Elzéar Auguste Cousin de Dommartin

Elzéar Auguste Cousin de Dommartin
Born	1768 Dommartin-le-Franc
Died	1799 Rosetta
Allegiance	Kingdom of France, French Republic / Directory
Service/branch	Artillery
Years of service	1785-1799
Rank	acting général de division
Battles/wars	Toulon, Dego, Mondovì, Rovereto, Rhine, Egypt

Elzéar Auguste Cousin de Dommartin (26 May 1768, Dommartin-le-Franc – 9 August 1799, Rosetta) became a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars, fought in Italy under Napoleon Bonaparte, and commanded the artillery division of the Armée d'Orient during the French invasion of Egypt in 1798.

Life

Dommartin received his first commission in 1785, serving as a captain of the artillery. Seriously wounded during the siege of Avignon, he was unable to take up his appointment as artillery commander at the Siege of Toulon in 1793. Therefore, an ambitious young artillery captain named Napoleon Bonaparte assumed command of the French artillery, with notable success. Dommartin then served in the Army of Italy. During the Montenotte Campaign, he led a brigade in the Second Battle of Dego and in the Battle of Mondovì. Later, he commanded the artillery at the Battle of Rovereto.

Dommartin was appointed commander of the artillery of the Rhine in 1797. Bonaparte then chose him in 1798 to command the artillery for the invasion of Egypt as acting general of division. During that campaign, Dommartin organised the Siege of El Arish and the Siege of Acre, but was wounded in a skirmish and died of blood poisoning. His name is engraved on the south side of the Arc de Triomphe.

References

• Boycott-Brown, Martin. The Road to Rivoli. London: Cassell & Co., 2001. ISBN 0-304-35305-1

External links

• A miniature of Dommartin
• The History of the French Revolution
• Dommartin at Jaffa
• The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte
• Guns in the Desert: General Jean-Pierre Doguereau's Journal of Napoleon's Egyptian Expedition