rate it as a benefactor.

FRANCOIS KELLERMANN, MARSHAL OF FRANCE

(1735-1820)

[Illustration: Francois Kellermann. [TN]]

Francois Christopher Kellermann, who with a little army of raw
recruits defeated the forces of united Europe at Valmy, and saved
France from destruction, was born of a respectable family at
Strasbourg, then part of France, on May 28, 1735. At the age of
seventeen, he became a cadet in the regiment of Lowendalh; and passing
through the grades of ensign and lieutenant in 1753 and 1756, became
captain of dragoons, in which rank he served in the Seven Years' War
until 1762, and was favorably mentioned in the reports of the battle
of Bergen. A brilliant charge of cavalry, against a corps commanded by
General Scheider, procured him, in the last year, the distinction of
the cross of St. Louis, then an honor of the highest esteem. After the
peace of 1763, he passed with the same rank into the legion of
Conflans, and in 1765 and 1766 was charged by the king with the
execution of some important commissions in Poland. In 1771, the
increasing troubles in Poland furnished a pretext for the invasion of
that country by the united troops of France and the Germanic
confederation; and Kellermann was appointed to accompany the French
commander-in-chief of the expedition, Baron de Viomenil; and in 1772,
he was placed at the head of a native corps of cavalry which he had
been concerned in organizing. His conduct in the retreat from the
castle of Cracow, in 1772, elevated his character for dexterity and
courage. In 1780, he became lieutenant-colonel of hussars; on January
1, 1784, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier, and in 1788,
received the rank of major-general. In 1790, under the National
Assembly, he was placed in command of both departments of Alsace, and
so approved were his services in placing that frontier in a state of
defence against the threatened invasion of combined Europe, that, in
1792, he received the cordon rouge of the order of St. Louis, and was
appointed lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief of the forces
assembled at Neukirch, and afterward, on August 28th, in the same
year, of the army of the Moselle.

It was at this time that the formidable invasion under the Duke of
Brunswick, consisting of 138,000 men, of whom 66,000 were under the
King of Prussia in person, and 50,000 were Austrians under Prince
Hohenlohe and Marshal Clairfait, marched to France, and menaced
Dumouriez, wh