Daru

, Pierre-Antoine-Noël Bruno, Count (Montpellier, January 12, 1767 - Château de Bècheville, near Meulan, September 5, 1829).

Provincial war commissioner since 1784, Daru became financial commissioner in 1792, then chief officer of the army of the coasts of Brest and Cher-bourg. Arrested some time during the Terror, reinstated at the beginning of 1795, he was appointed, a year later, head of division at the Ministry of War. After the dismissal of Petiet the day after 18-Fructidor, he was once again chief officer of the army of Helvetia. After Bonaparte's coup, he found himself head of division at the Ministry of War, then inspector of reviews and secretary general of the Ministry of War. In 1802, he entered the Tribunate. This man of integrity, an excellent manager, was the organizer of the Boulogne camp in 1803. State Councilor and general intendant of the civil list in 1805, member of the Institute in 1806, Dam became, in October of that same year, the intendant general of the Grande Armée. General steward of the household of the Emperor and Count of the Empire in 1809, Dam was the kingpin of war finances and the stewardship of the armies. On April 17, 1811, the consecration comes with the appointment as Secretary of State. It is Dam who ensures the material organization of the Russian campaign, while being opposed to this adventure. He follows the Emperor to Moscow and replaces Dumas, ill, as intendant general of the Grande Armée. Back in Germany, it fell to him to reconstitute the Grande Armée and equip it. On June 2, 1813, after the death of Duroc, he added to all these tasks the responsibility for the key to the reserve treasure. On November 20, 1813, he became Minister of War Administration and had to equip a third army for the campaign in France. At the end of March 1814, he accompanied Marie-Louise to Blois. Louis XVIII created for him the post of Intendant General of the King's armies, which did not prevent Daru from accepting the title of Minister of State attached to the Minister of War during the Hundred Days. Member of the French Academy in 1816, Peer of France in 1819, he defended liberal ideas. According to the Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, Napoleon would have said of Daru that he was “a man of extreme integrity, sure and a great worker. On the retreat from Moscow, M. Daru's firmness was particularly noticeable; and since then the Emperor often repeated that to the work of the ox he joined the courage
of the lion. »