Bonapartists in the United States and their landmarks: a Brief History

The fall of Napoleon in 1815 resulted in a massive exile of former French veterans and Bonapartists to the America’s. The reason for this diaspora are many. Some fled to avoid prosecution by the Bourbon authorities, others because they were unable to cope with the restoration of the monarchial climate. Still others, especially soldiers and low ranking officers, because they had known no other life than the military life and, unemployed, found no other ways to make ends meet. It is estimated that around 3000 Bonapartists -with or without family- attempted to start a new life across the Atlantic between 1815 and 1818.
The less wealthy of them searched for their fortunes as pioneers in the rigid backwoods of central Canada. Those unable to cope with the gentle, but boring civil life went ashore in South America and soon became involved in the Wars of Independence.
The United States however, received the larger part of these exiles. The states of Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama bore the brunt of these French newcomers, leading to various colonization shemes, diplomatic intrigues and political tensions.

Pennsylvania
Although not the political centre of the US since 1800, Philadelphia remained the largest and richest city in the first half of the 19th century. Its industry and its ports were booming and therefore bustling with potential investors. Over the last two decades, a French community had grown there, compromised of exiles from the French Revolution and refugees from the slave uprisings in Saint Dominique. It was here that many wealthy supporters could be found who were willing to provide the Bonapartists in France a safe haven in the US after Napoleons ultimate downfall at Waterloo. One of the most prominent characters to arrive in September 1815, was Joseph Bonaparte. His residence, currently located on 260 south on 9th street, became a center of activity for French expatriates for the next two years.

New York
Another important place of exile was Cape Vincent in the State of New York. The area was owned by the important French Le Ray family who had had a major influence in getting France to join the side of the American freedom fighters during the War of Independence in 1778. They were also completely sympathetic to the cause of the French nobility that had become involved in political intrigues after the fall of Napoleon and consequently invited them to take up homes on their large estate in New York.
One of the most important refugees setting foot there in 1816 was one of Napoleon’s préfets de Police and a Comte d’Empire, Pierre-Francois Réal. It is he who, together with Joseph Bonaparte, would put both political and financial pressure on the US government to provide land for their fellow patriots. He was also the leading spirit in the existing conspiracy to save Napoleon from his exile on St.Helena. Pierre Réal resided in the famous Stone House located at Cape Vincent from 1816 till 1818 and then built a residence of peculiar architecture at the head of Gouvello street. To this domicile was given the name of “cup and saucer house” due its resemblance to those articles of tableware. It was generally believed that the count intended this house to become the future residence of the Emperor once his escape had been achieved.
The support, the wealth and political influence of these prominent Bonapartists in Philadelphia and Cape Vincent led to the creation of the “French Emigrant Association” that was to ensure that soldiers, officers, generals and other loyal servants of the former Empire could find a safe haven in the US.

Alabama
In 1817 , General Charles Lallemand, a staunch Bonapartist and president of the Association, successfully petitioned the American Congress to authorize the sale of four townships along the banks of the Tombigbee river in Alabama to the exiles, at two dollars per acre. Their intention was to cultivate grape vines and olive trees, therefore it received the name of the “Vine and Olive Colony”. As compliment to this undertaking, Judge Abner Lipscombe named the collection of these tracks of lands as Marengo county, commemorating Napoleon’s great victory over the Austrians in 1800.
In March of that year, about 400 settlers consisting of Bonapartists and emigreés from Saint Dominique organized in Philadelphia and set off to Alabama. Several distinguished characters made part of this adventurous undertaking: former cavalry general Lefebvre Desnouettes -who would function as leader of the colony, Count Bertrand Clausel former commander of Armée du Nord in Spain, Colonel Nicholas Raoul, who had followed the Emperor to Elba and of course Charles Lallemand, the organizer of the entire project. The first settlements established in july 1817 were Proscritspolis -that shortly thereafter was renamed Demopolis or “City of the People”- and further south, Marengo. When the colonists of Demopolis learned that their actual land grants began less than a mile to the east of their newly cleared land in august 1818, they were forced to abandon their original settlement. They moved eastwards, establishing the towns of Arcola and Aigleville. Unfortunately, these colonies grew poorly. It soon became obvious that the tracks of land were not very well suited for the cultivation of grapes and olives. Another drawback was that the French aristocrats experienced problems accustoming themselves to the rough pioneer life after having spent most of their lives at the extravagant Parisian courts. The small amount of  colonists that were accustomed to labor and cultivation were unable to handle all the work by themselves. In order to solve this problem, Lefebvre took the initiative to hire some German laborers. These however proved to be expensive and mostly unreliable. During his two year stay in the colony, Lefebvre had expended over 25.000 dollars in the cultivation of his farm and on costs for the imports of various goods.

“There were but few settlers in the region, and it was a vast wilderness. But the French made little progress in agriculture. The vines (the Cataba) would grow only a year or two, and the olive they did not plant. They were very industrious, but their time was frittered away on trivial things. There were several prominent men among them, and others who had been wealthy in France. These spent the greater part of their time in
social pleasures, and the others were not slow to follow their example. They made no wine, but they drank all they were able to import, and carried into their humble pioneer homes all the charms and graces of their native country. Thriftlessness was their error, not idleness; for the hands that had “flashed the saber bare” at Borodino and Austerlitz were not slow to mix the mud which daubed the chinks of their log cabins; and dames
who had made their toilettes in the chambers of St. Cloud readily prepared the humble repast of the forest home.”

From: “Alabama: Her History, Resources, War Record, and Public Men From 1540 to 1872,:by Willis Brewer, published 1872, pages 372-375.

General Lefebvre

Periods of floods and droughts in the first few years only made things worse and by 1821 the entire colony collapsed. By this time Lefebvre, demoralized by the enterprise, had already abandoned the settlement. Having gained pardon from Louis XVIII to return to France, he took passage in a ship called “Albion”. Tragically, the ship encountered severe weather off the coast of Ireland in May 1822 and sank. Lefebvre was never seen again. Historical records recall how the prominent general had a log cabin near his main dwelling at Demopolis which he called his sanctuary. In the centre of this log cabin stood a bronze statue of Napoleon. Around its feet, lighted by innumerable candles, were swords and pistols which he had taken in battle, together with beautiful flags, tastefully hung around the walls.
Many of the remaining colonists were forced to sell their claims to enterprising Americans who did succeed in opening large plantations. By 1825, most of the original Bonapartists had left the colony and had returned to France or settled in New Orleans. Of the four created settlements only the town of Marengo managed to survive the ordeal of the first decades of colonization. The town was rebaptized to Hohenlinden in 1823 and became the county seat of Marengo county in 1870. It still survives today under the abbreviation of Linden.

At “White Bluff” on the bank of the Tombigbee river at Demopolis, a commemorative plaque has been placed where the French colonists first set foot on their colony on the 14th of July 1817.

On the side of the main road entering the city, a sign was planted in 1967 reading “Vine and Olive Colony”.

The site where General Lefebvre-Desnouettes erected his log home and his sanctuary in 1817 has successfully been indicated by the Alabama Historical Association in 1974. On the plaque placed there, the following has been inscribed:

Homesite of General Count Charles Lefebvre Desnouettes (1772-1822) Friend of Napoleon Bonaparte, General of the French Army, Count of the Empire and leader of the Vine and Olive colony that founded Demopolis in 1817. Desnouettes erected log cabins on this site, one of them being used as a shrine to Napoleon and containing souvenirs of the Emperor’s battles arranged around a bust of Napoleon on a pedestal made in cedar. Desnouettes died in a shipwreck off the coast of Ireland in 1822.

Lefebvre's log cabin at Demopolis

Texas
The Bonapartist settlement that was established in Texas in 1818 is shrouded in mystery. The story of “Champ d’Asile”, where Liberty now stands on the banks of Trinity is one of the least known and most enigmatic of tales.
Soon after the departure of the first colonists to Alabama, General Henri Lallemand -the younger brother of Charles Lallemand- who had once commanded the artillery of the Imperial Guard was left in Philadelphia engaging himself in a much more ambitious project. Together with General Antoine Rigaud and backed by Joseph Bonaparte and Pierre Francois Réal they labored at founding a second colony in Eastern Texas. Like the “Vine and Oil Colony” it was established to be a place of asylum for former Napoleonic soldiers and their families in order to cultivate and live as free men. At least, such was the announcement made to the world in the press.
However, no place in Texas was less suited for such agriculture then the spot designated to become Champ d’Asile. The red dirt soil and climactic conditions were and still are entirely unsuited to ‘vine and olive.’ It would eventually become cotton country intermixed with farming of cattle. What was more, and this was certainly known to all the US congressmen that eventually endorsed the Frenchmen’s shemes in 1817, that it was located in a neutral zone between the United States and New Spain. Therefore we may justly assume that the United States had hoped that the presence of a new settlement there, made up of former Napoleonic generals and officers, would pressure the tormented Spain to give up Florida. Whether the Lallemand brothers, Rigaud and Réal knew about this or not we don’t know for certain but in any case, they succeeded in convincing sixty refugee officers in Philadelphia to sell part of their colonial allotments for the benefit of the expedition. Enough financial support was granted to them so that by the end of the year the campaign could already get started.
The first contingent, numbering about 150 (of which 50 veterans from the former Imperial Guard) set sail from Philadelphia in December under leadership of Antoine Rigaud. Shortly afterwards Henri Lallemand, with more officers and munitions, left New York for New Orleans. By the middle of January both ships arrived at Galveston where they met up with Charles Lallemand from the colonies in Alabama. During their short stay there, the Frenchmen became guests of the famous Lafitte brothers, privateers, smugglers and Spanish agents at La Maison Rouge. About 150 recruits from New Orleans, compromising many different nationalities, joined the colonists and on the 10th of March the entire group left for the Texas mainland in small boats, aided by the Laffites. They ascended the Trinity river and set foot in an unknown area near the present town of Liberty.
It is assumed that the 400 colonists built their log fort a Moss Bluff, about 40 miles southwest of Beaumont, overlooking the Trinity river. It was cornered with artillery emplacements covering both land and water approaches. In the centre of the fort a wooden statue of Napoleon, Emperor of France was erected. Around the fort, log cabins and storehouses were built.

 
Now, what Charles Lallemand (his brother Henri remained in Galveston to take care of supplies and ammo) and Antoine Rigaud intented to do in Texas remains a mystery to this day. Letters have been found of a former colonist of Champs d’Asile where he reports that the general spoke of mines in the area that would be cultivated and that would earn the colony tremendous wealth with which they could liberate the Emperor. Fact is however that they were not there to cultivate for no evidence has ever been found of them having undertaken agriculture in a serious manner. That Henri Lallemand was left behind in Galveston to take care of supplies, is already enough proof that the colony had never intended to take care of itself. What is known, is that the members of the colony were organized into three companies: one of infantry, one of foot cavalry and one of artillery. They spent months in their solitary exile in the wilderness training, marching, sharing recollections of glorious times that had once been and singing “le Chant du Depart”, “Le Victoire est a Nous” and “A l’Etendard”. Of course, one can rightly assume that their Emperor was the main topic of discussion and certainly plans were formed to effect his deliverance.
In the meantime the Spanish governor of Mexico, Antonio Martinez was alarmed by the reports (from the Lafittes?) of French activity on the banks of Trinity river. It seems plausible enough that he was worried that these restless exiles would use the settlement as a launching pad for future attacks into Spanish American territory. He therefore immediately stationed an advance force on the San Marcos to guard against eventual surprise attacks. At the same time, Spanish diplomats were ordered to Washington to urge them to respect the treaty signed between the two nations in 1806, where it was agreed that the areas on both sides of the Sabine river were to be considered neutral territory.
After a few months, the French themselves became divided when disagreements occurred between Charles Lallemand and Antoine Rigaud who was in charge of the settlement during Lallemands frequent absences to Galveston. When some of the colonists noticed that there was never any intention of cultivating the new land, they started to become suspicious of their leader’s intentions. Suffering from a shortage of supplies and hearing the reports that a large number of Spanish troops had been dispatched from San Antonio to expel them, the settlement quickly began to break down . Lallemand ordered the camp to be abandoned and by the end of July the colonists were at Galveston Bay waiting to be returned to the island by the Lafitte’s.
In the beginning of August, an agent from the US government arrived on Galveston Island and informed Lallemand that the government wanted the disheartened French to leave Texas. The Lallemand brothers joined the US agent back to Philadelphia leaving the care of the colonists in the hands of Antoine Rigaud. Jean Lafitte and Amable Humbert ferried some of the survivors back to Louisiana by water; others straggled back to New Orleans on foot in August 1818. About half of the colonists remained in the New Orleans area; others went to Philadelphia or joined the Vine and Olive Colony in Demopolis, Alabama.

Although the settlement of Champs d’Asile failed miserably, it’s impact on French culture was enormous. When the news of the fate of the colony reached Paris, many Bonapartist symphatizers, artists and journalists represented the failure of the colony as a cruel Bourbon attack on the tiny helpless remainder of what was left of France’s Imperial Glory. Innumerable paintings, lithographs, poems and novels soon saw the light depicting these once courageous, disciplined and well dressed soldiers as poor old and forgotten heroes. They underlined France common humiliation by the treaty of 1815 and the discontent of Napoleon’s veterans with the reactionary Bourbon regime. They symbolized the dissatisfaction of the middle class citizens who felt increasingly disenfranchised by the political strategies of the Bourbon system. In short, they gave an insight of how the greater part of France felt after the fall of Napoleon: as an exiled veteran at Champs d’Asile !!!!

When one enters Liberty in Texas by the US Route 90, one can find –just before the bridge over the Trinity river- a pillar commemorating the military settlement established by Lallemand and Rigaud. It was erected there in 1936 and it reads as follows:

To the generals Charles Lallemand and Antoine Rigau, to the veterans of the Napoleonic Wars and to the other French colonists, who, after many hardships and adventures, came to Texas in the spring of 1818 to establish on the banks of the Trinity River the Champ d’Asile, a last refuge of peace and liberty – WE WANT TO LIVE FREE/ INDUSTRIOUS AND IN PEACE

Three miles north of Liberty Texas on State Highway 146 and exit on FM 1011 you’ll find road signs leading to the Sam Houston Regional Library and Research Center. It’s regional history museum has a section dedicated to Jean Lafitte and his supposed part in the rescue of Napoleon from St. Helena. Another section is dedicated to General Lallemand and Champ d’Asile.

St.Just

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