Lasalle
| Antoine-Charles-Louis, Comte de Lasalle | |
|---|---|
General Lasalle (artist unknown, c.1810)
|
|
| Born |
10 May 1775 Metz, Kingdom of France |
| Died |
6 July 1809 (aged 34) Deutsch-Wagram, Austrian Empire |
| Allegiance |
 First French Republic, First French Empire
|
| Service/branch | French Army |
| Years of service | 1786–1809 |
| Rank | General de division |
| Battles/wars |
French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars † |
Antoine-Charles-Louis, Comte de Lasalle (10 May 1775, Metz – 6 July 1809, Wagram) was a French cavalry general during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, often called "The Hussar General". He first gained fame for his role in the Capitulation of Stettin. Over the course of his short career, he became known as a daring adventurer and was credited with many exploits. Eventually, he fought on every front and was killed at the Battle of Wagram.
Antoine Lasalle was born on 10 May 1775 in Metz, Lorraine province, into a family of minor nobility. His father was Pierre Nicolas de Lasalle d’Augny, an officer in the French Royal Army and a knight of the Order of Saint Louis, and his mother was Suzanne Dupuy de la Gaule. On his maternal side, Lasalle was a descendant of Abraham de Fabert, a Marshal of France. His military inclinations showed at an early age and, thanks to his family’s status, when he was eleven years old he was able to join Foreign Infantry Regiment of Alsace (German) as a second lieutenant replacement on 19 June 1786, rising to the rank of second lieutenant by the age of fourteen.
When the French Revolution broke out, Lasalle embraced it and was assigned as a second lieutenant to the 24th Cavalry Regiment on 25 May 1791. Being an officer in the French Army had always been a privilege of the nobility, but this was reversed by a government decree in 1792, to the point of forbidding people of aristocratic origins to have military command. As result, he lost his commission but he remained loyal to France. The incident did not deter his desire for a military career, so he enlisted as a private in 1792 and moved to Paris.
He joined the Section des Piques, a group of radical Parisian revolutionaries in the National Guard. By 1793, he had joined the Army of the North in Italy as a volunteer in the 23rd Horse Chasseur Regiment. He was soon elected sergeant and led his company to attack and capture an enemy artillery battery. The general in command witnessed the fearlessness that Lasalle had demonstrated, and proposed that he be made an officer. Lasalle rejected this because it would separate him from his men.
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