LETTER FROM A KNIGHT OF THE MILITARY ORDER OF SAINT LOUIS IN FAVOR OF THE COUNT OF ROCHECHOUART, lieutenant of the 2nd Company of the King's Musketeers, Restoration period. 29238-6

LETTERS OF KNIGHT OF THE MILITARY ORDER OF SAINT LOUIS IN FAVOR OF THE COUNT OF ROCHECHOUART, lieutenant of the 2nd Company of the King's Musketeers, Restoration period. 29238-6

Printed and handwritten document, dimensions H 31 cm x 40.5 cm. Letterhead with the Arms of France.
Given in Paris, on August 22, 1814.
Facsimile. Signed "Louis" (first secretary) and "Le Cte Dupont".

In good to very good condition.
France.
Restoration period.

Biographies:
* Louis-Victor-Léon de Rochechouart, born in Paris on September 14, 1788, died in Jumilhac-le-Grand on February 26, 1858, a French general, was the military governor of Paris. His life, rich in adventures, is a testimony to the turbulent and epic period of the Revolution and the Empire for the men who lived through it.
At the age of 11, Louis-Victor-Léon de Rochechouart decided to embark in Hamburg to join the regiment of émigrés commanded by his uncle, the Duke of Mortemart, in Portugal. After many adventures that took him to Holland, England, and Spain, he finally arrived in Lisbon in December 1800.
At the age of 12, Louis-Victor-Léon de Rochechouart joined Mortemart's regiment, one of the regiments of émigrés formed after the defeat of Condé's army in 1799.
In 1804, he set out for Russia, where he had found his mother and brother. Without money, he traveled under adventurous conditions, partially funded his journey by winning at the casino in Milan, miraculously met a relative in Vienna who helped him get to Poland where he reunited with his mother in 1805. From there, they traveled to Crimea, where the Countess of Rochechouart and her son lived. The reunion was short-lived, as she died a few weeks later.
Louis-Victor-Léon de Rochechouart entered the Russian army as a second lieutenant and became aide-de-camp to the Duke of Richelieu. He rose through the ranks, becoming successively a lieutenant in the Imperial Guard, then aide-de-camp to Emperor Alexander I. From 1805 to 1812, he took part in the conquest of Bessarabia and Circassia, fought in the Caucasus and in Chechnya.
In 1812, when France invaded Russia, he was mobilized in General Tormassov's army. He participated in the capture of Minsk, then in the Battle of the Berezina, where he witnessed the tragic crossing of the river by the French army.
In 1813, he was decorated with the Order of St. George, 4th Class. Appointed colonel and then major general, he participated in the campaign in Germany and the battles of Lutzen, Dresden, Kulm, and Leipzig. In September, he was sent on a mission to Bernadotte, the King of Sweden, to convince him to side with the Allies.
At the beginning of 1814, he crossed the Rhine with the Russian army, setting foot in France, which he had not seen in ten years.
He made contact with the future Louis XVIII and Charles X and took part in the formation of a royalist party.
Louis-Victor-Léon de Rochechouart was promoted to brigadier general by Louis XVIII and was incorporated into the company of the Black Musketeers.
On August 29, 1814, he was made a Knight of the Order of Saint Louis.
During the Hundred Days, he accompanied the king to Ghent. Upon returning to France, he became, during the Second Restoration, Chief of Staff to the Minister of War, first to the Duke of Feltre, then to Marshal Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, and again to the Duke of Feltre when his adoptive father, the Duke of Richelieu, was appointed Prime Minister.
On October 16, 1815, the Count of Rochechouart was appointed military governor of Paris, a position he held until 1821.
[...]

** Pierre Antoine, Count Dupont de l'Étang, born on July 4, 1765 in Chabanais (Limousin) and died on March 9, 1840 in Paris, was a French general and politician during the Revolution and the Empire, later a minister and parliamentarian during the Restoration. He adopted the name 'de l'Étang' to distinguish himself from his brothers, General-Count Dupont-Chaumont, and Baron Dupont de Poursat, Bishop of Coutances.
[...] French Restoration
The provisional government appointed him in March 1814 as Commissioner of War, a position in which he was confirmed (April 3) with ministerial rank.
On November 7, the king ordered that "the record of his conviction, which, regardless of its degree of injustice, bore all the characteristics of an arbitrary act rather than a regular and legal conviction," would be reviewed, and overturned by a royal decree the imperial decree of his dismissal. General Dupont's administration was not successful: numerous dismissals, wastefulness of the Legion of Honor, and favoritism in army promotions prompted complaints. Furthermore, he served the passions of the reactionary party to such an excess that within a few months, the king was forced to strip him of the War portfolio (December 3, 1814) and send him away. Replaced by Soult, he was given in exchange the government of the 22nd military division and appointed a Commander of the Order of Saint Louis.
Dismissed again during the Hundred Days (April 3, 1815), and imprisoned in Doullens, he was released after the return of the Bourbons. Reinstated after the return from Ghent, he was appointed Minister of State and a member of the Privy Council on September 19, 1815.