Charles François Dumouriez

Charles François Dumouriez
General Dumouriez, painted in 1834 by Jean-Sébastien Rouillard.
Born	26 January 1739 Cambrai, Kingdom of France
Died	14 March 1823(1823-03-14) (aged 84) Turville, United Kingdom
Buried at	Henley-on-Thames, United Kingdom
Allegiance	Kingdom of France  Kingdom of the French  French First Republic  Kingdom of Great Britain  United Kingdom
Service/branch	French Army  British Army
Years of service	1758–1814
Rank	Divisional general
Battles/wars	Seven Years' War French conquest of Corsica Bar Confederation French Revolutionary Wars Peninsular War
Awards	Order of Saint Louis Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
Other work	Minister of War

Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez (26 January 1739 – 14 March 1823) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. He shared the victory at Valmy with General François Christophe Kellermann, but later deserted the Revolutionary Army, and became a royalist intriguer during the reign of Napoleon as well as an adviser to the British government. Dumouriez is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 3.

Dumouriez was born in Cambrai, on the Scheldt River in northern France, to parents of noble rank. His father, Antoine-François du Périer, served as a commissary of the royal army, and educated his son most carefully and widely. The boy continued his studies in Paris at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, and in 1757 began his military career as a volunteer in the campaign of Rossbach, where he served as a cornet in the Régiment d'Escars. He received a commission for good conduct in action, and served in the later German campaigns of the Seven Years' War with distinction (he received 22 wounds); but at the peace he was retired as a captain, with a small pension and the cross of St Louis.

Dumouriez then visited Italy and Corsica, Spain and Portugal, and his memoranda to the duc de Choiseul on Corsican affairs at the time of the Corsican Republic led to his re-employment on the staff of the French expeditionary corps sent to the island, for which he gained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In 1767 Choiseul gave Dumouriez a military command as deputy quartermaster general to the Army of Corsica under the Marquis de Chauvelin. After this, he became a member of the Secret du Roi, the secret service under Louis XV, which gave full scope to his diplomatic skills. In 1770 he undertook a mission into Poland to the Confederation of Bar, where, in addition to his political business, he organized a Polish militia for the War of the Bar Confederation. On 23 May, his Polish soldiers were smashed by the Russian forces of General Alexander Suvorov in the Battle of Lanckorona. The fall of Choiseul (1770) brought about Dumouriez's recall. In 1772, upon returning to Paris, Dumouriez sought a military position from the marquis de Monteynard, Secretary of State for War, who gave him a staff position with the regiment of Lorraine writing diplomatic and military reports. In 1773, he found himself imprisoned in the Bastille, where he spent six months, occupying himself with literary pursuits. He was then removed to Caen, where he remained in detention until the accession of Louis XVI in 1774. Dumouriez was then recalled to Paris and assigned to posts in Lille and Boulogne by the comte de Saint-Germain, the new king’s minister of war.