#marshal kellermann

𝐷𝑢𝑐 𝑑𝑒 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑦, 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑒́𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑙 𝑑'𝐸𝑚𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑒, 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑥 𝑑𝑒 𝑙𝑎 𝐿𝑒́𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑'𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟, 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑥 𝑑𝑒 𝑙'𝑂𝑟𝑑𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡-𝐿𝑜𝑢𝑖𝑠, 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑥 𝑑𝑒 𝑙'𝑂𝑟𝑑𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒 𝐹𝑖𝑑𝑒́𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒́ 𝑑𝑒 𝐵𝑎𝑑𝑒, 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑥 𝑑𝑒 𝑙'𝑂𝑟𝑑𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒 𝐻𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒.

𝒆𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒔,

François-Étienne de Kellermann

𝐺𝑒́𝑛𝑒́𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒 𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑥 𝑑𝑒 𝑙𝑎 𝐿𝑒́𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑'𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑢𝑟, 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑥 𝑑𝑒 𝑆𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡-𝐿𝑜𝑢𝑖𝑠.

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Visitors? I was not expecting you, my friend, but do sit down, it is a pleasure. An old soldier needs company in retirement, after all. Stay for dinner if you like, too, it will soon be upon us and it has been a long time since I last had guests.

Now, do look around, but perhaps do not look at the paintings too closely, they... Cannot always be explained. I am told it is a symptom of this Afterlife we have been sent to that not all is quite as it used to be. This house, for example, is much cleaner than I ever remember it, and it seems I have been allowed more servants than I was able to afford myself in life.

I reside here with my son, François-Étienne, an accomplished soldier in his own right, though he does not spend much time inside. If it is him you seek, then do borrow a horse and go in search of him around the estate, he will be here somewhere. The gardens... Just be careful.

We welcome any correspondence, though do be sure to be more specific in the address than simply 'Kellermann', otherwise there may be some confusion. We will endeavour to respond in good time, and it would be an honour to hear from our old colleagues once again.

Of course, there is a certain level of decorum expected in letters and actions to us, so please endeavour to be civil. My son may not feel the same, he is a rather different creature, but as the head of this household I will insist upon it on his behalf.

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I just learned that he was the oldest of Napoleon's marshals!

François Kellermann, a veteran soldier of the Seven Years war, was fifty-four when the Bastille fell. The son of a prosperous merchant he had begun soldiering as an ensign at the age of eighteen and was already close to retiring age. He was a big, hearty man and a proved giver and taker of hard knocks. He was also bilingual, speaking French and German with equal fluency, for he came from Strasbourg, on the northeastern border. Kellermann was not the kind of man to play safe and wait for the Paris cats to jump. He came roaring into the open as an out-and-out radical and from that moment he never looked back. He would have been struck dumb with amazement if somebody had whispered in his ear that the Revolution would make him a Duke.

Napoleon's Marshals, R. F. Delderfield

Note: I've seen conflicting opinions on the profession/status of his parents:

Chandler says only that he was "a descendant of an old Saxon family that had been settled in Alsace since the sixteenth century." (Wikipedia, using Chisholm's Encyclopædia Britannica as a source, says the same; adding that the family was ennobled via his mother, Baroness Marie Magdalene von Dyhrn)

frenchempire.net , presumably citing Georges Six's Dictionnaire Biographique Des Generaux & Amiraux Francais De La Revolution Et De L'Empire (1792-1814), says that Kellermann was "The son of a tax collector of the bourgeoisie".

The tax collector & old Saxon family could both be true, the former referring to his father and the latter to his mother - which, if true, makes Delderfield's statement incorrect.

May I present... Kellermann the Windmill man!

(Left: Charles François Dumouriez. Right: François-Etienne-Christophe Kellermann.)

“When old institutions suddenly collapse with a crash; when all is confusion and chaos, and the lines of reconstruction are as yet veiled in uncertainty; when people suspect their old rulers and are shy of those who would set themselves up as their new directors, there comes an interval before genius and wile can organise their forces, when character, and character alone can shepherd the people scattered like sheep on the mountains. Such was the case in France in September, 1792. The old constitution had foundered, sweeping away in its ruin the order and discipline of the royal army. The officers had either fled or been deposed by their men, and such few as remained were held "suspect." The new officers, chosen by their fellows, had but little authority. The staff of the army was changed weekly to suit the whim of some civil or military self-seeker, at a time when France was at war with the great military powers of Europe. It was little wonder, therefore, that the Prussians and Austrians looked forward to the campaign of 1792 as a military promenade. They knew better even than the War Minister at Paris how debauched were the regular troops of France, how unreliable and contemptible were the few thousand old men and boys who rejoiced in the name of volunteers, and they never for a moment believed that the French generals would be able to force their men to stand and fight. But they had calculated wrongly. They had not learned that in war a man is everything; they had not grasped how deeply the spirit of discipline had been engrained in the old royal army. Fortunately for France she had two men of character to fall back upon; and aided by their example, on September 20th the regulars of France stood firm before the famous Prussian army. The two men were Dumouriez and Kellermann. Dumouriez had brains and character, Kellermann character and stolid imperturbability.”

                                François Christophe de Kellermann

                                              First Duc de Valmy

                                              Marshal of France

                                   (May 28, 1735 -- May 28, 2016)

                                  François Christophe Kellermann

                                              First Duc de Valmy