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Class of 1852

Vol. II
p480 1546

(Born Md.)

Jerome N. Bonaparte1

(Ap'd Md.)

Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte: Born Nov. 11, 1830, Baltimore, MD.

Military History. — Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1848, to July 1, 1852, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Bvt. Second Lieut., Mounted Riflemen, July 1, 1852.a

Served: at the Cavalry School for Practice, Carlisle, Pa., 1852; on frontier duty, Scouting in Texas, 1853, — at Ft. Inge, Tex., 1853, —

(Second Lieut., Mounted Riflemen, Aug. 30, 1853)

and at Ft. Ewell, Tex., 1853‑54.

Resigned, Aug. 16, 1854.

After his resignation he was appointed in the French Imperial Army to be

Second Lieut., 7th Dragoons, Sep. 5, 1854.

p481 Served: in the Crimean War against Russia, Oct. 16, 1854, to Dec., 1855, as "Officier d'Ordonnance" to Lieut.‑General Morris, commanding 1st Division of Cavalry, being engaged in the Battle of Balaklava, Oct. 25, 1854, — Battle of Inkermann, Nov. 5, 1854, — Battle of Tchernaia, Aug. 16, 1855, — and Siege of Sebastopol, Oct. 16, 1854, to Sep. 8, 1855, including the Combats of Dec. 30, 1854, and May 25, 1855, and

(First Lieut., 7th Dragoons, June 5, 1855)

numerous Skirmishes with Sorties from the works, — for all of which active and distinguished services he was decorated by the Sultan of Turkey with the "Medjidie Order," 1855, — made Knight of the Legion of Honor of France, Nov. 10, 1855, — and received the Crimean Medal from the Queen of England in 1856; in Algeria, Africa, Apr. 17, 1856,

(Transferred to 1st Chasseurs d'Afrique, Apr. 17, 1856)

to Feb. 28, 1857, being engaged in the Campaign of 1857, and in several

(Captain, 1st Chasseurs d'Afrique, May 5, 1859)

Actions against the Kabyles; in the Italian Campaign against Austria, May 9 to Aug. 2, 1859, being engaged in the Battle of Montebello, May 20, 1859, — Battle of Solferino, June 24, 1859, — and various Affairs of Outposts, receiving for his gallantry the French "Médaille d'Italie," 1859, and the decoration of "Military Valor" from the King

(Transferred to 1st Carabiniers, Feb. 28, 1860)

of Sardinia, 1859; and with his Regiment in the Department of the

(Chef d'Escadron, 3d Cuirassiers, Aug. 15, 1865)

(Transferred, Mar. 16, 1867, to the Dragons de l'Impératrice)

Seine, and in garrison at Tours and Lunéville, France, 1859‑70.b

Civil History. — Since leaving the French Army, in 1870, has resided chiefly at Baltimore, Md.

Vol. IV
p85 [Supplement, Vol. IV: 1890‑1900]

(Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte)

Died Sept. 3, 1893, at Beverly, Mass.: Aged 63.

Buried, Loudon Park Cemetery, Baltimore, MD.

See Annual Association of Graduates, U. S. M. A., 1894, for an obituary notice.

The Author's Note:

1 Grandson of Jerome Bonaparte, King of Wurtemberg, who was the brother of the Emperor Napoleon I, of France.

Thayer's Note: Strictly speaking, this isn't quite accurate. His father was the son of Jerome Bonaparte before the latter was king of Württemberg, who was made to relinquish his wife, our subject's grandmother, before being made king. The full story is given in Macartney and Dorrance, The Bonapartes in America, Ch. 1.

Thayer's Notes:

a Cadet Bonaparte served, as other cadets not infrequently did, as an assistant professor at the Point; of French, for which he was naturally qualified. He wasn't keen on it, though, and his parents wrote Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class. Robert E. Lee to use his influence to ensure he remained a Cadet. After he graduated, Lee — by then superintendent of the Military Academy — and Bonaparte's father also corresponded about his career path: Lee reporting that "He used to say to me in his modest way, that he thought he would make a very poor ordnance officer & a tolerable dragoon." And a dragoon he would be, or at least something much like one: a mounted rifleman. See Lee's letters to Jerome Bonaparte (senior) in "Some Personal Letters of Robert E. Lee, 1850‑1858" (Journal of Southern History, 12:557‑570).

b Fuller details of his French military career are given in The Bonapartes in America, pp48‑50.

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