Marie-François Auguste de Caffarelli du Falga

Marie-François Auguste de Caffarelli du Falga (October 7, 1766, Haute-Garonne, France - January 23, 1849, Leschelles, near Guise, Aisne) was a French général de division of Italian descent. Two of his were also generals. His name is inscribed on the south side of the Arc de Triomphe.

First serving with the army on Sardinia from 1783, he returned to France in 1791, enrolling as a private dragoon in the 15e régiment and becoming aide-de-camp to General Dagobert. He was then made adjutant general to the Armée de Sambre-et-Meuse and commanded the light-infantry Demi-brigade, which was nicknamed l'incomparable.

Also serving on the French invasion of Egypt, he became aide-de-camp to Napoléon Bonaparte in 1800, général de brigade after the Battle of Marengo, and finally commander of the Légion d'honneur in 1804. Sent as an ambassador to Pope Pius VII, he organised the Pope's trip to France for Napoleon's coronation as emperor.

He was sent to interrogate Toussaint Louverture in his French prison cell at Fort de Joux and met with Toussaint several times, the first time on September 15, 1802. One of his duties was to find out about treasures, that French authorities believed Toussaint had hidden in Saint-Domingue. Toussaint, in his memoir disputes that he ever took any treasures and indeed it seems as if Napoléon and his aide were absolutely wrong to assume that Toussaint had ever diverted any money. John Relly Beard writes that "It has been suggested that torture [of Toussaint Louverture] was employed by Bonaparte's aid, Caffarelli" although he states that he can find no evidence to support this claim. (Beard p. 342)

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