MenuGeneral Alexis-Balthasar-Henri-Antoine Schauenburg
Born: July 31, 1748
Place of Birth: Hellimer, Moselle, France
Died: September 1, 1832
Place of Death: Geudertheim, France
Arc de Triomphe: SCHAWEMBOURG on the south pillar
A career soldier, Alexis-Balthasar-Henri-Antoine Schauenburg first joined the army as a sous-lieutenant in the foreign infantry regiment of Alsace in 1764. Three years later he received a promotion to lieutenant and then in 1770 he was sent to Corsica to serve for a few years. In 1777 Schauenburg was promoted to capitaine, and then in 1785 he was named major in the foreign infantry regiment of Nassau. The following year he was further rewarded when he was named a Knight of Saint Louis.
After the arrival of the Revolution, at the start of 1791 Schauenburg was promoted to lieutenant colonel and then that September he was further promoted to colonel. Only two months later he received another promotion, this time to maréchal de camp, and he was sent to the Army of the Rhine. Schauenburg then took command of the grenadiers surrounding Landau before he was assigned to the Army of the Center. In September of 1792 he replaced Berthier as General Kellermann's chief of staff, just a few weeks before the Battle of Valmy. Schauenburg continued to serve as a chief of staff, serving Beurnonville beginning in November and then Ligniville in January of 1793. That March he was promoted to lieutenant general and employed in the Army of the Moselle, and then in August he replaced General Houchard as commander-in-chief of the Army of the Moselle. Like many of the generals of the time, Schauenburg was suspended before long, being removed from command in September and then arrested and imprisoned at l'Abbaye in October.
Schauenburg remained in prison until after the Thermidorian Reaction in July of 1794, and he was finally released in August of 1794. However, he remained unemployed until March of 1795 when he was reintegrated into the army as a général de division. That summer Schauenburg joined the Army of the Rhine and Moselle where he served as inspector general of infantry. At the end of 1795 he briefly commanded a division of the army, and then in 1796 he took part in the defense of Kehl. In 1797 General Schauenburg served as inspector general of a few Revolutionary armies.
A new command arrived for Schauenburg in January of 1798 when he was given command of the troops concentrated in the département of Mont Terrible. The next month he served under General Brune when the French army moved into Switzerland, and in March he took Soleure and Berne. When General Brune was then assigned to the Army of Italy, Schauenburg took command of the Army of Switzerland and seized Stanz and Appenzell. That November he was placed under Jourdan's command and then in December he handed off his command to General Masséna.
In 1799 Schauenburg was once again employed as an inspector general of infantry in the Army of the Rhine. That July he was called to Paris to give an account of his conduct, but then in January of 1800, after Napoleon had taken power, he resumed his position with the Army of the Rhine.
Schauenburg's military career was fairly uneventful during the Consulate and Em. In 1806 he became the inspector general of depots of the reserve under Marshal Kellermann. He was named a Baron of the Empire in 1810, and then after the Bourbon Restoration in 1814 he was named a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor and a Commander of Saint Louis. The Bourbons also appointed Schauenburg as inspector general of infantry at Strasbourg before he retired from the army in December of 1814.
Bibliography
Updated April 2015
© Nathan D. Jensen