François Joseph Westermann

François Joseph Westermann (September 5, 1751—April 5, 1794) was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars and political figure of the French Revolution.

Biography

Career

Born in Molsheim (Alsace), François Joseph Westermann entered a cavalry regiment at an early age but soon left the service and went to Paris. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Revolution, and in 1790 became "greffier" of the municipality of Haguenau. After a short imprisonment on a charge of inciting riots in Haguenau, he returned to Paris, where he joined Georges Danton and played an important part in the attack on the Tuileries on August 10, 1792.

He accompanied Charles François Dumouriez on his campaigns with the Army of the North, and assisted him in his negotiations with the Habsburgs, being arrested as an accomplice after the general's defection. Denounced by Jean-Paul Marat to the National Convention, Westermann succeeded in proving his innocence, and was sent with the rank of Brigadier General to quell the Revolt in the Vendée.

Vendée and downfall

Westermann distinguished himself by his extraordinary courage, daring maneuvers, and severe treatment of the insurgents. After suffering a defeat at Châtillon, he defeated the Vendéans at Beaupréau, Laval, Granville, and Baugé, and in December 1793 annihilated their army at Le Mans and Savenay.

Westermann wrote to the Committee of Public Safety::"There is no more Vendée, Republican citizens. It died beneath our free sword, with its women and its children. I have just buried it in the swamps and the woods of Savenay. Following the orders that you gave to me, I crushed the children beneath the horses' hooves, massacred the women who, those at least, will bear no more brigands. I do not have a single prisoner to reproach myself with. I have exterminated them all..." [Secher, Reynald. "A French Genocide: The Vendee." University of Notre Dame Press, (2003). p. 110 ISBN 0268028656 ]

He was then summoned to Paris, where, as a friend and partisan of Georges Danton, he was proscribed with the Dantonist party and guillotined.

References

*1911 "In turn, it cites as reference:"
**P. Holl, "Nos généraux alsaciens ... Westermann" (Strasbourg, 1900).