DESAIX DE VEYGOUX, LOUIS CHARLES AN TOINE French general, was born at Saint-Hilaire d'Ayat of noble parentage on Aug. 17, 1768, and was educated for the army. In 1789 he declared for the Revolution, and rose rapidly in the revolutionary army. By 1794 he had attained the rank of general of division. In the campaign of 1795 he commanded Jourdan's right wing, and in Moreau's invasion of Bavaria in 1796 he held an equally important command. In the retreat after the battles of Amberg and Wurzburg (see FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS) Desaix commanded Moreau's rearguard, and later the fortress of Kehl. He then obtained a mission to Italy, and met Bonaparte. Provisionally appointed commander of the "Army of England," Desaix was soon transferred by Bonaparte to the expe ditionary force intended for Egypt. His division bore the brunt of the Mameluke attack at the battle of the Pyramids, and he de feated Murad Bey's army in Upper Egypt. Amongst the fellaheen he acquired the significant appellation of the "Just Sultan." De saix was one of the small party selected to accompany Bonaparte on his return to France, but the campaign of 1800 was well on its way to the climax when Desaix was able to report himself for duty in Italy. He was in command of a corps of two infantry divisions when (June 14) he heard the cannon of Marengo on his right. He marched at once towards the sound, meeting Bonaparte's staff offi cer, who had come to recall him, half way on the route. He arrived with Boudet's division at the moment when the Austrians were victorious all along the line. Exclaiming, "There is yet time to win another battle!" he led his three regiments straight against the enemy's centre. At the moment of victory Desaix was killed by a musket ball. Napoleon erected the monuments to his memory on the Place Dauphine and the Place des Victoires in Paris.
See F. Martha-Beker, Comte de Mons, Le General L. C. A. Desaix (1852).