The story of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, a man of African descent who rose to the highest ranks of the French military during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, is a tale of courage, perseverance, and remarkable achievements.
As the son of a French nobleman and his black slave, Dumas was sold into slavery as a teenager in Haiti, but eventually made his way to France where he enlisted in the military.
Despite facing discrimination and obstacles due to his race, Dumas rose through the ranks and became a general, leading thousands of troops in battle.
However, his story is also one of tragedy, as he was imprisoned for years and died in poverty, never receiving the recognition and compensation he deserved.
In this article, we will delve deeper into the remarkable life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, exploring his accomplishments, his struggles, and his enduring legacy.
Early life of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was an exceptional man born to a renegade French nobleman and his black slave in the French sugar colony of Saint Domingue, which is now known as Haiti.
At the time of his birth, his father was a fugitive from the royal authorities in France and his brother, a wealthy planter who shipped sugar and slaves out of a Haitian area called “Monte Cristo”.
Born on March 25, 1762, in the town of Jérémie in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was a black military leader who rose to the rank of general during the French Revolutionary War.
He was the son of Marie-Césette-Dumas, a black slave owned by his father Alexandre-Antonie Davy de la Pailleterie (known as Antoine), a French aristocrat.
Antoine’s conflict with his brother, Charles, a wealthy sugar plantation owner, led him to establish a small cacao plantation with his slave and concubine Marie-Cessette, where Dumas was born.
However, under French colonial law, Dumas inherited his mother’s status as a slave. Despite this, he went on to become the highest-ranking black leader in a white society until recent times.
In 1773, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas’ father, Antoine, left Haiti to claim his inheritance in France. To finance his trip, he sold Dumas’ mother and two sisters, while staking Dumas himself.
A few months later, his father repurchased his son, obtained the estate of his deceased brother and had Dumas sent to France in 1776 where slavery was illegal, and he was freed de facto by being in the country.
As a teenager in Paris, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas received an education in literature, sword fighting, military arts, and the fundamentals of 18th-century French aristocracy.
He was educated as a nobleman in Paris but had a falling out with his father after he married his housekeeper and reduced Dumas’ allowance.
In 1786, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas joined the French military, but because he was of mixed-race, he was prohibited from becoming an officer and instead started at the lowest rank.
When the French Revolution began in 1789, Dumas’ career began to prosper, and he rose through the ranks, ultimately becoming the highest-ranking black leader in a modern white society for almost two centuries.
He also met his wife, Marie-Louis Labouret, during this period while serving with the Army of the North. Dumas’ heroic actions during the revolution, including saving lives at the Champ de Mars Massacre and capturing enemy patrols, earned him great acclaim.
At the age of 24, he enlisted in the French military as a dragoon and quickly rose through the ranks, taking his mother’s surname Dumas.
During the French Revolution, he led a group of mixed-race swordsmen nicknamed the “Black Legion,” and he received citations from the new French Republic for various daring operations.
Dumas earned great praise for his actions, including saving many lives at the Champ de Mars Massacre in 1791 and capturing a large enemy patrol without firing a shot in 1792.
He served as commander-in-chief of several armies during the Revolutionary period and even became commander-in-chief of cavalry when Napoleonic forces invaded Egypt.
However, after criticizing Napoleon’s leadership, Dumas’ fortunes began to decline. Napoleon denied him his full pension, refused him admission into the French Legion of Honor, and even had him replaced by a blonde, white man in a painting of the French capture of Cairo’s Great Mosque.
As his reputation grew, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was given command of more troops, and his military actions and victories piled up.
By the time he was 32, he was in command of 53,000 troops as the General-in-Chief of the French Army of the Alps. In 1798, General Dumas was appointed as the Cavalry Commander of the French Expeditionary Army of the Orient and went to Egypt.
Dumas played a crucial role in suppressing an anti-French revolt that centered in the Grand Mosque of Cairo by charging into the Al-Azhar Mosque on horseback. His son later recounted that Napoleon told him: “I shall have a painting made of the taking of the Grand Mosque. Dumas, you have already posed as the central figure.”
However, in later years, Napoleon commissioned an artist to paint this historical victory, but he erased General Dumas and had himself painted entering the mosque instead.
During the march from Alexandria to Cairo, Dumas, who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind publicly, confronted Napoleon about the motives of the expedition.
After a lengthy quarrel, Dumas left the Egyptian campaign to return to France but was captured at sea by enemies of France and kept in a dungeon for over two years without clearly understanding the motives or identity of his captors.
After his release in the spring of 1801, Dumas returned to France and had a son, Alexandre Dumas, who went on to become one of France’s most widely read authors of all time.
Alexandre Dumas Junior’s most famous characters were inspired by his father’s life and the adventures he had during his military career.
In 1802, Napoleon passed a law that reinstated slavery, effectively demoting black and mixed-race officers to chain-gang labor and closing integrated schools in Paris.
Even Dumas’s marriage to a white Frenchwoman was made illegal. Despite repeatedly writing to Napoleon seeking back-pay for his time lost in captivity, Dumas never received a reply, nor did he receive another military command.
Dumas struggled to support his family upon his return to France, and he was not awarded the pension that was normally given to the widows of generals.
As a result, he passed away from stomach cancer on February 26, 1806, at the age of 43. He left behind his three-year-old son Alexandre and his widowed mother, both of whom were left in deep poverty.
Before his untimely death, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas shared his exciting and heroic tales with his young son.
Alexandre Dumas Jnr. would go on to become a highly acclaimed author, writing popular novels such as “The Three Musketeers” and “The Count of Monte Cristo.” Many of the characters in his books were inspired by the stories his father had shared with him, ensuring that Thomas-Alexandre Dumas’s legacy would live on for generations to come.
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas served as commander-in-chief of several armies during the Revolutionary period, including the Army of the Western Pyrenees, the Army of the Alps, and the Army of the West in the Vendée. He also helped Napoleon conquer Egypt and governed the province of Trévisan in northern Italy. However, his criticism of Napoleon’s leadership led to his downfall.
Conclusion
Despite his remarkable accomplishments, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas faced many challenges and obstacles during his lifetime, including racism and discrimination.
Nevertheless, he persevered and became one of the most celebrated military leaders of his time. His legacy lives on as an inspiration to people of color around the world who aspire to achieve greatness in their own lives.
The story of Thomas-Alexandre Dumas is one that inspires and captivates. His unwavering determination, skill, and leadership propelled him to the highest levels of the French military, despite facing discrimination and obstacles due to his race.
His courage in battle and his compassion for his fellow soldiers earned him the respect and admiration of those who served under him.
However, Dumas’s tragic end highlights the challenges that people of color have faced throughout history. Despite his many accomplishments, he was ultimately denied the recognition and compensation he deserved, and his legacy was largely forgotten for many years.
Today, however, we can honor Dumas by remembering his story and recognizing his contributions to French history and culture. His example serves as a reminder of the resilience and strength of the human spirit, and his story is one that should continue to inspire and motivate us all.
Despite his significant contributions, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was largely forgotten for almost two centuries due to racism.
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However, his role in the French military has returned to the public eye in recent years. He was interred in the Panthéon in Paris in 2002, and a monument to him was unveiled in 2009, which references his slave origins and eventual freedom, as well as all victims of French enslavement.
