Napoleon in America

Mathis Meert in his Coldstream Guard uniform (English soldier, Battle of Waterloo) (Photo – Christopher Bonin)

French and American historians point out that many soldiers from Napoleon’s armies distinguished themselves during the American War of Independence, notably alongside General Jackson.

By Christopher Bonin

What is often forgotten is that an American branch of Napoleon’s own family also left its mark on American history. Jérôme, for example, married a wealthy heiress from Baltimore in 1803. He became an officer in the American army. before holding the rank of Colonel in Napoleon’s army. Charles J. Bonaparte became Secretary of the Navy, then Attorney General to President Theodore Roosevelt. He created the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) in 1908, which later became the FBI. Joseph Bonaparte (the elder brother of Emperor Napoleon) acquired a property in 1817 in Point Breeze, New Jersey. One hundred-fifty paintings and 8000 books of his collection are today in the Athenaeum in Philadelphia. The American branch of the Bonaparte-Patterson family still exists today, particularly in Denmark.

Thomas Jefferson admired and envied Paris’s Hôtel de Salm when he was stationed in Paris as ambassador. Napoleon Bonaparte had acquired it in 1804 to house the Order of the Legion of Honor (created in 1802). A copy of this Parisian building in San Francisco was initially called the “California Palace of the Legion of Honor.” » Originally a place of homage for California soldiers who died in France, it is now an art museum.

Napoleon lives on in California. Steven Spielberg is now taking on the French Emperor in an upcoming 7-episode HBO series. And in San Gabriel’s Sunny Bakery, I recently discovered Napoleon Cake by chance, and it’s very good! In other American bakeries, the same French Napoleon pastry (called mille-feuilles in France) is popular. Indulgence contributes to happiness.  The right to happiness is enshrined in the French Constitution and also in the American Constitution!

Mathis Meert, who recently visited Pasadena and Alhambra, is passionate about Napoleon and produces videos on YouTube (“Mathis AdAstra”). He is also an official guide at the Waterloo Battlefield Memorial site in Belgium. Mathis is Belgian, as was Louis Constant Wairy (born in Péruwelz in 1778), Napoleon’s first valet (butler) for 14 years.

So the French-Belgian-Southern California connection continues.