Description:

Bonaparte Napoleon



Napoleon, "le Général Vendémiaire," DS Signed "Buonaparte"

 

1p military document signed by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) as "Buonaparte" at lower right. Possibly also edited by him at lower left, where one word has been stuck through in the body of the text. Written at General Headquarters on "29 Brumaire An 4me" or November 20, 1795. The cream watermarked paper is partly printed and partly handwritten in a clerical hand, and written entirely in French. On "French Republic / Liberty / Equality" letterhead with a figural "Army of the Interior" medallion at top. Near fine. With expected light folds, chipped edges, and a minor closed tear at upper right. 7" x 8.5". "Buonaparte" was among the earliest forms of Napoleon's signature; later iterations included "Napoleon," "Napole," "Napol," and "Nap."

 

Napoleon Bonaparte had just been named Commander of the Army of the Interior and Commander of the Army of Italy. The recipient of his directive, General Mouleau, was a fellow French general then stationed in northeastern Italy.

 

The text can be found in the original French below, followed by a translation.

 

"Au Quartier Général le 29 Brumaire ------- an 4me, de la République Française, une et indivisible

 

Le Genéral [sic] en chef de l'Armée de I'Intérieur, au Général de Brigade Mouleau,

 

C'est la Loi du 3 Brumaire, Citoyen Général, qui accorde à tous les militaires destitués, qui se tous trouvés au 13 Vendemiaire [sic] leur vivre & leur appointement, en ayant un certificat qui atteste qu'ils s'y sont trouvés, il n'y a pas un Commissaire des Guerres qui ne la connaisse, & l'on ne peut vous refuser vos appointements,

 

Je vous remercie de vos offres pour l'armée d'Italie,

 

Salut & fraternité,

 

Buonaparte."

 

Translation:

 

"At General Quarters 20 November ------- the fourth year of the French Republic, one and indivisible

 

Commander of the Army of the Interior to Brigade General Mouleau,

 

It is the Law of 25 October [1795], Citizen General, that grants, to all formerly dismissed military personnel who were present at 5 October [1795], their livelihood and their appointment, provided they have a certificate attesting that they were there. There is not a War Commissioner who doesn't know that, & one cannot refuse your appointments.

 

I thank you for your offers of the Army of Italy,

 

Regards and friendship,

Buonaparte."

 

The "13 Vendémiaire" referred to the events of October 5-6, 1795, which had transpired just seven weeks earlier. This was when approximately 25,000 Royalists attacked the National Convention of revolutionary delegates then meeting at the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Bonaparte, who had been assigned its defense, had brilliantly commanded Jacobin forces by ordering his subordinate and future brother-in-law Joachim Murat to acquire 40 nearby canon. The artillery enabled Napoleon to successfully defend the National Convention with a much smaller force of only 5,000 troops. Napoleon's 45-minute-long canon barrage left 300 Royalists dead, and the coup failed under the onslaught of the heavy fire. Napoleon's role in 13 Vendémiaire gained him instant celebrity; he was soon heralded as "le général Vendémiaire" by supporters.

 

The "Loi du 3 Brumaire" was a legal code granting retroactive pay to non-duty military personnel who had participated (on the Jacobin side) of the 13 Vendémiaire. A recapitulation of the specific law can be found under Title 30 ("Active Pay and Retirement, Treating Reform, Accounts, Bonuses, Indemnities of Lodging, Travel, Etc.") in the 1816 Bulletin of the Laws of the French Republic, Vol. I, p. 215. 

 

Very little information is known about Napoleon's letter recipient, Brigade General Mouleau. He is described in one secondary source as a sort of relic from the Ancien Régime, "an old soldier, [first] engaged in 1761." (From The Military Education of Napoleon by Jean Lambert Alphonse Colin, published in 1901.) Mouleau was active in French and Italian military campaigns throughout the 1790s, where he would have encountered the dashing young Napoleon.

 

This signed document dates from one of the first of Napoleon's many reversals of fortune. Viewed by many early on as an audacious Corsican upstart, Napoleon had proved his military adroitness as a young cadet in Corsica and Provence. In the summer of 1794, however, the promising young officer had been imprisoned on suspicions of collusion with the recently ousted Robespierre brothers. This was followed by another period of disgrace when Napoleon refused to serve in Western France. As would happen so often during his later career, in the fall of 1795 Napoleon had nothing to lose and much to gain by taking swift action. He did so on 13 Vendémiaire, and soon became the Revolution's darling. His promotion to General of the Interior and General of the Army of Italy reflected his new wonder boy status.

 


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