Two days ago, May 28, was the birthday of a famous Alsatian, Marshal Kellermann, but I realized that we no longer really know who this man who sits in Breujel is, on Place Broglie in Strasbourg. François Étienne Christophe Kellermann was born on May 28, 1735 in Strasbourg, to a noble family from Saxony, which had been well established in Strasbourg for two centuries.
He started his military career at only 15, as a cadet in an infantry regiment, the Lowendal regiment. He was appointed ensign at the age of eighteen in the Royal Bavarian Regiment; he became a captain in 1758, during the Seven Years’ War, where he distinguished himself by taking 300 enemy prisoners with a handful of men.
By his intelligence and his education, he passed in 20 years from captain to army general, in 1792. And he participated in the battle of Valmy, the first decisive victory of the French army during the wars of the Revolution.
This is the piece for cavalry band dedicated to the battle of Valmy. In front of the French revolutionaries, the armies of Prussia, of the Holy Empire, as well as the loyalists to the Crown of France. Well that’s enough already. It’s true. It looks bad. Kellermann, placed in the center of the line, studies the maneuvers of the enemy when his horse is killed under him by a cannon shot. At the same time, shells burst in the middle of the ammunition depot and blew up two artillery caissons, injuring many people around. Kellermann does not allow himself to be discouraged, on foot, he boosts the morale of the troops.
He feels that the rout of his army is very close, so he arranges his army in columns by battalion, he goes through them and addresses them this short harangue: “Comrades, this is the moment of victory; let the enemy advance without firing a single shot, and charge him with the bayonet”. The army, full of enthusiasm and already quite enervated by a four-hour cannonade, responded to the words of its general with repeated cries of: “Vive la nation!” Kellermann himself, puffed up, cannonaded, puts his hat on the end of his saber and repeats: “Long live the nation!” as he rode past his troops on a fresh horse that had just been brought to him. In an instant, all the hats are on the bayonets and a huge cry rises from all the ranks of the army. The clamor lasted nearly a quarter of an hour, was echoed throughout the army and reappeared constantly, reaching a force “that shook the ground” according to some observers. These movements, this enthusiasm, announce an army which burns to fight. The enemy is surprised, his columns stop: “Victory is ours!” is what Kellermann shouts, and you hear the tune that bears the name of his cry. The French artillery redoubled its fire on the heads of the Prussian columns. Faced with such determination, the Duke of Brunswick gave the signal to retreat. The battle is won. Kellermann will be imprisoned during the Terror, then released 13 months later, and will then serve Napoleon 1st.
He became marshal in 1804, obtained the senatorship of Colmar, the title of Duke of Valmy in 1808. He wore the crown of Charlemagne during the coronation of Napoleon and the tail of the coat of the King of Rome during his baptism, that is to say if it matters. He rallied to Louis XVIII who made him governor of Strasbourg and peer of France. In 1820, he died, and according to his wishes, he was buried in the middle of the Valmy battlefield. The Hero of Valmy, the Nestor of armies, commanded the French army in 43 battles, he will have spent 63 years under the French flag. The Alsatian marshal François Étienne Christophe Kellermann commands respect.
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