Légion St.-Georges Chevalier de Saint-Georges

cavalryman of légion saint-georges, 1792

among officers thomas alexandre dumas, novelist’s father, 1 of st. georges’s 2 lieutenant colonels. colonel st. georges found difficult obtain funds allocated unit towards equipment , horses badly needed regiment. number of green recruits still on foot, took legion 3 days reach training camp in laon. in february, when pache, minister of war, ordered st. georges take regiment lille , hence front, protested that, “short of horses, equipment , officers, cannot lead men slaughtered …without chance teach them tell left right.”

that may, citizen maillard denounced st. georges’ legion committee of public safety, enrolling individuals suspected of royalist sentiments; did not mention being “men of color.” meanwhile commissaire dufrenne, 1 of pache’s henchmen, accused st. georges as: ”a man watch; riddled debts had been paid think 300,000 livres equip regiment; used of convinced pay debts; penchant luxury keeps, say, 30 horses in stables, of them worth 3000 livres; horror…” though dufrenne’s accusations based on mere hearsay, saint georges called paris where, promptly established committee of public safety pache never sent regiment funds, st. georges cleared of charges , re-confirmed colonel of legion.

meanwhile legion s colonel had other grievances. on return lille rejoin regiment on way front, found of black troopers , of officers gone. must have been bitter moment when realized without them legion had lost raison d’être. moreover, war minister pache, instead of sending him supplies , officers, decreed leaving front, légion st. georges renamed le 13e regiment de chasseurs à cheval, , attached army of belgium. of men of color ordered embark west indies “to defend our possessions in america.” legion’s first company, still called l’américaine, retained of saint georges’ original staff: lieutenant colonels champreux , dumas, , captains duhamel , colin, along seventy 3 of old troopers. lille virtually on front lines, while patrolling in enemy territory, citizen saint-georges, seen of comrades standing enemy fifty of chasseurs , taking command of passing column, on own volition, purely pleasure of serving republic.

on january 21, 1793, louis capet, former king louis xvi, found guilty of treason , guillotined on place de la révolution (today s place de la concorde). general dumouriez, became minister of war after pache removed corruption, took charge of army of north. dumouriez, girondist, on moderate side of revolution, spoke out freely against jacobins of convention executing king. result, though revered hero of french victories @ valmy , jemappes, national convention ordered arrest. failing dislodge him front, sent delegation led beurnonville, new minister of war, dumouriez’s headquarters bring him paris. colonel st. georges ordered take hundred of chasseurs , escort delegation lille dumouriez’s headquarters in st. amand. on reaching village of orchies, claiming horses fatigued after 6 leagues @ gallop, st. georges asked delegation take escort rest of way. possible that, told of purpose of mission, preferred not part of it. delegation continued on escort provided general joseph de miaczinsky, commander @ orchies.

dumouriez arresting commissioners in 1793

next morning @ breakfast, courier dumouriez arrived note miaczinsky. after reading message, general showed st. georges , officers. according note, dumouriez, having arrested delegation, ordering miaczinsky take lille division , join him in march on paris uphold ‘will of army,’ reinstate constitution of ’91 , save queen.” when miaczinsky asked st. georges assist him on march on lille, st. georges refused, saying being under orders commander, general duval, nothing on earth force me fail in duties.” moment when saint-georges, son of slave, chose revolution on doomed queen , society nurtured him. accompanied lieutenant colonel dumas , captain colin, took off @ gallop warn lille of looming danger. having warned garrison in time, when miaczinsky arrived arrested duval. taken paris tried, found guilty , guillotined. general dumouriez, plans thwarted “ famous mulatto saint-georges, colonel of regiment of hussars… “ louis-philippe, son of duke of orléans , future king of france, defected austrians.

in spite of continuing shortages of officers , equipment, saint-georges’s regiment distinguished in netherlands campaign. @ siege of bergen op zoom, colonel not take part in action. on 25 september st. georges , ten of officers arrested , taken away. after 2 weeks, officers released, st. georges remained in prison.

early september, maréchal bécourt, commandant of lille, wrote inform ministry of war, “the 13th regiment of chasseurs, formerly called légion st. georges, has arrived here in great penury due laxity of leader. report of lieutenant colonel dumas….” ten days before arrest of colonel st. georges , officers, dumas, skipping rank, promoted brigadier general. 1 day later, skipping yet rank, writing superiors: “ …leaving army of pyrenées, must have real revolutionaries work against enemies of our liberty…” signed himself, dumas, le general de division. alas, thomas alexandre dumas earned spectacular rises in rank commissaire of general security , surveillance of committee of public safety.

under new law of suspects, st. georges incarcerated without charge in fortress of hondainville-en-oise 13 months. during incarceration, france in midst of terror. on october 12, 1793 queen guillotined on place de la republique; brissot , 22 of fellow girondins, mounted scaffold on october 31 , philippe orléans, obliged call himself Égalité, followed them on november 5. danton riding in tumbril scaffold, terror began devour own. number of executions including of ordinary citizens swelled 26 day. paris grew weary of killing and, successes of army had relieved public of threat of invasion used robespierre maintain terror, on july 28 national convention shook off fear , sent robespierre , 21 of cohorts guillotine. st. georges, living under threat of execution, spared because commissaire sylvain lejeune of hondainvile , district of oise gave bloodthirsty speeches, kept guillotine under wraps. 3 more months went before committee of general security ordered colonel st. georges, never charged wrongdoing, released prison.

his former world in paris thing of past, st. georges had 1 compelling ambition: regain rank , regiment. took 6 months of cooling heels @ ministry of war, while living on inactive officer’s half-pay, army re-instate him colonel of regiment. in theory. in practice found while in prison regiment had acquired, not one, 2 colonels. 1 of them, colonel target, offered cede post “the founder of regiment,” other one, colonel bouquet, vowed fight st. georges tooth , claw. after long , arduous year spent between hope , despair fighting keep post, on october 30, 1795, invoking obscure law, bouquet won case. saint-georges dismissed army , ordered leave regiment. in addition ordered retire community save 1 regiment might located. ended saint georges’ military career, nothing, not cheap medal, show travails.