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Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (French: [tɔmɑ alɛksɑ̃dʁ dymɑ davi də la pajət(ə)ʁi]; known as Thomas-Alexandre Dumas; 25 March 1762 – 26 February 1806) was a Creole general, from the French colony of Saint-Domingue, in Revolutionary France.
May 8, 2024 · Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (born March 25, 1762, Saint-Domingue [now Haiti]—died February 26, 1806, Villers-Cotterêts, France) was a French general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Dumas’s mother, Marie-Cessette Dumas, was a Black enslaved woman.
Dec 9, 2007 · Dumas is probably best known for fathering the famous French writer Alexandre Dumas (père). The son of the lesser French nobleman Alexandre-Antoine Davy, Marquis de la Pailleterie, and a black slave woman, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was born on the island of Saint Domingue on March 25, 1762.
Oct 3, 2023 · Thomas-Alexandre did go on to distinguish himself in his military career and was promoted to the rank of general by the age of 31. In doing so, he became the first soldier of Afro-Caribbean heritage to reach that rank in the French army.
Feb 13, 2023 · Best known as the first person of color in the French military to attain the rank of general, Alexander Dumas took enormous pride in his family heritage. He never saw his mixed race as a disadvantage. In 1789, the France became unstable due to the French Revolution.
Jan 26, 2024 · One of the most under-discussed historical figures present in Ridley Scott’s epic reimagining of Napoleon’s life is General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie.
Sep 15, 2012 · Gen. Thomas-Alexandre Dumas was one of the heroes of the French Revolution — but you won't find a statue of him in Paris today.
If all this sounds a bit like the plot of a nineteenth-century novel, that’s because the life of Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie—who took his slave mother’s surname when he enlisted, becoming simply “Alexandre (Alex) Dumas”—inspired some of the most popular novels ever written.
Commander of the cavalry in Napoleon's Egyptian expedition, he was critical of Napoleon while in Egypt. Accused of mutiny, he requested to return to France. Forced to land at Taranto, Italy because his ship was sinking, Dumas was imprisoned (1799–1801) by forces loyal to the king of Naples.
His father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) to Alexandre Antoine Davy de la Pailleterie, a French nobleman, and Marie-Cessette Dumas, an African slave.
