Rémi Joseph Isidore Exelmans

Marshal Rémi Joseph Isidore Exelmans, 1st Comte Exelmans (13 November 1775 – 22 June 1852) was a distinguished French soldier of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as well as a political figure of the following period.

His name is inscribed on the southern pillar of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Born at Bar-le-Duc, Exelmans entered the French Revolutionary Army at 16, joining the 3rd battalion of Meuse volunteers in 1791. During the War of the First Coalition, he served in the armies of the Moselle and Sambre-et-Meuse, rising through the enlisted ranks to become Sergeant Major by 1796.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant in October 1796, and joined the Army of Italy in 1797 for the invasion of Italy. In 1798, he became aide-de-camp to General Eblé, and in the following year, he was aide-de-camp to General Broussier. He distinguished himself in his first campaign in Italy, and in April 1799 was promoted to the provisional rank of captain in the 16th dragoon regiment. In the same year. In 1801, he was made aide-de-camp to Marshal Joachim Murat, with whom he became close friends.

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