Family
The family of Schauenburg dates to the eleventh century, and the union of Utha, daughter of Godfrey count of Calw, with Luitgarde of the house of Zähringen and Henry the Great, duke of Bavaria. [1]
By the late fourteenth century, the line of Winterbach had formed; within two more generations, the lines of Luxembourg and Alsace. [2] The Alsatian line, founded with Rene (Renaud) in 1474, is linked with the house of Austria and the margraves of Baden, dating to the late fifteenth century; he was invested with several fiefs and made an alliance with the knights of Ortenau. During a campaign with the brothers of the margraves of Baden, he served well as their champion of battle, and was rewarded with a chateau at Isenheim. His advantageous marriages to Agathe of Stauffenberg and (second) Claire de Oersperg, and the survival of his second child Nicholas, sealed his success. Nicholas not only became the grand master of the forests of Baden, he lived to the fantastic age of 91 (when he married a second time), and produced equally energetic and successful children. [3] After three more generations, this line of the family divided into three branches: Nicholas III, founded the branch of Oberkirch and Gaisbach; Jean-Rene founded the branches of Herrlisheim and Moravia; Christophe founded the Alsatian branches of Jungholz and Fribourg. [4]
Balthazar Alexis Henri descended of the Schauenburg branch called the Jungholz. Schauenburg was the first son (and oldest child) of Bathazar Schauenburg (1718–1788). Balthazar (senior) was captain in the Regiment of Nassau, and chevalier of the Order of Saint Louis; he married on 2 August 1745 to Marie Charlotte of Gaillard (1725–1808), daughter of Claude Gaillard (1685–1779), the Count of Hellimer. [5] Balthazar senior and his wife had two other children: Jean-Pierre, born 16 June 1753, was a captain of the regiment Alsace, and served the Prince Deux Pont in Munich as his chamberlain. The third child, Francois Andre Balthazar, born on 1 December 1761, was a colonel of battalion, chevalier of Saint Louis, and died 15 June 1833. [6]
Balthazar Alexis Henri Schauenburg married Marie-Francoise-Sophie-Louise Albertine d' Tratzheim in 1783, and they had the four children. The first, Maximilian-Joseph (30 April 1784–19 September 1838), was Marechal de camp (brigadier general), Commander of the Legion of honor, and married (first) to Caroline de Berkheim (died 1827, sister of General Sigismond Frédéric de Berckheim) and (second) Hortense de Lerme. The second child, François-Joseph, born 1785, was a captain of grenadiers and died in 1807 at the Battle of Heilsberg. The third child, Pierre-Rielle, was born 18 March 1793 in Saarlouis; he became a second lieutenant in 1808, chief of squadron and deputy and peer of France, member of the General Council, which was elected by universal suffrage. As Baron of Schauenburg, he married Adele, daughter of Jean-Nicolas du Bosque and Salome de Marechal, and had three children: Pierre-Joseph-Balthazar-Alexis, 21 June 1828, who became a magistrate; Idlesomme-Odon-Henri, born 2 January 1830, captain of the 2nd Dragoons and Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and Marie Josephine-Isaure, born 29 March 1831. Their fourth child, Jean-Charles, was born 20 January 1797, became a cavalry officer, and died in 1826. [6]
Military career
During his lifelong military career, he served first in Louis XV's royal army as a 14-year-old cadet in an Alsatian regiment; upon his promotion to second lieutenant, he transferred to a Nassau regiment. From 1770 to 1772, he served in the Corsican campaign. [7] After the French Revolution, he adopted the principles of equality, and his career advanced quickly. [8] Replacing Louis-Alexandre Berthier, he served as chief of staff to François Christophe de Kellermann at the Battle of Valmy in September 1792. He turned out to be a talented organizer. [9] On 5 August 1793 he was appointed to lead the Army of the Moselle against his wishes. He claimed to be a good military instructor but not an army commander. [10] The generals had already seen many commanders-in-chief disgraced or executed, so few men wanted the assignment. Yet during his appointment to the Army of the Moselle, he drilled raw recruits into a functioning military unit. As a nobleman, Schauenburg came under suspicion and Jean René Moreaux was named to replace him on 24 September 1793. However, Moreaux was ill from an old wound [11] and Jacques Charles René Delauney took over as acting commander on 30 September. Delauney held the post until Lazare Hoche became the Army of Moselle's new leader on 31 October 1793. [12] Schauenburg was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror until 27 July 1794. [13] [Note 1]
Schauenburg was appointed to the rank of inspector general of the infantry to the Army of the Rhine and Moselle and served during the Rhine Campaign of 1796. [14] and commanded one of the armies responsible for the invasion of the Swiss Confederation in January 1798; under his guidance, the French suppressed the Swiss anti-French uprising, which had resulted in a civil war. He exacted heavy war contributions from the Swiss, in particular on the city of Bern. [15] He also led the troops which captured the abbey of Mariastein [16] He commanded the Army of Helvetia from 8 March to 10 December 1798, when he was replaced by General André Masséna. [17] Subsequently, he transferred to the Army of the Rhine, where he served from 1799 to 1801. [7]
Schauenburg was appointed Inspector General of Infantry in 1806 under Napoleon I. In 1814, as military commander of Tours, he rallied to Louis XVIII. The King awarded Schauenburg by appointing him a Commandant of Order of Saint Louis, and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. He retired on 24 December 1814. He went blind in his old age, and died in the castle he built in Geudertheim on 1 September 1831. [18] Schawembourg is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 23.
The Army of the Rhine was formed in December 1791, for the purpose of bringing the French Revolution to the German states along the Rhine River. During its first year in action (1792), under command of Adam Philippe Custine, the Army of the Rhine participated in several victories, including Mainz, Frankfurt and Speyer. Subsequently, the army underwent several reorganizations and merged with the Army of the Moselle to form the Army of the Rhine and Moselle on 20 April 1795.
Jean, chevalier du Teil de Beaumont, seigneur d'Ancy, was a French soldier in the Ancien Régime, Revolutionary and Imperial armies and theoretician of the use of artillery.
The Army of the Moselle was a French Revolutionary Army from 1791 through 1795. It was first known as the Army of the Centre and it fought at Valmy. In October 1792 it was renamed and subsequently fought at Trier, First Arlon, Biesingen, Kaiserslautern, Froeschwiller and Second Wissembourg. In the spring of 1794 the left wing was detached and fought at Second Arlon, Lambusart and Fleurus before being absorbed by the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse. In late 1794, the army captured Trier and initiated the Siege of Luxembourg. During the siege, the army was discontinued and its divisions were assigned to other armies.
Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino,, was a general and politician of France. Born in the Savoy, he was the son of a low-ranking officer in the Habsburg military. In 1789, during the French Revolution, he went to France, where he received a commission in the French Army. In 1793, his troops deposed him, for his strict discipline, but he was immediately reinstated and rose rapidly through the ranks of the general staff. He helped to push the Austrians back to Bavaria in the 1796 summer campaign, and then covered Moreau's retreat to France later that year, defending the Rhine bridge at Hüningen until the last units had crossed to safety.
Manuel Louis Jean Augustin Ernouf was a French general and colonial administrator of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He demonstrated moderate abilities as a combat commander; his real strength lay in his organizational and logistical talents. He held several posts as chief-of-staff and in military administration.
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite, Comte Carnot was a French mathematician, physicist, military officer, politician and a leading member of the Committee of Public Safety during the French Revolution. His military reforms, which included the introduction of mass conscription, were instrumental in transforming the French Revolutionary Army into an effective fighting force.
Jean René Moreaux commanded the French Army of the Moselle during the French Revolutionary Wars. He joined the French Royal Army in 1776 and was badly wounded in the American Revolutionary War two years later. After leaving military service, he married and took over the family business. At the time of the French Revolution he was elected second in command of a volunteer battalion. He was rapidly promoted, emerging as a general officer in May 1793. After another promotion, he led a corps at Pirmasens and a division at Wissembourg. He was appointed commander of the Army of the Moselle in June 1794. In November he was sent with three divisions to invest the fortress of Luxembourg. He caught a fever and died during the Siege of Luxembourg. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe.
Antoine Balland commanded a French infantry division during the early years of the French Revolutionary Wars. A former private, he was promoted to command an infantry regiment after the Battle of Jemappes. He became a general of brigade in late August 1793 and a general of division less than three weeks later. Soon afterwards, he led a division in Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's victory at Wattignies. In the spring of 1794, he led his troops at Le Cateau, Beaumont and Landrecies. By this time it was obvious that he did not have the talent to command a combat division and he was replaced by Jean Baptiste Kléber. He was employed in Italy until 1798 and died at Guise in 1821.
In the Rhine campaign of 1796, two First Coalition armies under the overall command of Archduke Charles outmaneuvered and defeated two French Republican armies. This was the last campaign of the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars.
Claude Ignace François Michaud commanded French troops during the French Revolutionary Wars, rising to command the Army of the Rhine in 1794. After serving in a cavalry regiment from 1780 to 1783 he returned to civilian life. During the French Revolution he became lieutenant colonel of a volunteer battalion. In 1793 he was promoted to both general of brigade and general of division. He led a division at Haguenau and Second Wissembourg.
The Battle of Haguenau saw a Republican French army commanded by Jean-Charles Pichegru mount a persistent offensive against a Coalition army under Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser during the War of the First Coalition. In late November, Wurmser pulled back from his defenses behind the Zorn River and assumed a new position along the Moder River at Haguenau. After continuous fighting, Wurmser finally withdrew to the Lauter River after his western flank was turned in the Battle of Froeschwiller on 22 December. Haguenau is a city in Bas-Rhin department of France, located 29 kilometres (18 mi) north of Strasbourg.
Anne Charles Basset de Montaigu, born 10 June 1751 in Versailles (Yvelines), died 8 May 1821 at Lunéville (Meurthe-et-Moselle) was a general of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Tainted by his association with Charles Pichegru, he was cleared by a courts-martial in 1797, and served subsequently in the Army of the Danube and in the Grande Armée until his retirement from military service in 1811.
Jean Castelbert de Castelverd commanded a French division during the French Revolutionary Wars until he lost his nerve during a 1796 battle and was dismissed. In 1792 he assumed command of a volunteer unit. He fought in the War of the Pyrenees against the Kingdom of Spain, winning promotion to general of brigade in 1793 and general of division in 1795. The following year he and his division were sent from Belgium to reinforce the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse which was defending the line of the Lahn River. In the Battle of Limburg in September 1796 he abandoned his position in disobedience to orders even though his troops were not under enemy pressure. He was soon removed from command and retired from the army in 1801.
Paul-Alexis Dubois commanded French divisions during the War of the First Coalition and was killed in action fighting against Habsburg Austria. He enlisted in a French infantry regiment in 1770 and transferred into the cavalry in 1776. Thereafter he served in several different cavalry and infantry regiments. From sous-lieutenant in 1791, he served in the Army of the Moselle and was rapidly promoted to general of brigade by August 1793. After briefly commanding an infantry division in the Army of the Rhine at Wissembourg he switched back to the Army of the Moselle to fight at Kaiserslautern before being wounded at Froeschwiller in December 1793.
Éloi Laurent Despeaux commanded a combat infantry division during the French Revolution. He joined the French Royal Army in 1776 and became a non-commissioned officer by 1791 when he reentered civilian life. The following year he joined a volunteer battalion and fought at Jemappes. He was badly wounded at Famars in May 1793 and was appointed general of brigade in the Army of the North in September that year. After being wounded again he was promoted general of division in March 1794.
Amédée Willot, Count of Gramprez, held several military commands during the French Revolutionary Wars but his association with Jean-Charles Pichegru led to his exile from France in 1797. He joined the French Royal Army as a volunteer in 1771 and was a captain by 1787. He was elected commander of a volunteer battalion in 1792 and served in the War of the Pyrenees. Shortly after being promoted commander of a light infantry regiment Willot was appointed general of brigade in June 1793. A few months later he was denounced as a Royalist and jailed. In the light of later events, this may have been an accurate assessment of Willot's sentiments. After release from prison in January 1795, he led troops in Spain during the summer campaign. He was promoted to general of division in July 1795.
Pierre Raphaël Paillot de Beauregard led a French division at the Battle of Wattignies. A nobleman, he joined the French Royal Army as a cadet in 1755 and fought in the Seven Years' War. He became a lieutenant colonel in 1779, but two years later got into a dispute with a superior officer and was placed on inactive service. The French Revolution and the War of the First Coalition saved his career; he was promoted general of brigade in 1792. He led a 2,000-man column at Arlon in 1793 but irritated his army commander. After his 5,800-strong division performed poorly at Wattignies he was put in prison for 10 months. He was briefly employed again during the War in the Vendée in 1795 before retiring from military service in 1796.
Christophe Antoine Merlin became a French division commander during the Napoleonic Wars. He joined a volunteer regiment in 1791 and fought against the Kingdom of Spain in the War of the Pyrenees. After becoming an officer in the 4th Hussar Regiment, he participated in the Rhine and Italian campaigns. In 1805 he was promoted general of brigade and fought in Italy and in the 1806 Invasion of Naples. Later he became an equerry to Joseph Bonaparte when that individual headed the Kingdom of Naples.
Maximilien Joseph Schauenburg was a French officer who participated to the French conquest of Algeria.
Nicholas Pierquin enlisted in the French Royal Army in 1759 and was appointed captain in 1791. With the start of the War of the First Coalition, promotions became rapid and he was elevated to the rank of general of brigade in September 1793. He fought at Wattignies in the Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition. He led a division-sized unit at the start of 1794. He led his troops during the battles of Willems and Tourcoing and he was mortally wounded in the latter action.
