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ANTOINE JOSEPH SANTERRE (1752-1809)

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Originally appearing in Volume V24, Page 191 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANTOINE JOSEPH SANTERRE (1752-1809)  , French revolutionist, was born in Paris on the 16th of March 1752 . Like his
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father, he was a brewer, and gained
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great popularity in
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faubourg St Antoine by his beneficence . In 1789 he was given the command of a
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battalion of the
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National Guard, and took
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part in the storming of the Bastille . After the affair of the Champ de Mars (
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July 17th, 1791) a warrant was issued for his arrest, and he went into hiding . He emerged again in the following
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year, and took part in the events of the loth of
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June and the loth of August 1792, when he led the
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people of the faubourg St Antoine to the assault of the Tuileries . He, however, protected the royal
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family against the violence of the
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mob and, on the 7th of August, even attempted to bring about a reconciliation, but his efforts were frustrated by
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Marie Antoinette . He was made commanderin-chief of the National Guard, and appointed by the Convention warder to the king, in which position he did all in his power to alleviate Louis's captivity . He notified Louis of the sentence of
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death, and was
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present at the execution . Accounts differ as to his conduct at the execution, some stating that he ordered a roll of drums to drown the king's voice . The family tradition, how-ever, is that he silenced the drums to enable Louis to speak to the people, and that General J . F . Berruyer, who was in
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sole command, ordered the drums to beat and thus drowned the last words of the king's speech .

Santerre was appointed marechal de camp on the 23rd of
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October 1792, and subsequently general of division . In May 1793 he was temporarily replaced as
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commander of the National Guard in Paris, so that he might take command of a force which he had organized to operate in La Vendee . As a military commander he was not a conspicuous success, his debut being signalized by the defeat of the republicans at
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Saumur . He was variously reported to have been wounded and killed in this affair, and the wits of the reactionary party circulated his epitaph: Ci-grit le general Santerre Qus n'eut de Mars que la biere . He was scarcely more popular among the sans-culottes of his army . Wounded soldiers, returned to Paris, reported that he was living let-bas, " in
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Oriental luxury," and complained that, since their defeat had been due either to his treason or his incompetence, he should have been either guillotined " like other generals " or superseded . He was, however, not in supreme command, and therefore not responsible for the
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ill conduct of the war; he distinguished himself in various actions; and when, in October, he returned to Paris his popularity in the faubourg St Antoine was undiminished . But his report on this expedition, in which he drew attention to the evil
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plight of the republican arms in the Vendee, aroused suspicion . He was accused of " Orleanism " and imprisoned, and was not released until after the fall of Robespierre . He then gave in his resignation as general, and returned to commerce_; but his brewery was ruined, and after many vicissitudes of fortune he died in poverty in Paris on the 6th of
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February 18o9 . See A . Carro, Santerre general de la republique francaise (Paris, 1847), compiled from Santerre's MS. notes; P .

Robiquet, Le Personnel municipal de Paris

pendant la Revolution (Paris, 189o); C . L . Chassin, La Vendee et la Chouannerie (Paris, 1892 seq.); " L'Etat
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des services de Santerre dresse par lui-meme," in the third
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volume of Souvenirs et memoires (1899), published by Paul Bonnefon .

End of Article: ANTOINE JOSEPH SANTERRE (1752-1809)
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