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Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (1762 - 1806)

By Hermis Reyes

Born on March 25, 1762 in Jeremie, Haiti (at the time known as the French colony of Saint-Domingue), Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie Dumas was the son of a lesser French nobleman and a slave woman. Most would never have thought that Dumas would ascend the military ranks in France in two decades, but he eventually left Haiti for Normandy, France, with his father in 1775. Shortly after settling in France, his father’s finances were stable enough for him to be sent to Paris in the early 1780s. There he trained in an academy for fencing. This training proved useful, when, during the summer of 1786, Dumas joined the Queen’s Dragoons. Military training provided much needed economic independence, especially given that his father was becoming increasingly estranged. Dumas’s initial years in the army were uneventful, but he still gained a reputation through his swordplay. Once the French Revolution started in 1789, Dumas’s story truly began.[1]

After crossing the Atlantic in 1775, Dumas travelled through Europe and northern Africa  as he advanced in the ranks in the ranks of France's revolutionary and Napoleonic armies.

When the French Republic was established, black armies formed throughout France; Dumas was first considered by many armies. The competition over his skills allowed him to jump the ranks to Lieutenant Colonel in the Black Legion. When his recruiter was removed from his position, in the spring of 1793, Dumas became the acting commander for the summer and by fall he was General of the Division. Just 5 days after becoming general, he was named Commander in Chief of the Army of the West Pyrenees. In 1794, though, he was redeployed to Grenoble, where he served as the Commander in Chief of the Alps division of Italy. It was his brave command in Grenoble that raised his military fame. It wasn’t long before Dumas arrived in Milan, in the fall of 1796, where he established a relationship with General Napoleon Bonaparte, who recognized the benefits of having by his side a rising star with a growing record of military victories. The relationship between Dumas and Bonaparte solidified throughout 1797, before it quickly fell apart during 1798 as Dumas’s revolutionary enthusiasm gave way to profound disenchantment.[2]

In spring 1798, Dumas participated in Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt. While his role in the capture of Alexandria in the summer of 1798 was minor, he was sent by Bonaparte as a representative that would allow the French to win over Alexandria’s support. Regardless of the army’s success, Dumas’s progress stagnated when his discontentment with the expedition was revealed against his will, offending Bonaparte. Eventually, as a result of these events he covertly sailed back home in protest of the expedition. Unfortunately, before he could reach France, Dumas was taken prisoner by the Kingdom of Naples. Once captured, his health declined due to an assassination attempt in 1801, in which he was poisoned with arsenic. He suffered through various side effects of arsenic poisoning, including blindness and deafness, all of which was exacerbated by poor medical treatment. Dumas was released to Florence by spring 1801 as part of a diplomatic agreement between France and Naples. In Florence, he reflected on his life and soon decided to retire and dedicated the rest of his life to his family until he died in 1806.[3]

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Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Mounted in Combat. This image of Dumas evokes the strength, power, and authority that Dumas reached during the French Revolution; his gaudy clothes and the fact that he is mounted show how he broke boundaries by holding a position in the cavalry that would typically be for white, upper-class Frenchmen. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas had a unique social position as an eighteenth-century mulatto who grew up in a plantation society. His mixed racial background would end up building a foundation for how he tackled the revolution. Because of the often contradictory processes of intensification of the slave trade and growing economic status for free people of African descent in the French Caribbean, Dumas’s identity and status in French Saint-Domingue were never secure. He was raised primarily by his mother on his father’s plantation for the first 15 years of his life. His mother's influence, the intense social climate, and the absence of his father would all allow him to develop sympathy for his mother’s status as a slave and a clear sense of the need for changing an unjust system. As a result, in honor of his mother he changed his last name solely to Dumas. Dumas was wary of Saint-Domingue’s decrepit social conditions: he was considered to be black and therefore subject to exclusion from public office or any other position of trust and confidence. Exclusion limited Dumas’s mobility, leaving him yearning for a better future. His son, famous nineteenth-century novelist Alexandre Dumas, tended to glorify his upbringing in Saint-Domingue’s plantation society, but the truth was that once Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was of age he immediately sailed to France with his father. Once in Paris, he lived a life of leisure, pleasure, and personal growth. Ironically, he had been treated better as a mulatto in France than in Saint-Domingue. Even with the improved lifestyle, Dumas was well aware that he was, “black in an all-white society, a society that recognized slavery as the law of the kingdom.” This looming pressure is precisely why he embraced the promises of liberty and equality of the French Revolution. The virtues that were solidified by his upbringing reinforced his bravery, a quality that would allow him to climb up the social ladder.[4]

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas’s trajectory in the French military was exceptional for his time. It was the transformative spirit of the Revolution that allowed him to have an eventful military career. By the time he enlisted, the French army was at its apex; a modern army in which only those in the upper ranks were remnants of an old system characterized by the practice of buying and inheriting positions. The army Dumas entered was merit-driven. However, following the Storming of the Bastille, there was mass confusion within the military on where loyalties should lie. Dumas was in the military before and during the revolution. Therefore, he had a unique perspective on the French military that would allow him to be loyal to the republican cause and its principles. It should be noted that his regiment did nothing of importance throughout the initial years of the revolution. This gave Dumas the chance to develop his standing on the revolution and train to be a better soldier. Eventually, with six years of service, Dumas was promoted to corporal and subsequently fought as France was surrounded by internal and external enemies. Dumas’s service during the revolutionary period provided him with an avenue of advancement as he protected France amidst the chaos of the revolution. The establishment of several black army divisions under the values of the revolution opened up many opportunities for him. In just a year, Dumas had risen from private to general. What made his rapid ascent possible, was his never-ending courage on the battlefield, especially in a demoralized France midway through a war and revolution. His participation in reconnaissance missions with his soldiers stands out as an example of his bravery as a commander. Furthermore, as a commander in chief, he brought in major successes for France. Dumas would often be on the front lines facing enemy fire despite his rank. These two examples are only few of the many actions that brought Dumas fame and some degree of recognition beyond his own time. They exemplify the traits and actions that allowed him to get so far as a mulatto in France.[5]

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Sculpture honoring Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (erected in Paris in 2008). The symbolism of the broken shackles show the impact that Dumas had in France. His career in the French army set the stage for increased inclusion for black people in France, in efforts to break away from the French colonial past. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

 

[1] Maurois. The Titans, 19-20; Hauterive, Le Général Alexandre Dumas, 13-15.

[2] Hauterive, Le Général Alexandre Dumas, 23-24, 36, 41-44, 99-101; Maurois. The Titans, 24.

[3] Hauterive, Le Général Alexandre Dumas, 172, 176, 180, 198-199, 211-220, 234-238.

[4] Gallaher, General Alexandre Dumas, 9-12.

[5] Gallaher, General Alexandre Dumas, 17, 26, 43, 50.

​References

  • Gallaher, John G. General Alexandre Dumas: Soldier of the French Revolution. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1997.

  • Hauterive, Ernest d. Le Général Alexandre Dumas, 1762-1806: Un Soldat De La Revolution. Paris, 1897.

  • Maurois, André. The Titans: a Three-Generation Biography of the Dumas. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1957.

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