siege of Milan and then the expedition against Livorno, with the newly promoted General de Division Charles-Henri comte de Belgrand de Vaubois. Then in quick succession came a series of actions starting with the suppression of a revolt at Pavia, then with the talented 46 year old General de Division and future Marechal de l’Empire Andre Massena, he was present at the siege of Mantua on the 16th July.
An action at Bassano was next in September followed by Arcola on the 15 to the 18 November. He then joined the ill-fated General Pierre Leclerc d’Ostein who was later destined to fall sick and
die in Cairo during the expedition to Egypt in which Kellermann did not take part. During all this time, Kellermann’s career was being enhanced and he was gaining considerable and valuable combat experience. The battle of Rivoli was next before he returned briefly to the siege of Mantua and then moved on to the battle of the Piave on the 20th February 1797.
Having joined the division of General Charles-Francois-Joseph Dugua, Kellermann suffered several sabre wounds in the fighting at the crossing of the Tagliamento on the 16th March. Five days later, on 21st March his wounds proving to be mainly superficial, he was commanded by Bonaparte to carry the captured enemy standards and present them to the Directory in Paris, a tradition used to illustrate supremacy over their opponents. This was immediately followed, by him being promoted to, General de Brigade, on the 28th May 1797. He was still three months short of his 27th birthday.
The newly promoted General remained with Dugua and was given the 3e brigade which comprised the 1re and 7e Regiments des Hussards in the division of General Jean-Pierre-Antoine Rey in the 2e Division de Cavalerie.
On the 16th September 1797 he accepted a post as Commandant la 1er Brigade d’Infanterie Legere, serving once again in a division commanded by Massena. A few weeks later on the 4th October he took a cavalry posting, taking over command of the 2e Brigade which comprised the 22e Regiment de Chasseurs-a-Cheval in the 3e Division de Cavalerie commanded by the Puylaurens born General Rey.
He was soon on the move yet again on 12th January 1798 being created Commandeur une Brigade des Dragons in the l’Armee d’Angleterre. Within a fortnight he received yet another posting this time as Commandant of the advance guard in the Division of another future Marechal, General Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald, a highly promising officer whose family were of Scottish descent.
There followed in quite quick succession a number of appointments and he tasted victory again at Nepi on the 5th December 1798, then fought against Baron Roger de Damas at Toscanella and scored another victory. He was present at the attack on Naples on 20 to 23 January 1799 this time serving under General de Division Jean-Etienne Vachier Championnet. He joined yet another commander
namely General Jean-Baptiste-Dominique Rusca for May and June of the same year. Kellermann then had an unexpected break in service when he suffered a very serious attack of neuralgia and was sent to Aix en Provence to recuperate. After this illness he was given a somewhat peaceful posting as Commandant le Departement de la Manche where he remained for about three months. Having recovered, he took command of a brigade of cavalry first with Murat and then a brigade of heavy cavalry in the division of the veteran General Louis-Auguste Jouvenel Harville Comte des Ursins. While Harville then went first to Geneva followed by Lausanne, Kellermann excelled himself in the action at Marengo. He commanded one of four brigades under Joachim Murat which consisted of three cavalry regiments, the 2e, 20e et 21e totalling about 640 sabres. His fellow brigade commanders were General Pierre-Clem-ent de Champeauxwho received a shot in his chest and died from his wounds at Milan on 28th July, General Jean Rivaud who commanded a mixture of Chasseurs a Cheval and Hussards and was also wounded, and General Bernard-Etienne-Marie (who was more often called Achille) Duvigneau.
Duvigneau didn’t actually take part in the action on the 14th June having suffered a very serious fall from his horse while placing his advance positions on the evening of the 13th. He was relieved of his command seven days later.
The following month Kellermann commanded a Brigade des Hussards in the Division a Cavalerie Legere of General Francois-Jean-Baptiste Quesnel du Torpt in l’Armee d’Italie. Less than a month after the triumph of Marengo, Kellermann received his deserved promotion to General de Division. He was just 29 years of age.
For some time Kellermann had been living with an Italian girl called Therese Gnudi who was five years older than himself. She was the daughter of the Marquis De La Sammartina and moreover, was already married to Charles-Philippe Comte Aldrovandi-Marescotti who was a politician from Bologna. Therese and Kellermann already had two children, both boys, Felix-Auguste born in 1799 and Hippolyte born in 1800. It was during the September of 1800 after Therese’s divorce from Aldrovandi-Marescotti came through that the two decided to get married and the ceremony duly took place later that same month.
There followed a series of appointments for Kellermann during a relatively peaceful period in which his third child, another boy, Francois-Christophe-Edmond was born on the 21st April 1802. Having survived his two other brothers, it was he who eventually became the 3rd and last Duc de Valmy on the death of his father in 1835.
When Napoleon re-organised the French Army into a number of Corps of all arms each capable of fighting independently, or in concert with each other, Kellermann was at that time commanding
the cavalry in l’Armee d’Hanovre. He was released from this post and under the new organisation was given instead command of le Cavalerie Legere du 3e Division du 1re Corps de la Grande Armee under the by then, Marechal Jean-Baptiste-Jules Bernadotte who, a few years later was to desert Napoleon and go over to the enemy. He eventually become King of Sweden. Having had a little experience in Moravia and Bohemia, the next major event in Kellermann’s life was the battle of Austerlitz on 2nd December 1805. For this confrontation he commanded a Division de Cavalerie Legere of the impressive Cavalerie Reserve under the overall command of the flamboyant and headstrong, some say even reckless Marechal Joachim Prince Murat the husband of Napoleon’s sister Caroline.
Murat’s glittering command included two Divisions de Grosse Cavalerie, under General de Division Etienne-Marie-Antoine Champion de Nansouty and General de Division Joseph-Jean Ange d'Hautpoul respectively, and made up of two regiments of Carabiniers and eight regiments of Cuirassiers, two Divisions des Dragons, a total of 11 regiments, commanded by General de Division Henri-Frederic Walther and General de Division Marc-Antoine Bonin Beaumont Comte de la Boniniere, respectively.
Then came Kellermann’s division consisting of 3 Regiments des Hussards and the 5eme Regiment des Chasseurs-a-Cheval and finally a Brigade de Cavalerie Legere comprising the 16eme and 22eme regiments des Chasseurs-a-Cheval under the colourful and enigmatic General de Brigade Edouard-Jean Milhaud. These regiments combined to total some 7,500 sabres and 36 guns.
Called upon to execute a number of charges during the course of the day Kellermann suffered a serious wound when his left leg was shattered. This injury caused him to take most of 1806 off in convalescence in order that his wound might heal properly. In October of that year he was posted as Commandant de Cavalerie de l’Armee de Reserve under the orders of his father, le Marechal Kellermann duc de Valmy but was soon forced into further recuperative leave, as his leg had not sufficiently healed.
The Peace of Tilsit having been signed and Kellermann fully restored to fitness for active service Napoleon organised the assembly of le Premier Corps de l’Observation de la Gironde then gathering in and around the city of Bayonne, under the overall command of General de Division Jean-Andoche Junot. He was a much favoured, officer who had been a friend of Napoleon’s since the siege of Toulon in 1793. He had seen service in Egypt, was present at Austerlitz, and made Colonel-general des Hussards. He was at this time a highly regarded officer, (although his career was subsequently to end in ignominy), a previous Ambassador to Portugal (although he had quitted this post without permission in 1805), decorated as Grand Aigle de la Legion d’Honneur, Grand Officier de l’Empire, and Commandeur de la Couronne de Fer. He had also been given the title duc d’Abrantes and was married to the very beautiful Laura Permon.
The name of the Corps was changed to l’Armee de Portugal with Junot as its Commandeur en Chef, with General Paul-Charles-Francois Thiebault, the Berlin born officer, as his Chief of Staff. The Units making up the force were however far from being battle-hardened veterans, many being simply raw recruits. There were three divisions commanded by Generals Delaborde, Loison and Travot respectively.
Kellermann’s command consisted of the 4th squadrons of 26e Chasseurs, and the 1er, 3e, 4e, 5e, 9e and 15e des Dragons the seven squadrons totalling some 1754 sabres. His brigade commanders were Generals Pierre Margaron and Antoine Maurin both of whom were soon to be elevated to the Imperial nobility and created Barons. Following the defeat of the French at Vimiero on 21st August 1808 by the English under the command of Wellesley, who was about to press home his advantage, when he was first over ruled by General Sir Harry Burrard who outranked him and insisted that he should make no further move, only for General Sir Hew Dalrymple then to land and take command as senior officer present, in his stead. The French meanwhile, with Junot as their commander were
considering their options and in the end decided on negotiations. They elected the talented Kellermann as their chief negotiator.
Kellermann who was already known as a successful and experienced commander, was also a linguist and skilled in the art of diplomacy. It was agreed within the French high command that the main terms were that in return for a guaranteed suspension of hostilities, and evacuation of the country including the capital Lisbon they would receive free passage back to France to a port of their choice, of the entire French force, horses, artillery, baggage etc in vessels to be provided by the English. It was inconceivable that the English in their position of strength, would accept, and had Wellesley still been in command there is considerable doubt that they would. He would have driven a much harder bargain. It speaks volumes for Kellermann’s negotiating skills that the English team eventually accepted and agreed the terms, which came to be known as the “Convention of Cintra”. These were, in effect, very generous to the French, and exactly what they wanted.
The English public were furious with the concessions made, and all three commanders involved, viz Wellesley, Burrard and Dalrymple were all recalled to London to give an explanation of their actions at a Board of Enquiry. The departure of the three commanders left the newly arrived General Sir John Moore in command. Burrard never held another field command after this and Dalrymple and Wellesley came out without a stain on their career records. Wellesley and Kellermann were considered equal in rank and were the two main signatories to the Convention. Wellesley subsequently claimed that Kellermann was “an ugly little man”. Having seen a number of engravings of Kellermann one cannot really say that he had an unpleasant face, anymore than Wellesley himself did. We know full well that depending on the nationality of the engraver there is always a possibility that some artistic licence was used but quite what prompted the future Duke of Wellington to make such a spiteful comment about an honourable and capable commander and fellow soldier albeit an enemy one remains a mystery. Had his comments been referring to someone like say, Loison, then, it may have been better
understood. Perhaps it was a fit of pique knowing that Kellermann had secured a better deal and he (Wellington) had to face the ignominy of being one of the English commanders recalled to explain their actions.
Kellermann embarked for France on 30th September 1808 and within a few shorts weeks was back in Spain, again with Junot, as Commandant la Cavalerie du 8e Corps, thereby starting yet another chapter in his illustrious career. A whole series of other appointments then followed starting with that as Commandant de la 2e dragons de l’Armee d’Espagne on 9th January 1809, and then as Commandant l’Armee de Reserve in Castille, replacing le Marechal Jean-Baptiste Bessieres on the 9th March the same year. He took part with le Marechal Michel Ney in the invasion of the Asturias in May and was then present in the action at Medina del Campo. He assumed provisional command of the 6e Corps de l’Armee d’Espagne in place of the highly experienced General de Division Jean-Gabriel Comte Marchand on 6th November. Kellermann recorded a victory over the Spanish duc Del Parque at Alba de Tormes on the 28th November then returned to command the 2e Division des Dragons detached from the 6e Corps de l’Armee on 12 February 1810.
On 4th June the same year he was appointed Gouverneur des Provinces de Toro, Palencia et Valladolid. There followed one more appointment as Commandant l’Armee du Nord in Spain in September of that year before he was recalled to France on the 20th May 1811. He was made Commandant la 3e division de Cavalerie Legere reforming at Verona on the 9th January in Grouchy’s 3e Corps de la Reserve de Cavalerie de la Grande Armee. On the 12th January Kellermann’s mother, Marie-Anne Barbe died at the age of 62. Kellermann was at this time taken sick himself and replaced on the 26 April 1812 by the experienced, battle hardened and newly promoted 37 year old, Savoyard General de Division Louis-Pierre-Aime Chastel who, within a few weeks, found himself on his way to Russia with the massive 450,000 strong Grande Armée.
Kellermann was subsequently forced to request retirement on the grounds of ill health, which was duly granted on the 18th March 1813. He went to Mainz on 26th April and was given a mainly administrative post as an Inspecteur dans le 5e Division Militaire. The following month, he was, at his own request recalled for active service and given command of the Cavalerie de la 3e Corps under Ney who had at least partly recovered from his exertions during the infamous retreat from Moscow the previous November and December. His command now consisted of a mixture of the 10e Regiment des Hussards, (6 escadrons) a Hessian Light Dragoon Regiment (4 escadrons), a Baden Dragoon Regiment (3 escadrons) and the 24th (Wurttemberg) Light Cavalry brigade which comprised elements of
the Leib-Kavallerie Regiment, Konig Jaeger Regiment, Prinz Adam Jager Regiment and the Prinz Herzog Louis Jager zu Pferd Regiment He saw service at Rippach on the 1st May, was present at Lutzen on the following day, two weeks later he was at Koenigswartha. He suffered a chest wound at the capture of Klix on the 20th. This wound did not prevent him from taking the field with his command at Bautzen on the 21st and 22nd May.
On the 7th June he was sent to take over as Commandant le 4e Corps de Cavalerie (Polish) in Germany and was present at Dresden, charged at Wachau on the 18th October and then assumed command of the 6e Corps de Cavalerie which had just arrived from Spain and was soon in action for the battle of France at Champagne on the 13th February, Mormant 17th February, Bar-sur-Aube 27th February, the combat on the Barse on the 3rd March, and at Saint Dizier on the 26th March. After the first abdication of the Emperor and the restoration of the Bourbons, Kellermann was appointed a member of a Conseil de Guerre pour le Garde Royale, then Inspecteur General for the organisation of cavalry at Luneville and at Nancy on 1st June.
Louis XVIII, as he did with so many of the Emperor’s senior commanders aimed at currying favour, decorated him as Chevalier de Saint Louis, Commandeur de la Couronne de Fer, and Grand
Cordon de la Legion d’Honneur on the 23rd August. On the 16th March 1815 he was made Commandant de la Division de Cavalerie under le duc de Berry.
Upon the Emperor’s return from Elba, Kellermann had no difficulty again joining up with him and Napoleon subsequently made him Pair de France on the 2nd June. For the construction of l’Armee du Nord, he was given the 3e Corps de Cavalerie which consisted of the 11e Division de Cavalerie made up by the 2e et 7e Regiments des Dragons and the 8e et 11e Cuirassiers under the command of
General de Division Samuel-Francois Baron 'Heritier and the 12e Cavalerie Division made up of the 1er et 2e regiments des Carabiniers and the 2e et 3e Regiments des Cuirassiers commanded
by General de Division Nicolas-Francois Vicomte Roussel d'Hurbal, making a total strength of 3,400 sabres and 12 artillery pieces. In action at Quatre Bras on 16th June he led his regiments in a series of successful charges. He commanded the same elements at Waterloo on the 18th June and suffered another wound during the fighting that day. Having returned to Paris by the 3rd July he was, ordered by Davout together with General Maurice-Etienne Comte Gerrard who was one of Napoleon’s most successful and highly decorated officers and a future Marechal de France, and General Francois-Nicolas Baron Haxo to carry out negotiations with the returning Bourbon monarch Louis XVIII in connection with the surrender of the army.
Kellermann was then placed on the inactive list – he was 46 years of age. He was made Marquis de Valmy on the 17th August 1817 and on the 1st January heard that his marriage to Therese Gnudi was finally ended after a very messy and prolonged matter taking some 17 years to finalise due to bureaucratic incompe-tence.Le Marechal Kellermann died in Paris on the on the 13th September 1820 at the age of 85 and the titles his father enjoyed passed to Kellermann the younger.
He joined le Chambre des Pairs on December 28th and became a Membre du Conseil Superieur de la Guerre on the 1st February 1828. He was one of the five Pairs who voted for the death penalty for the Ministers of Charles X in 1830. His first son, Felix-Auguste had died at a young age, while the second son Hippolyte was killed in a duel in 1834 at the age of 34. There followed one or two administrative posts for the old soldier concerning military matters but he finally retired in July 1831 and died in Paris on the 2nd June 1835 at the age of 65.
His third son, Edmond married Sophie-Caroline Muguet de Varange in 1840 and became the third and final Duc de Valmy. There was just one child of this marriage, a girl they called Henriette and as a female, could not continue the lineage. Kellermann, was an educated man and a fine soldier with outstanding ability especially as a commander of massed cavalry. As demonstrated in Spain in 1809 he was also a skilled negotiator and no mean diplomat. He was considered unlucky not to have been given a Marechal’s baton in his own right. His name appears on the south face of le Arc de Triomphe
l’Etoile, in Paris Both le Marechal and Kellermann (the younger) were interred in the vault in the first line in the Avenue of the Acacias in the 30th Division of Pere Lachaise in Paris.
Dictionnaire Biographique des Generaux et Admiraux Francaise de la Revolution de le Premier Empire by Georges Six.
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Francois-Etienne Kellermann, the son of le Marechal Francois-Etienne-Christophe Kellermann, duc de Valmy, was one of the three most outstanding
and talented cavalry commanders of the entire Napoleonic period. The only other two who could be favourably compared with him were, the legendary Hussar commander, General Antoine-Charles-Louis Comte Lasalle and the brilliant General Louis-Pierre Comte Montbrun who like Lasalle was destined to lose his life in combat, Lasalle at Wagram in July 1809 and Montbrun at Borodino on the 7th September 1812.