“Dumas led a life almost unfathomable to us today, not because his exploits sound like fiction, but because a man who had accomplished so much could be so easily forgotten.”

By Seth Bush

THOMAS-Alexandre Dumas was no ordinary French aristocrat or general. The son of a French marquis and an enslaved woman, Dumas would rise to incredible highlights in France’s army. He’d become the first black man in that country’s history to attain the rank of general and would go on to lead thousands into battles that shaped the world to come.

One of his most daring exploits came in 1797. On Jan. 16 of that year, Dumas thwarted an attempt by Austrian forces to lift the siege of Mantua at the Battle of Rivoli. In fact, he personally led a counterattack. During the course of the battle, two horses were shot out from under him, one by a cannonball. Standing over six feet at a time most men were under 5’8’’ meant he was an easier target to spot then most. 

After the action, Napoleon’s Chief of Staff, General Louis-Alexandre Berthier, wrote a rather unflattering report in which he claimed Dumas had merely observed the action and did not take part.

Offended by the accusation, Dumas wrote to Napoleon directly,

GENERAL,

I learn that the silly fool whose business it was to report to you upon the battle of the 27th states that I only looked on throughout that battle. I have no wish to make similar observations concerning him, although he soiled his trousers.

Respectfully yours,
ALEX. DUMAS.

This was Dumas’s signature behavior: He had neither the desire nor the inclination towards tact. He was a proud man who could defend claims of arrogance with his courageous actions on the battlefield and on paper.

Napoleon did not take Dumas’s words kindly and removed the general from his command, sending him to the far reaches of the French lines to patrol while he negotiated peace with the Pope. 

Although Dumas retained his rank, the reduction in station was clearly a demotion. A backwater is no place for a general seeking glory. After fending off Austrian skirmishers from across the Eisack River, Dumas seized the initiative. He ordered his troops to charge across the bridge connecting the French and Austrian lines. He led the attack personally with only his aide de camp at his side. Once again, Dumas’s horse would be shot out from under him. The Austrians cheered believing they’d killed the “black devil” at last.

Dumas sprang to his feet however and, though bleeding, held the enemy off with only his saber and bare hands as his soldiers struggled to reach him. Before the Austrians withdrew, Dumas killed a dozen of them himself. He then leaped onto another horse and pursued.

Dumas was used to adversity. Born the son of a Marquis from Normandy and his Creole concubine in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), young Alex was brought to France at age 14. His father wasted no time in securing for him the finest education a gentleman of his class could afford and was expected to have. Standing more than six feet tall and with incredible athletic skill, he was a swashbuckling figure who was hard to miss.

Despite his noble pedigree, Dumas’ mixed heritage made him something of an outcast in pre-revolutionary France. Determined to serve, he enlisted as a private in 1786, three years before the revolution. Under the new regime however, his fortunes soared. Within seven years, he’d rise from the ranks to reach general. He led the cavalry of the Army of the Orient that fought for Napoleon in Egypt. He was at the Battle of the Pyramids and would later play a crucial role defeating an uprising in Cairo that threatened the French campaign. 

However, the fire of the revolution burned hot in the belly of a man who knew what it was to have his humanity doubted, but he became disillusioned with Napoleon’s constant scheming to gain power.

At least some of Dumas’s subordinates had similar feelings. When Napoleon heard about the general’s officers gathering in their commander’s tent to discuss their misgivings, the future emperor was furious. Bonaparte soon confronted Dumas, the general who had guaranteed so many of his victories. Dumas denied nothing and refused to continue as commander of the cavalry.

The two parted ways with Dumas hiring a ship to return him to France. While he’d paid the captain to make the necessary repairs, the boat’s skipper pocketed the money instead and set sail regardless of the dangers. During the voyage home, the vessel began taking on water off the Italian coast. Dumas and the passengers abandoned ship and reached the shore, where the general was captured by Italian soldiers of the Kingdom of Naples. He’d languish in a prison for years before finally being rescued.

By the time Dumas returned home, his body was broken from years of imprisonment and his spirit all but shattered. In the intervening years, Napoleon had made himself First Consul of France and restored slavery, an institution that the revolution had made a core tenet to abolish. All that Dumas believed he had fought for had been undone by Bonaparte. Tragically, even this did not mark Dumas’s lowest point.

Even more hardships awaited the general as he found himself unable to secure a new assignment and suffered through financial difficulties. Napoleon saw to it that he received neither pay nor command. He would die in 1806 from stomach cancer at the age of 43.

The great irony is that the name Alexandre Dumas would live on, not as a forgotten general but as an accomplished author. His son would go on to famously write The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo—both stories that revolve around imprisonment, betrayal, injustice, perseverance, and redemption. Ideas and experiences that must have been drawn from his father’s life and adventures and would live on.

General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas led a life almost unfathomable to us today, not because his exploits sound like fiction, but because a man who had accomplished so much could be so easily forgotten. He led thousands in battle, climbed frozen mountains, and held bridges single-handedly against impossible odds. He fought alongside Napoleon and survived war and imprisonment in an Italian dungeon only to die before his time from disease. His life would inspire his son and generations for centuries. Napoleon may have had his crown, but Dumas had a son who would carry his name and his character into immortality.

Seth Bush is a U.S. Army Reserve officer and author of The Unconventionals: True Stories about Outsiders Who Changed the World, which examines Dumas and three other officers who challenged the norms of their time.