General Charles Edward Saul Jennings (19 October 1751 – 11 December 1799), also referred to as Brave Kilmaine, was an Irish soldier under French service and a revolutionary. He was a supporter of Irish independence and an active supporter of the French Revolution. Jennings is known to have been an associate of Theobald Wolfe Tone and served as a brigade and division commander under Napoleon I.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (May 2021) This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2021)

Quick Facts Nickname(s), Born ...

Charles Edward Jennings
Nickname(s)	Brave Kilmaine
Born	(1751-10-19)19 October 1751 Sauls Court, Dublin, Ireland
Died	11 December 1799(1799-12-11) (aged 48) Paris, France
Allegiance	United Irishmen Kingdom of France First French Republic
Service/branch	Austrian Army French Army
Years of service	1765-1799
Rank	General of division
Battles/wars	Senegal Campaign American War of Independence French Revolutionary Wars

Close

Jennings served in the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars. He played a minor role in the Irish independence movement. Jennings was known for being one of the most charismatic Irish generals of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic period. Though he was not ennobled, he is sometimes referred to as de Kilmaine and Baron de Kilmaine in reference to the Jennings' ancestral home in Kilmaine, County Mayo.^[1]

Jennings was born on 19 October 1751 at Saul's Court, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland. His father, Dr. Theobald Jennings of Polaniran (Irish: Poll an Iarainn) (Ironpool), near Tuam, County Galway was a prominent physician who married a cousin, Eleanor Saul, daughter of Laurence Saul, a wealthy Dublin distiller.^[2] In 1738, Dr. Jennings and Eleanor left Ireland and settled in Tonnay-Charente in south-west France. In 1751, when Eleanor became pregnant, she left France for Dublin in order to have her child born in Ireland. Jennings spent his early childhood in Saul's Court with his relatives. When he was 11 years old, he left Ireland and joined his father in France. Jennings was educated in Tonnay-Charente and became proficient in French.

Jennings began his military career in 1764 at the age of 14 when he entered the Austrian army. After seven years' service as a junior officer in Austria, he entered the French army in 1774. In September 1778, Kilmaine was appointed adjutant of the Volontaires-étrangers de Lauzun (Lauzun's Legion), a mercenary unit owned and commanded by the Duc de Lauzun, Armand Louis de Gontaut. He served with this unit in Senegal in 1779 and in America under Rochambeau (1780–83) and remained after it was reorganized as a hussar regiment.^[3]

This section may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. (May 2021)

Due to his retreat at Caesar's Camp and suspicions regarding his foreign birth and relations abroad, Kilmaine was relieved of his command, discharged from the army and sent into exile to Luxembourg. Regarding his situation, he said "I am ready, to serve the cause of the Republic in whatever rank I am placed, and wherever set I shall do my duty."

Kilmaine returned to Paris undercover and retired with his wife to the Parisian suburb of Passy. There they lived quietly for a few months. When the Reign of Terror began, he and his wife were arrested and imprisoned. Kilmaine escaped the guillotine and was released after the fall of Robespierre in July 1794. He and his wife were released on an order signed by Lazare Carnot and remained for some time in Paris.

Kilmaine was involved in quelling the Jacobin Uprising in May 1795. He assisted Jean-Charles Pichegru in the defence of the National Convention against excited mobs of Parisian faubourgs. Kilmaine continued to fight for the convention until the 13th Vendemiaire, 1796, actively cooperating with Napoleon Bonaparte and the Revolutionary Party.

Early in 1796, he set out with Bonaparte on the Italian Campaign. He fought at the Battle of Lodi on 10 May and contributed to the victory by leading a cavalry charge. In September, he was appointed Commander of Northern Italy. His actions in this campaign significantly increased his reputation throughout Europe.

In October, Kilmaine was one of Napoleon's subordinate commanders during the Siege of Mantua. The Austrians, who were commanded by Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser, attempted to break out and were repulsed with the loss of 1,100 men and five pieces of cannon. Kilmaine played a key role in repulsing them. Bonaparte, in his dispatch to the Directory on 1 October 1796 wrote:

General Kilmaine, who commands the two divisions which press the siege of Mantua, remained on the 29th ultimo in his former position, and was still in hopes that the enemy would attempt a sortie to carry forage into the place, but instead they took up a position before the gate of Pradello, near the Carthusian convent and the chapel of Cerese. The brave General Kilmaine made his arrangements for an attack, and advanced in two columns against these two points, but he had scarcely begun to march when the enemy evacuated their camps, their rear having fired only a few musket-shots at him. The advanced posts of General Vaubois have come up with the Austrian division which defends the Tyrol and made one hundred and ten prisoners."

Early in December, Wurmser attempted another breakout. The Austrians began their operation just before dawn advancing under a furious cannonade. However, as Bonaparte noted, "Kilmaine made him return, as usual, faster than he came out, and took from him two hundred men, one howitzer, and two pieces of cannon. This is his third unsuccessful attempt."

Kilmaine energetically and ably commanded troops involved in the Siege of Mantua for over 5 months. Wurmser finally surrendered on 3 February 1797. In a dispatch notifying the Minister of War about this important victory Kilmaine wrote:

Kilmaine, General de Division and Commandant of Lombardy, to the Minister of War. Milan, 17 Pluviose, 1797

Citizen Minister,

I avail myself of a courier which general Bonaparte sends from Romagna (in order to announce to the Directory the defeat of the Papal troops), to acquaint you with the capture of Mantua, the news of which I received yesterday evening by a courier from Mantua itself I thought it necessary to announce this circumstance, because General Bonaparte, who is occupied in Romagna annihilating the troops of his Holiness, may probably have been ignorant of this fact when his courier departed. Tho garrison are our prisoners of war and are to be sent into Germany in order to be exchanged. I have not yet received the articles of capitulation, but the commander-in-chief will not fail to send them by the first courier.

The capture of Mantua was celebrated in Paris by the firing of cannon and the erection of arches in honour of Bonaparte and Kilmaine 'the Irish Commandant of Lombardy', and a grand joy was diffused through every heart in the city on the fall of what they styled the Gibraltar of Italy, while Bonaparte, loaded with the diamonds of the vanquished corrupt Pope, and the spoils of our Lady of Loretto, pushed on to seek fresh conquests and new laurels. Kilmaine briefly remained in command in Mantua after its capitulation. Upon returning to Paris, he was awarded the title Baron de Kilmaine.

In the spring of 1798, the French were preparing to invade Britain and Ireland. In the February of that year, a grand march to the coast of the Channel took place. The invasion force consisted of forty demi-brigades of infantry, thirty-four regiments of cavalry, two regiments of horse artillery, two regiments of foot artillery, six companies of sappers and pioneers, and six battalions of miners and pontooniers. This task force was led by eighteen distinguished generals of division, and forty-seven generals of brigade the most brave and able in France. Among the former were Kilmaine, Louis Alexandre Berthier, Jean Baptiste Kléber, André Masséna, Jacques MacDonald, Michel Ney, Claude Perrin Victor, and others whose names were to become famous in future wars as the marshals of the empire. Headed by bands blaring martial music, the soldiers marched through Paris, displaying black banners inscribed with slogans such as

"Descent upon England, long live the Republic! May Britain perish"

On St. Patrick's Day, Kilmaine recorded in his memoirs that he hosted a great banquet in Paris. Along with many Irish generals, including Colonel Henri Shée [fr], and all the Irishmen in Paris. Other guests in attendance were Irish rebels James Bartholomew Blackwell, William Corbet and Napper Tandy, also there was the notorious American radical and intellectual Thomas Paine (then a political fugitive and pseudo-anarchist, who had been invited to attend by Kimaine) and General O'Cher.^{[lower-alpha 1]} Irish republican Wolfe Tone had not been present at the banquet. He was hiding in Paris around this time and had been holding secret meetings with Napoleon (set up through Kilmaine) to discuss an Irish Revolution. Tone detested many of the Irishmen in Paris, describing them as "sad, vulgar wretches, and I have been used to rather better company in all respects", and stayed well away. However, all the corresponding members of the Irish clubs and malcontent parties at home were also present. Many fierce end-stirring political toasts were drunk, amid vociferous enthusiasm, among these, one in particular,

"Long live the Irish Republic, long live the Republic."

Speeches were made expressive of the rapid progress which republicanism had made in their native country, and of the strong desire of the Catholics and Dissenters to throw off the yoke of England, (that yoke which Kilmaine in his boyhood had been taught by his father to abhor and to hate). Irish rebel leader Napper Tandy, was in the chair for most of the night, on his left sat none other than Thomas Paine, and on his right sat Kilmaine, who, immediately after the banquet, had to leave Paris to rejoin his column of the army on the coast.

The future Irish Republic was enthusiastically saluted by Kilmaine that night, and every confidence (though merry) expressed in the accomplishment of his most ardent desire for the magnificent emancipation of Ireland.

Within days hundreds of gunboats were ordered to be prepared, and transports were to be collected at Dunkirk, to be protected from the British fleet by a Dutch squadron then at the mouth of the Scheldt. All of Britain was up in arms on hearing of an armament so formidable.

Meanwhile, the condition of France was then absolutely desperate and wild. In April, Kilmaine returned to Paris, after having executed, by order of the government, a survey of all the coasts of France and Holland (then reduced to a province of the former). He was promptly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armée d'Angleterre destined for the invasion of the British Isles. The position which had been meant for Louis Desaix, the hero of Marengo, was now bestowed upon him. As the supreme chief of command of this famous militia force, the eyes of all Europe were now fixed firmly on him.

French whispers throughout Europe at the time assert that this expedition was destined, not for Britain, but in fact for Egypt, and that Kilmaine received the command of it, not so much for his great military skill, but as to deceive the ministry, supposing that the name of an Irishman would cause them to believe that the armament was destined for Ireland and so they named him General in Chief of the Armee d'Angleterre, which never existed at all. Even if this was the case Kilmaine didn't know it. The number of transports was soon increased to over a thousand, and all the naval and military resources of Holland were pressed into the French service and managed by Kilmaine.

Colonel Shee, Wolfe Tone, General Henri-Jacques-Guillaume Clarke, General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert and Kilmaine, were by this time hard at work planning an Irish invasion. They were well acquainted with the extent of the military organization of the United Irishmen and knew that by the close of the preceding year, the people were well provided with arms, and knew the use of them. At the beginning of 1797, great quantities were discovered and seized by the British Government, who, in Leinster and Ulster alone, captured 70,630 pikes, with 48,109 muskets. If the Irish managed their projected rising, one cannot for a moment doubt what the result would be, once Kilmaine's formidable expedition landed in Ireland.

Meanwhile, Kilmaine's health was slowly declining. The duties of a 47-year-old Kilmaine were alike harassing and arduous, as he had to superintend the equipment and organization of this vast force, composed of men of all arms and several nations, and he was repeatedly summoned to Paris, even in the middle of the night, by couriers who overtook him in his progress, thus, though suffering under severe ill health. The Directory once brought him on the spur from Bruges early in July, and again from Brest about the end of the same month only to bring him back a few days later.

During the summer of 1798, the European press were full of words expressing admiration for Kilmaine.

Citizen d'Arbois, an officer on Kilmaine's staff, sent a glowing account of Kilmaine's mission to the Paris newspapers, where it was published on 7 August 1798. He wrote:

"The eagerness with which our troops, both by sea and land, await the moment when, under the brave and brilliant warrior Kilmaine, they will engage the English, is the best pledge of our approaching success, and the defeat of our enemies."

Around this time too, a Brussels newspaper stated,

"We are assured that the French republicans shall be able to make a successful descent upon Ireland, the Belgian youth will be employed in that country under General Kilmaine, who, being a native of it, will there have the command of the French and Irish forces."

Doubts hovered in the minds of the Directory, even if there were none in the hearts of their soldiers and generals, and long delays ensued. General Hoche, who was the mainspring of the projected movement in favour of Ireland, died. And Bonaparte, to whom Kilmaine, Tone, Shee, and others of the Irish patriots turned, no longer had any sympathy for their cause, as all his efforts were now focused on the war in the East.

This section may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. (May 2021)

At the beginning of 1799, Kilmaine's health was further deteriorating. He had also become greatly saddened by the death of his friend, Wolfe Tone. In the spring of 1799, the Directory appointed him supreme generalissimo of the army of Helvetii, as they chose to designate Switzerland, reviving the ancient name of the people whom Julius Caesar conquered. The French troops already occupied Lombardy on one side, and the Rhenish provinces on the other. Thus, they never doubted their ability to conquer the Swiss and remodel the Helvetic constitution.

The 48-year-old Kilmaine accepted the command, and ignored his condition for quite some time, until his rapidly failing health forced him to give up his baton to Massena, and he was compelled to retire from active service for good.

With a sorrow which he could not conceal, he saw that army march which penetrated into the heart of the Swiss mountains and imposed on their hardy inhabitants a constitution in which Bonaparte, under the plausible title of Mediator, secured the cooperation of the valiant descendants of the Celtic tribe of Helvetii in his further schemes of conquest and ambition.

In a fragile condition, Kilmaine left Switzerland and returned to Passy in Paris, where his domestic issues only worsened his already poor health. He died there of dysentery on 11 December 1799, at the age of 48.

Kilmaine is historically honoured at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, where his name can be seen on the inside triumphal arch, on the Northern pillar, Column 05. Underneath the Arc is the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (World War I).

In the memoirs of Captain Landrieux, his aide-de-camp, Kilmaine is described as

"The only officer in whom Napoleon ever placed complete and utter confidence."

A generous man, he frequently supplemented out of his own private means the rations of his men, who with difficulty were prevented from deserting and more importantly kept alive.

In the Memoirs published by General Charles Tristan, Marquis de Montholon, he wrote of Jennings,

"Brave and noble Kilmaine, being an excellent cavalry officer, had coolness and foresight, he was well fitted to command a corps of observation, detached upon those arduous or delicate commissions which require spirit, discernment, and sound judgment. He rendered important services to the army, of which he was one of the principal generals notwithstanding the delicacy of his health. He had a great knowledge of the Austrian troops, familiar with their tactics, he did not allow himself to be imposed upon by those rumors which they were in the habit of spreading in the rear of an army, nor to be dismayed by those heads of columns which they were wont to display in every direction, to deceive as to the real strength of their forces. His political opinions were brilliantly moderate."

Wolfe Tone wrote of Kilmaine in his private journal. One of his diary entries read,

"Clarke then said there were some Irish officers yet remaining in France, who might go, and he mentioned Jennings, who used to call himself Baron de Kilmaine, God knows why. I answered, that in Ireland we had no great confidence in the officers of the old Irish Brigade, so many of them had either deserted, or betrayed the French cause, that, as to Jennings, he had had the unfortunate misfortune to command after Custine, and had been obliged to break up the famous "Camp de Caesar", that, though this might probably have been no fault of his, it had made an impression, and, as he was at any rate not a fortunate general but a typical Irish soldier of fortune, I thought it would maybe better to have a Frenchman."

There is a personal portrait of General Kilmaine in the 'Hotel de Ville' (City Hall) at Tonnay-Charente, where his father Dr. Theobald Jennings practiced as a physician.

A monument was erected in his memory in Tonnay-Charente in the 19th century.

Rue du Général Kilmaine, a street in Tonnay-Charente, was named in his honour in the 19th century.

Kilmaine married when he was relatively young and had at least one child. There is reason to believe that his wife 'Baroness de Kilmaine' died a few years before he did. There are likely numerous descendants of the Jennings family in Ireland. The Browne de Kilmaine family in France is not related to the general, but to The Hon. Frederick Longworth Browne, son of the 2nd Lord Kilmaine, who settled in France.

• McGarry, S., Irish Brigades Abroad (Dublin 2013)
• Passy
• Kilmaine
• Tonnay-Charente
• James Bartholomew Blackwell
• Wolfe Tone