La Bataille d' Heilsberg 1807

Ataman Platov painted by George Dawe in London (1814)

Ludwig August von Stutterheim was a reminder of Prussia’s Frederickan past at Heilsberg. He was born of a prominent Prussian military family in 1750. He would first serve Frederick in the War of Bavarian Succession in 1778. Later, he would fight in Poland in 1794 in the Kosciuszko Uprising. Von Stutterheim commanded the 21 st Fusiliers at Eylau and was promoted to Major General shortly afterwards. His Fusiliers were the core of the Heilsberg garrison. He shortly took over at Konigsberg and its defense. Once the War of the Fourth Coalition was over, von Stutterheim was an important member of the pro-war Prussian cabal which would continue its anti-Napoleonic activity till the French defeat in 1814. Finally, for the French, there was one important link to L’Ancien Regime , and that was Marshal Louis- Alexandre Berthier. Marshal Berthier was born in 1753 and entered French service and fought in the American Revolutionary War, where he was noted as an excellent mapmaker serving of the staff of the French Commander Rochambeau in the Yorktown campaign. He served Napoleon with distinction before dying mysteriously via defenestration shortly before the Waterloo campaign. But the French would have a host of military commanders born in the decade surrounding 1770 and who would serve long after the end of the Napoleonic Era to carry the legend into the second French empire. The most noteworthy of these individuals was Marshal Jean de Dieu Soult. A long and storied career under Napoleon was followed by an even longer career post Empire. He was Prime Minister of France three times, serving over 10 years intermittently. He was also Minister of War three different times, also serving 10 years intermittently. While during one of his stints as Minister of War, he founded the French Foreign Legion. He died in 1851, active almost to the end. While most cavalry leaders had a short life span, one of the combatants of Heilsberg more than exceeded his life-expectancy. General Victor de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg, commander of the First Dragoon Division had been born in 1768. He served with distinction at Heilsberg and was wounded at Friedland. He would later become a cavalry corps commander and served at Borodino and suffered a leg amputation at Leipzig. Despite his major wounds, he would become Minister of War for two years and Governor of Les Invalides for eight years. He would live to 82 and die in 1850.

Reille Served Napoleon III In Second Empire Senate

But the longest survivor amongst prominent Napoleonic figures was General Honoré Reille, who was one of Napoleon’s aides-de camp at Heilsberg. He served throughout Europe both before and after Heilsberg. Much of his work was in Spain, but he is best known as a corps commander in 1815. He was Marshal

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