Roger de Damas

Roger de Damas (4 September 1765 – 18 September 1823) was a French Army officer and Royalist general who fought against the French Revolutionary forces in order to assist the Russian Empire and the Kingdom of Naples. Biography Damas was born in Paris, and in 1779 began his military career in a French regiment commanded by his uncle. In 1787 he travelled to Russia, where a large army was being prepared for the war against the Ottoman Empire, as a guest of its commander Grigory Potemkin. After gaining the latter's esteem, he fought in the naval battles against the Turks and, once land operations began, at the head of a grenadier column. Later at Saint Petersburg, he received several honours from Empress Catherine and obtained permission from the French king to fight for Russia; de Damas took part in the remainder of the Russian-Turkish war of 1789-1790, leading an army corps during the sieges of Kilia and Akerinan. In his letters, Charles-Joseph, 7th Prince of Ligne, wrote to his friend Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur while serving with the army at the 1788 Siege of Ochakov. He described "a Frenchman of three ages - the chivalry of one, the grace of another, and the gayety of the present day". The Prince continued, "He is as giddy as a bumblebee in the midst of the liveliest cannonading". He noted a weakness, "Always French in soul, and it may be, a trifle vain." De Ligne concluded with, "Amiable, beloved by all, and what one calls a charming fellow, a brave fellow, a seigneur of the good tone of the Court of France - that is what Roger Damas is". Damas served with Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen at the Siege of Izmail in 1791. During this time the French Revolution had broken out, and de Damas joined the French Émigré armies, as aide-de-camp to the count of Artois (1791–1792). After accompanying Artois to Saint Petersburg in 1793 he joined the Émigré army of Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé serving with the Mirabeau Legion. In 1796 he was elevated to command this legion, which consisted of 1,200 men, 400 hussars and 4 artillery pieces. Damas fought in the campaigns of 1795, 1796 and 1797. In 1798 he entered the service of the King of Naples with permission of Paul I of Russia, and was given command of the 3rd Camp under Karl Mack von Leiberich in the ill-fated invasion of the Roman Republic. He took command of a corps of 7,000 men, survivors of Mack’s defeat at Civita Castellana during the French counter-invasion in December 1798.