Balthazar Alexis Henri Schauenburg

The family of Schauenburg dates to the eleventh century, and the union of Utha, daughter of Godfrey count of Calw, with Luitgarde of the house of Zähringen and Henry the Great, duke of Bavaria.[1]

By the late fourteenth century, the line of Winterbach had formed; within two more generations, the lines of Luxembourg and Alsace.[2] The Alsatian line, founded with Rene (Renaud) in 1474, is linked with the house of Austria and the margraves of Baden, dating to the late fifteenth century; he was invested with several fiefs and made an alliance with the knights of Ortenau. During a campaign with the brothers of the margraves of Baden, he served well as their champion of battle, and was rewarded with a chateau at Isenheim. His advantageous marriages to Agathe of Stauffenberg and (second) Claire de Oersperg, and the survival of his second child Nicholas, sealed his success. Nicholas not only became the grand master of the forests of Baden, he lived to the fantastic age of 91 (when he married a second time), and produced equally energetic and successful children.[3] After three more generations, this line of the family divided into three branches: Nicholas III, founded the branch of Oberkirch and Gaisbach; Jean-Rene founded the branches of Herrlisheim and Moravia; Christophe founded the Alsatian branches of Jungholz and Fribourg.[4]

Balthazar Alexis Henri descended of the Schauenburg branch called the Jungholz. Schauenburg was the first son (and oldest child) of Bathazar Schauenburg (1718–1788). Balthazar (senior) was captain in the Regiment of Nassau, and chevalier of the Order of Saint Louis; he married on 2 August 1745 to Marie Charlotte of Gaillard (1725–1808), daughter of Claude Gaillard (1685–1779), the Count of Hellimer.[5] Balthazar senior and his wife had two other children: Jean-Pierre, born 16 June 1753, was a captain of the regiment Alsace, and served the Prince Deux Pont in Munich as his chamberlain. The third child, Francois Andre Balthazar, born on 1 December 1761, was a colonel of battalion, chevalier of Saint Louis, and died 15 June 1833.[6]

Balthazar Alexis Henri Schauenburg married Marie-Francoise-Sophie-Louise Albertine d' Tratzheim in 1783, and they had the four children. The first, Maximilian-Joseph (30 April 1784–19 September 1838), was Marechal de camp (brigadier general), Commander of the Legion of honor, and married (first) to Caroline de Berkheim (died 1827, sister of General Sigismond Frédéric de Berckheim) and (second) Hortense de Lerme. The second child, François-Joseph, born 1785, was a captain of grenadiers and died in 1807 at the Battle of Heilsberg. The third child, Pierre-Rielle, was born 18 March 1793 in Saarlouis; he became a second lieutenant in 1808, chief of squadron and deputy and peer of France, member of the General Council, which was elected by universal suffrage. As Baron of Schauenburg, he married Adele, daughter of Jean-Nicolas du Bosque and Salome de Marechal, and had three children: Pierre-Joseph-Balthazar-Alexis, 21 June 1828, who became a magistrate; Idlesomme-Odon-Henri, born 2 January 1830, captain of the 2nd Dragoons and Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and Marie Josephine-Isaure, born 29 March 1831. Their fourth child, Jean-Charles, was born 20 January 1797, became a cavalry officer, and died in 1826.[6]

During his lifelong military career, he served first in Louis XV's royal army as a 14-year-old cadet in an Alsatian regiment; upon his promotion to second lieutenant, he transferred to a Nassau regiment. From 1770 to 1772, he served in the Corsican campaign.[7] After the French Revolution, he adopted the principles of equality, and his career advanced quickly.[8] Replacing Louis-Alexandre Berthier, he served as chief of staff to François Christophe de Kellermann at the Battle of Valmy in September 1792. He turned out to be a talented organizer.[9] On 5 August 1793 he was appointed to lead the Army of the Moselle against his wishes. He claimed to be a good military instructor but not an army commander.[10] The generals had already seen many commanders-in-chief disgraced or executed, so few men wanted the assignment. Yet during his appointment to the Army of the Moselle, he drilled raw recruits into a functioning military unit. As a nobleman, Schauenburg came under suspicion and Jean René Moreaux was named to replace him on 24 September 1793. However, Moreaux was ill from an old wound[11] and Jacques Charles René Delauney took over as acting commander on 30 September. Delauney held the post until Lazare Hoche became the Army of Moselle's new leader on 31 October 1793.[12] Schauenburg was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror until 27 July 1794.[13][Note 1]

Schauenburg was appointed to the rank of inspector general of the infantry to the Army of the Rhine and Moselle and served during the Rhine Campaign of 1796.[14] and commanded one of the armies responsible for the invasion of the Swiss Confederation in January 1798; under his guidance, the French suppressed the Swiss anti-French uprising, which had resulted in a civil war. He exacted heavy war contributions from the Swiss, in particular on the city of Bern.[15] He also led the troops which captured the abbey of Mariastein[16] He commanded the Army of Helvetia from 8 March to 10 December 1798, when he was replaced by General André Masséna.[17] Subsequently, he transferred to the Army of the Rhine, where he served from 1799 to 1801.[7]

Schauenburg was appointed Inspector General of Infantry in 1806 under Napoleon I. In 1814, as military commander of Tours, he rallied to Louis XVIII. The King awarded Schauenburg by appointing him a Commandant of Order of Saint Louis, and Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. He retired on 24 December 1814. He went blind in his old age, and died in the castle he built in Geudertheim on 1 September 1831.[18] Schawembourg is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 23.

• La tactique et la discipline dans les armées de la révolution. by Schauenbourg, Balthazar baron