Charles Leclerc

Consulate and First Empire state institutions 1772–1802 ○ Died of yellow fever

Napoleon's brother-in-law who commanded the Saint-Domingue expedition of 1802, arrested Louverture and died of yellow fever

Born in Pontoise in 1772, he volunteered in 1791 and met Napoleon at the siege of Toulon in 1793. He became a brigade general in Italy in 1797, married Napoleon's sister Pauline that year and led grenadiers into the Council of Five Hundred in the coup of 18 Brumaire. In late 1801 he was given command of the expedition to Saint-Domingue with instructions to liquidate Toussaint Louverture's government and deport his officers, and sailed from Brest on 14 December. In 1802 he arrested Toussaint at a meeting and shipped him to France, but when news of the restoration of slavery in Guadeloupe set off desertions he proposed a war of annihilation to Napoleon in October and had 1,000 Black soldiers drowned at Cap-Français. He died of yellow fever in November 1802.

Also known as: Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclerc · Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc