General Wladyslaw Jablonowski died in Jérémie 224 years ago

A student at the Military School

He was born on October 25, 1769, in Gdańsk. The son of an English aristocrat, Maria Dealire, and an unknown African man, he was recognized by his mother's husband, the Polish nobleman Konstanty Jablonowski. On February 25, 1783, he entered the École militaire in Paris as a cadet-gentleman; he studied alongside Napoleon Bonaparte and Louis Nicolas Davout, and endured mockery there because of his skin color. Graduating on February 20, 1786, he joined the Royal-Allemand regiment with the rank of lieutenant.

From Poland to the French army

In 1794, he took part in the Polish uprising led by Tadeusz Kościuszko and fought in Szczekociny, Warsaw, and Praga. On January 4, 1798, he became a brigade commander in the French army. Proposed as a brigadier general in 1800 by Masséna, and then in 1801 by Murat, he saw this rank confirmed on December 21, 1801, by the First Consul.

Death in Saint-Domingue

In 1802, he left for Saint-Domingue with the Polish legion, tasked with crushing the Haitian Revolution. He succumbed there to yellow fever, in Jérémie.