250 - MINISTRY OF WAR, 2nd DIVISION.

MINISTRY OF WAR, 2nd DIVISION. Handwritten certificate bearing the coat of arms of France, issued to “Major General Antoine Alexandre ROUSSEAU, born in Paris on September 17, 1756,” the following facts are recorded in the offices as follows: Corporal in the 46th Regiment on October 1, 1735; sergeant in 1779; second lieutenant in 1790; lieutenant in 1791; captain in 1792; Adjutant General in Year 2, commander of the 74½th Brigade in Year 3, commander of the 50½th Brigade in Year 11, Brigadier General in Year 11, Major General in 1811.” This is followed by a list of his campaigns from 1792 to 1814, his wounds sustained in 1781, Year 3, and Year 5, and finally, he was awarded a sword of honor for his actions during the battle of 21 Vendémiaire, Year 5. Signed “Sergeant Major, Baron d’Hanovre Legendre.” Rousseaux, Antoine Alexandre, Baron (Paris, September 17, 1756 – Metz, April 15, 1827), French general of the Revolution and the Empire. A soldier in the Regiment of Brittany, he took part in the 1781 siege of Port-Mahon, as well as in Mainz, Biberach, and Fürstenberg in 1796, where he was awarded a saber of honor. Appointed brigade commander of the 74th Line Infantry Regiment in 1796. Promoted to brigadier general in 1803. Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1803, and Commander in 1804. Prevented British troops from landing on the island of Cadzand in 1809. A Baron of the Empire and Major General in 1811, he rallied to Napoleon I during the Hundred Days. He retired in 1815, four months after Waterloo. Napoleon called him “the honest Rousseaux” because of his fourteen wounds.