Item 46: Signature by General [Jean-Baptiste] Kléber [French Language], 1793-1800.
Item — Box: 2, Folder: 46
Dates
- Created: 1793-1800.
Creator
- Kléber, Jean-Baptiste, 1753-1800 (Person)
Disclaimer for Name and Subject Authorities
Some of the name and subject authority tags have been assigned by educated guessing and estimation of persons and subjects by region, age, profession, and familial relationships. They have been thoroughly researched by using primary and secondary sources available digitally, and named in each description, or in some cases linked directly to the person tag.
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Signature
Condition Note:
Fair. Incomplete. Little to no vinegar smell.
Measurements:
3 ⅞ in. x 2 ½ in.
Description:
The following item is a signature from Kléber, Jean-Baptiste, 1753-1800, a French army officer and architect who served in War of the Bavarian Succession and the French Revolutionary Wars. Kléber was trained as an architect and, after helping two German nobles in a bar fight, was nominated to attend the Kriegsschule in Munich. Afterwards, he was commissioned and served for seven years. After this, he returned to architecture and designed and built several manors, hospitals, and houses for members of the monastic order, the Benedictines. Once the French Revolutionary Wars began, Kléber enlisted and rose swiftly in rank where otherwise he would be hindered due to his lack of noble title. After many victories and defeats, he was promoted to divisional general in 1793, after which this letter may have been written. After Napoleon abandoned the Egyptian expedition, Kléber was abruptly put in charge of the French Army of the Orient. Kléber was fighting a losing battle against British, Ottoman, and local forces, so he drafted the Convention of El Arish, an agreement where he would withdraw the French forces peaceably. This was approved by Commodore Sidney Smith, the English officer leading the English, but rejected by George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith, Smith’s boss, so Kléber attacked the Ottoman Army and won a strategically decisive victory at the Battle of Heliopolis where his forces were outnumbered six to one. Shortly after these victories, he was stabbed to death in the gardens of the Palace of Alfi Bika. His assassin, Suleiman al-Halabi, was a student of Islam, studying at the Al-Azhar University in Egypt. He was paid by two Ottoman officers to kill Kléber, and, according to witnesses, he pretended to be either a beggar or a charity-worker to approach Kléber, after which he stabbed Kléber four to five times, followed by stabbing an army engineer with which Kléber was speaking. Kléber died immediately and al-Halabi escaped, but the army engineer identified al-Halabi when he was recaptured. The engineer died from his injuries a few days later. After his capture, al-Halabi was tortured to reveal who sent him, saying that he was sent by Allah who was acting through the two Ottoman officers and through himself. As per the local custom, his hand was burned off, he was impaled by a 9-foot pole, and he was left to bleed out after four hours.
Transcription:
vu le général de
division Kleber
Translation: seen/read by the general of division Kleber
Translation: seen/read by the general of division Kleber
Creator
- Kléber, Jean-Baptiste, 1753-1800 (Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu