Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet

Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet
Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet when he served in the Lorraine Infantry Regiment.
Born	14 June 1734 (1734-06-14) Valensole, France
Died	15 November 1793 (1793-11-16) (aged 59) Paris, France
Allegiance	Kingdom of France France
Service / branch	Artillery, Infantry
Years of service	1755–1792 1792–1793
Rank	General of Division
Battles / wars	Seven Years' War War of the First Coalition Battle of Sospel Battle of Saorgio
Awards	Order of Saint-Louis, 1773

Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet (14 June 1734 – 15 November 1793) commanded the French Army of Italy during the French Revolutionary Wars and was executed during the Reign of Terror. Despite this fate his son Jean Baptiste Brunet also became a French general. From the minor nobility, he entered the French Royal Army as a gunner in 1755, transferred to an infantry unit and fought in the Seven Years' War. He received the Order of Saint-Louis and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1779.

He became maréchal de camp (general of brigade) in 1791 and served in the Army of Italy under Jacques Bernard d'Anselme in 1792. After a brief stint as interim army commander in the winter of 1792–93, he was promoted general of division and assumed the duties of commander-in-chief from May to August 1793. His defeat at Saorgio and the suspicions of the all-powerful representatives on mission caused him to be arrested, imprisoned and guillotined.

BRUNET is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 23.

References

• Clerget, Charles (1905). "Tableaux des Armées Françaises pendant les Guerres de la Révolution" (in French). Paris: Librarie Militaire R. Chapelot et Cie. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
• Louis Gabriel Michaud. "Gaspard Jean Baptiste Brunet". Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne : histoire par ordre alphabétique de la vie publique et privée de tous les hommes avec la collaboration de plus de 300 savants et littérateurs français ou étrangers (in French) (2 ed.).
• Phipps, Ramsay Weston (2011). The Armies of the First French Republic: Volume III The Armies in the West 1793 to 1797 And, The Armies In The South 1793 to March 1796. Vol. 3. USA: Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN 978-1-908692-26-9.
• Smith, Digby (1998). The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill. ISBN 1-85367-276-9.