Charles-François Desbureaux
1755–1835 (age 80)
Biography
Charles-François Desbureaux (1755–1835) was a French military personnel whose service spanned the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars—the most consequential military conflicts of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. His eighty-year lifespan encompassed the entire arc of France's transformation from ancien régime monarchy to modern nation-state, with his military career at the center of these epochal changes.
Desbureaux's long life and distinguished military service earned him burial at Père Lachaise Cemetery, the final resting place of France's most honored figures. His career reflected the martial values and national service that defined the era, and his longevity allowed him to witness the full consequences of the revolutionary and Napoleonic upheavals in which he participated.