#marshal lefebvre

[senechalum]

Oooh, I have a request! How about François Joseph Lefebvre and his wife, Catherine?

Hello ! Sorry for having you waiting this long, I didn't have that much time to draw recently :( I plan on finishing this drawing, with colors, and maybe a nice shading, but since next week I'll be very far away from my computer and my tablet for 2 weeks because of work, I didn't want to make you wait anymore !!

I really hope you'll still like it, consider this just being a clean sketch <3

I'm currently working on my other requests, pleeease be patient 🥺

[lavendersewingcircle]

Catherine Hubscher, Maréchale Lefebvre Duchesse de Dantzig, by an anonymous artist circa 1810

Of all the Marshals’ wives, Catherine was one of the most loyal to Napoleon. This did not prevent her from criticising him though, and she did so bluntly when she felt it was deserved. Despite this, Napoleon and Josephine were both very fond of her and while some at court sneered at this woman of most humble beginnings, the Emperor made a point of using her title every time he spoke to her. On one occasion, when the Duchess of Lusignan snidely remarked “Sire, it pleased your Majesty to drop the title of duchess on Madame Lefebvre”, Napoleon rather coldly shot back “It pleased me to raise the title of duchess to Madame Lefebvre”!

x

[hanciiii]

thinking about drawing all 26 marshals at this point, it would be a fun challenge ☆

[ayumunoya]

Absolutely in love with this scene of the Lefebvres 💖💖💖

[captainknell]

Happy birthday Marshal Lefebvre! October 25, 1755

[credo--ergo-sum]

Doesnt look much like lefebvre but i hope that'll change while colouring it

[isa-ko]

Mortier and Lefebvre!

I think the letters between Lefebvre and Mortier are fun to read because they’re both always so sweet to each other☺️ Here, Lefebvre has been absent for some time from the army due to a wound at Ostrach. Mortier had written a letter to Lefebvre about how it was going in his Brigadier General gig, and Lefebvre responds:

"Your news has given me infinite pleasure, my dear Mortier, please continue it for me; you feel how much they must interest me, especially in the position I find myself in. My arm, which at first was doing very well, is today in the most alarming state due to the ineptitude of a health officer who, however, in Paris, enjoyed a certain reputation..... I unfortunately gave him leave a little late and accepted Director Barras' doctor..... “

“Keep me informed of your operations; stay at the forefront if possible; Besides, I will always try to have you with me when I return to the army which, unfortunately, I do not foresee soon.”

(pp. 77-78)

Also, the author does mention Mortier’s sadness whenever a general he had been under leaves the army. Here, he writes to a General Ernouf (and also mentions Lefebvre):

"I learned with great regret of your departure from the army. Must we therefore give up the hope of seeing you there again with General Jourdan, your brave friend? You can, at least, count on the fact that our attachment and our esteem will follow you everywhere and that, in particular, the regrets that I feel about our separation are as sincere as the friendship that I have forever dedicated to you and to the others..... “

“If you see General Lefebvre, please tell him how much we want to see him again; I'm worried to know how he's doing; I have written to him several times and I have not received any news.”

(p. 81)

That was written in May 6 a few months after Lefebvre had written the previous above letter on April 23.

Also, later, Mortier wanted to return to the Rhine to be under Lefebvre’s orders. He requests to move to the Army of the Rhine, but Lefebvre then writes a very lovely letter to him:

"You know, my dear Mortier, that ambition has never tormented me; I made my principles known to you and I would have thought I was failing them by accepting command of the Army of the Rhine.”

"I know how to appreciate the wish you form to serve with me; I love you and esteem you too much not to participate in everything that depends on me and I hope to succeed in bringing about our reunion as soon as the bad consequences of my injury allow me to return to service. In the meantime, give me your news more often; tell me, above all, something about your operations and the state of the army. “

So Lefebvre hadn’t yet taken command of the Army of the Rhine. Mortier responds with another affectionate letter☺️

"I received your good news on Thermidor 13; they would have been even more pleasant if you had been able to tell me of your complete recovery; However, the hope you gave me of your soon return to the army has revived the hope I have always had of returning under your orders; you are kind enough to promise me this and I make the most ardent wishes so that this much desired meeting can take place when the Army of the Rhine takes action. It is generally believed that you will return with Minister Bernadotte. The soldier is already feeling the effects of his work at the Ministry of War; It was time that his needs were finally taken care of.”

(p. 100)

And finally, here is a letter between the two later, when Lefebvre has better health and now commands the 17th military division in Paris. He sent Mortier this letter:

"I accept with great pleasure, my dear General, the offer that you gave me from Souvarow's car. So please, please, send it to me..... I think it won't be long before you cross the Rhine; this time we must succeed and take up our winter quarters in Swabia, Franconia and Bavaria; So keep me informed of your operations, they will become very interesting; but above all, always be convinced that nothing can diminish the sincere esteem and friendship that General Lefebvre will always have for you. “

“P.S. I always think, my dear Mortier, of bringing you closer to me. I had requested for you the command of the place of Paris, then that of Mainz; I was promised both, but your services have probably since been judged to be more useful to the army. However, I have not forgotten you and, certainly, you will still serve with me and as soon as possible.”

(p. 155-156)

And it does come true later! Mortier will eventually come to France and take command of the 17th military division from Lefebvre.

Frignet-Despréaux (colonel). Le Maréchal Mortier: Duc de Trévise. Par son petit-neveu Frignet Despréaux, Vol. III, Berger-Levrault, 1914. pp. 77-156.

Source

[clove-pinks]

Whoops, maybe too much zoom on this picture of Lefebvre, but at least you can see him in detail! I want a good crop of this painting for @napoleonic-sexyman-tournament

Intriguingly, and unusual for the time, it was made by a female artist, Césarine Davin.

[josefavomjaaga]

Lefebvre's French

I swear I was looking for stuff related to the Junots. Really! Instead I came across this anecdote in the "Mémoires anecdotiques" by Armand Alexandre Hippolyte de Bonneval, and while I cannot verify its autheticity, it's just too cute to not be repeated. This allegedly happened in 1812, during the march from the Berezina to Vilna.

I had just encountered Marshal Lefebvre. Like the rest of us, he was on foot, with a long stick in his hand, and we were walking side by side. When we reached a bridge cluttered with baggage and troops that made it almost impossible to cross, the marshal found a large six-foot tall figure in front of him, dressed in a cuirassiers' coat. He gave him three or four strokes on the back with his stick, and shouted in his German accent: "Moof ahead, vat the hell, you are blocking my way!"

I just have to add the original French here as I am unable to imitate the effect in English: "Allez tonc, qué tiable, fous m'embechez de basser!"

The other quickly turned around; it was the Duc de Trévise [Marshal Mortier]. - "Ah, my comrade," said a confused Lefèbvre, "if I'd known it vas you, I vouldn't have hit so hard!"

In Alsacien French: "Ah, mon gamarate, si ch'avais su que c'edait fous, che n'aurais pas dapé si vort!"

[empirearchives]

Marshals of the First French Empire buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Yesterday was the anniversary of the opening of the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris in 1804. @captainknell mentioned that they’re interested in seeing the tombs of the Marshals who are buried there and I realized that I actually have some pics of them. These are not all the Napoleonic figures buried there; not even close! There are actually quite a few notable figures buried at this cemetery.

Credit to the amazing photographer: Stéphane Charton-Thomas.

Marshal Suchet:

Marshal Grouchy:

Marshal Saint-Cyr:

Marshal Lefebvre:

Marshal Davout:

Marshal Ney:

Marshal Masséna:

Marshal Kellermann:

[cadmusfly]

Hmm, how about poor unappreciated Marshal Lefebvre?

And would you endure another thousand bullets to maintain your lofty status, is what Lefebvre’s friend did not ask because the answer was too damn obvious. Lefebvre might have even asked, where?

But at that point in his life, he was satisfied. If he died in battle, he would have been satisfied. If Napoleon gave him a nice dukedom for a simple siege, he would have been satisfied.

“You used to be such a Republican! Look at you now!”

“Well, yes,” says Lefebvre, “but I do not see the matter with it. The man gets results!”

But if your son had to endure a thousand bullets, or if your son had to be bought off with fancy titles…

“The man gets results.”

[ Part of me accepting writing prompts for short snippets, and thank you for the prompt! Lefebvre’s a straightforward and hilarious man, this is mostly based on the anecdote where a friend asked him how he got all his nice mansion and stuff and the old man replied that he’d trade places if the friend willingly agreed to be shot at. The one time he seems to falter is in regard to his dying son, but even after that he advocated another battle after Waterloo. ]

[phatburd]

😡

[josefavomjaaga]

Well, I do see a slightly different attitude towards marauders, compared to Soult's. 😁

On a serious note, I wonder if that (the very different attitude with regards to the well-being of civilians in foreign countries) was what ended their old friendship. There are some letters from 1796 that made me suspect that.

Marshal Lefèbvre's Kindness...Sort of

It's 1806 and Jean-Baptiste Barrès, the young chasseur was with his comrades in the middle of Prussia. They had just stopped by a little village called 'Auma' and their commanding officers had forbidden them to enter. However, they had not received any rations and they were starving so out of desperation, they disobeyed the order and went foraging in the village.

I was in a courtyard with a number of other Chasseurs, in the act of cutting up a pig which we had just killed, when Marshal Lefèvre, commander of the Foot Guard, entered, with General Rousset, chief of staff of the Imperial Guard. We were frozen with terror, and in our alarm let our knives fall; we could not run away, for they had closed the gates on us. At first they were very angry and threatened to have us shot; but having heard us they said, half in anger, half-laughing: “Get off to the camp, sharp, you confounded brigands; take your spoil, but so that no one sees it, and above all don’t get caught by the patrols.” This was good advice, and we followed it exactly. We had a good laugh in bivouac, over the fright we had had and the half-laughing anger of the kindly marshal.

Well, that's pretty typical of Marshal Lefèbvre. He could be pretty gruff as I recall reading Lejeune saying something along the lines of, "I don't care how you do it! Just make a hole for me to charge through!" 😂 I also know that he could be quite kind, albeit not in such as gracious manner like Bessières could be at times. Still, it's a rather paternal attitude he adopts towards his men.

Barrès, Jean-Baptiste. Memoirs of a French Napoleonic Officer: Jean-Baptiste Barres, Chasseur of the Imperial Guard (The Napoleonic Library) (pp. 73-74). Pen & Sword Books.

[captainknell]

I had another weird dream. My kids were on a field trip in a city. My mom and I were chaperoning and my aunt got off the subway with a weird contraption on her head. It was an old fashioned manual mixer and as she was cranking it, 3 different flavors of ice cream (in perfectly round scoops) were coming out of it. My mom got mad lol. We all went in the basement of a building and there was a crypt. There was an inscription on this one block in the floor explaining that a demon from the Napoleonic wars was trapped inside and that two marshals, Suchet and Lefebvre, were trapped with him to keep it at bay. If you opened it, you had to read a spell to hold it back. I was like, "This isn't right, there's no way those marshals could still be alive in there. It's 1910!" (??) One of the mom's stepped forward and started doing a weird chant and we opened the slab. 3 marshals rose out but one was just the demon in disguise. The spell worked and the demon was still trapped and the Suchet and Lefebvre turned to dust and blew away.

Why do I keep dreaming about random marshals and ghosts and stuff? 😳

[credo--ergo-sum]

[clove-pinks]

Lefebvre, who also has multiple works of art depicting him in his Napoleonic sexyman glory!

The statue of Lefebvre at the Louvre Museum for propaganda. <3

Adam Jerzy Czartoryski

(admin note: even if you don't vote for him, reading about his life is a wild ride)

Propaganda:

"Decided that the way to free Poland was by having a threesome with Alexander and his wife.”

Lefebvre:

Propaganda:

“Total DILF material, and the fiery passion in his eyes was matched only by his fiery personality! This contest may be based on looks (and Lefebvre is a strong candidate on this metric alone); but it's hard not to fall in love with his spicy takes and saucy language. He told Napoleon, "Let us throw the lawyers into the river” after agreeing to help overthrow the Directory (quoted in David G. Chandler, ed., Napoleon's Marshals), and from his English Wikipedia article: When a friend expressed envy of his estate, Lefebvre said, "Come down in the courtyard, and I'll have ten shots at you with a musket at 30 paces. If I miss, the whole estate is yours." After the friend declined this offer, Lefebvre added, "I had a thousand bullets shot at me from much closer range before I got all this." In response to a clueless young man demanding his identity at a social event, he answered, ''Je viens de la lune, où je n'ai jamais vu un Jean-Foutre de ton espèce: Je m'appelle le Général Lefebvre!” [“I come from the moon, where I’ve never seen such a #*$& as you. My name is General Lefevre!”] Quoted in The Secret History of the Cabinet of Bonaparte by Lewis Goldsmith, 1810, which is also hilarious because the author clearly hates Lefebvre, but makes him sound like a cool badass. He earns additional sexy points by sticking by his ex-washerwoman wife, who had a mouth of her own. (tbh Catherine Lefebvre, “Madame Sans-Gêne,” deserves her own Napoleonic Sexyman [gender neutral] nomination).”