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Discover the incredible story of Marie-Angélique Duchemin, a female soldier who made history in France by becoming the first to receive the Legion of Honor.
Marie-Angélique Duchemin, born in 1772, entered history as the first woman to receive the Legion of Honor. Her exceptional journey as a female soldier, nicknamed "Sergent Liberté," bears witness to her courage and determination during the French Revolution.
Little Marie-Angélique Josèphe Duchemin was born on January 20, 1772, in Dinan, the union of Guillaume and Marie Deshais.
The eldest of a family of 5 children, Marie-Angélique grew up surrounded by soldiers. Her father, Guillaume, was enlisted in 1757 in the Limosin regiment. He would be engaged for most of his life and took regiment comrades as godfathers for his children. Later, her brothers Charles and Charles Thomas would also serve in the military. Marie-Angélique also reported these words from the regiment's dean:
"Angélique, it's a shame you are not a boy, you would make a good soldier ".
Birth certificate - Source: AD22
And she would make a good soldier.
But before enlisting in a military life, our Breton married the corporal André Brulon, also from the Limosin regiment, on July 9, 1789, in Ajaccio.Marie-Angélique was 17 years old. Her husband, the son of a tanner, was 27 years old and from the Marne.
29 months after this marriage, on December 30, 1791, Brulon died in the hospital in Ajaccio. He left Marie-Angélique with two children.
Marriage certificate - Source: AD Corse
Following the death of her husband in 1791 and her father in 1792, Marie-Angélique, also known as the "Widow Brulon," put on the uniform.
It was her 18-year-old brother who taught her the use of weapons while she studied her theory book at the same time. Authorized by General Casabianca to join the 42nd Infantry Regiment, she was assigned to the unit's supply as a quartermaster. She also inherited the rank of corporal from her husband.
She took the war name "Liberté" during her combat career from 1793 to 1794 in Corsica. During this period, the records mention, speaking of her, a "heroic defense" for having held off the assaults of Corsican rebels allied with English soldiers. But it is especially the date of May 24, 1794 that allows Sergeant Liberté to show her heroism. Following the defense of the fort of Gesco, her men speak of her in these terms:
"We, the undersigned, corporal and soldiers of the detachment of the 42nd regiment, garrisoned in Calvi, certify and attest that on the 5th Prairial year II, the citizen Marie Angélique Josèphe Duchemin, widow Brulon, corporal quartermaster, acting as sergeant, commanded us in the affair of the fort of Gesco; that she fought with us with the courage of a heroine; that the Corsican rebels and the English having charged the assault, we were forced to fight with white weapons; that she received a saber blow to the right arm and, a moment later, a stab wound to the left arm, that seeing us running out of ammunition, at midnight, she left, although wounded, for Calvi, half a league away, where, by the zeal and courage of a true republican, she rallied and loaded about sixty women with ammunition, whom she brought back herself, escorted by four men, which allowed us to repel the enemy and keep the fort, and that finally we have only praise for her command."
In July 1794, Marie-Angélique, 25, was seriously injured in her left leg by a shell fragment. Unfit for combat, she remained three years in the administration of clothing, equipment, and camp of the Army of Italy before entering the Hôtel des Invalides in 1797. She was the first woman to be admitted there for disability. This is also where she was assigned as a non-commissioned officer in the clothing store, a title that made her the first female graded officer of the French Army.
Marie-Angélique would spend the rest of her days at the Hôtel des Invalides. But as early as 1804, Marshal Sérurier requested the Legion of Honor for her. This request remained unanswered. She had to wait until August 15, 1851, for Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte to award her the Legion of Honor (file consultable in the Léonore database). Marie-Angélique Brulon was 79 years old; she was the first woman to receive this title.