KELLERMANN, FRANcOIS CHRISTOPHE DE (1735-182o), duke of Valmy and marshal of France, was born in Strasbourg of a Saxon family on May 28, 1735. He entered the French army and served in the Seven Years' War and in Louis XV.'s Polish expedition of 1771, after which he was made a lieu tenant-colonel. He became brigadier (1784), (1785), and in 1791 general of the Revolutionary army in Alsace. In April 1792 he was made a lieutenant-general, and in August his victory of Valmy (see FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS) over the Prussians, in Goethe's words, "opened a new era in the history of the world." Transferred to the army on the Moselle, Keller mann was accused of neglecting to support Custine's operations on the Rhine, but was acquitted and placed at the head of the army of the Alps and of Italy. Shortly afterwards he received instruc tions to reduce Lyons, then in revolt against the Convention, but after the surrender he was imprisoned in Paris for thirteen months. He was acquitted and reinstated in his command, maintaining the south-eastern border against the Austrians until his army was merged into that of General Bonaparte in Italy. His active career then came to an end, but the hero of Valmy was never forgotten. When Napoleon came to power Kellermann was named succes sively senator (I800), honorary marshal of France (1803), and duke of Valmy (18o8). His experience in army administration made him one of Napoleon's most valuable assistants. In he voted for the deposition of the emperor and became a peer under the royal government. After the "Hundred Days" he sat in the Chamber of Peers and voted with the Liberals. He died at Paris on Sept. 23, 182o.
See J. G. P. de Salve, Fragments historiques sur M. le marechal de Kellermann (1807), and De Botidoux, Esquisse de la carriere militaire de F. C. Kellermann, duc de Valmy (1817).
His son, FRANcOIS ETIENNE DE KELLERMANN, duke of Valmy (177o-1835), French cavalry general, was born at Metz and served in his father's regiment of Hussars before entering the diplomatic service in 1791. In 1793 he again joined the army and rose in 1796 to the rank of chef de brigade. During the Italian cam paign (1796-97), he attracted Bonaparte's notice by his brilliant conduct at the forcing of the Tagliamento He was made general of a brigade, and employed successively in the armies of Rome and Naples under Macdonald and Championnet. In the campaign of 1800 he commanded a cavalry brigade, and at Marengo (q.v.) he carried out one of the most famous cavalry charges of history, which, with Desaix's infantry attack, regained the lost battle and decided the issue of the war. He was promoted general of a division immediately. He was perhaps the ablest of all Napoleon's cavalry leaders, and distinguished himself at Auster litz (q.v.) in Portugal, at Tormes (Nov. 28, 1809), and on many other occasions in the Peninsular War and in the campaigns of 1813-14. He retained his rank under the first Restoration, but joined Napoleon during the Hundred Days, and fought in the Waterloo campaign, where he was again wounded. He was dis graced at the second Restoration, and maintained till the fall of Charles X. in 1830 an attitude of determined opposition to the Bourbons. He succeeded his father and died June 2, 1835.
His son FRANcOIS CHRISTOPHE EDMOND DE KELLERMANN, duke of Valmy (1802-1868), was a distinguished statesman, polit ical historian, and diplomatist under the July Monarchy.