Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud (20 August 1798[1] – 29 September 1854) was a French soldier and Marshal of France. He served as French Minister of War until the Crimean War when he became Commander-in-chief of the army of the East.
Born in Paris, he entered the army in 1817, but after ten years of garrison service he still held only the lowest commissioned grade. He then resigned, led a life of adventure in several lands and returned to the army at the age of thirty as a sub-lieutenant. He took part in the suppression of the Vendée émeute [fr] (1832), and served for a time on the staff of General (Marshal) Bugeaud. However, his debts and the scandals of his private life compelled him to go to Algeria as a captain in the French Foreign Legion. There he distinguished himself on numerous occasions, and after twelve years had risen to the rank of maréchal de camp (major general).
In 1848 Saint Arnaud commanded a brigade during the revolution in Paris. On his return to Africa, possibly because Louis Napoleon considered him a suitable military head of a potential coup d'état, an expedition took place into Little Kabylie in northern Algeria, in which Saint Arnaud showed his prowess as a commander-in-chief and provided his superiors with the pretext for bringing him home as a general of division (July 1851).
He succeeded Marshal Magnan as minister of war and superintended the military operations of the coup d'état of 2 December 1851, which placed Louis Napoleon on the throne as Emperor Napoleon III. A year later he became a Marshal of France and a senator, remaining at the head of the war office till 1854, when he set out to command the French forces in the Crimean War, alongside his British colleague Lord Raglan. Ill with stomach cancer, he died on board ship just over a week after commanding troops at the Battle of the Alma on 20 September 1854. His body, returned to France, lies buried in Les Invalides.
Legacy
The town of St Arnaud, Victoria, Australia was named after Jaques
The Saint Arnaud Range and the nearby locality of Saint Arnaud in New Zealand both derive their name from him.
Another town, located in Algeria, was called Saint Arnaud under French rule; currently, its name is El Eulma.
St.Arnaud Township
The origin of St Arnaud’s was the discovery of gold at a sandy knoll later called Bakery Hill, St Arnaud north, in January 1855. The resulting goldfield was known as New Bendigo, and mining spread into several hills and gullies. In 1856 a town was surveyed about 6 km east of the goldfield. It was named St Arnaud, after a French military commander in the Crimean War. Because of the town’s distance from the goldfield the survey was cancelled and a township developed around the mining activity. The community readily adopted the proposed name, and sales of township lots occurred in 1858.
St Arnaud did not boom for several years, although the search for reef gold began in late 1855. The settlement existed on alluvial gold and several reefs which were exploited for silver and gold, until the Lord Nelson Company (1883) developed a profitable operation which lasted until 1913. The town's people nevertheless had faith in St Arnaud’s future and the St Arnaud municipality was proclaimed on 12 August 1861, and its named was given to an extensive road district in the same year
The municipality of St Arnaud became a borough on 1 October 1863, a town on 17 October 1950 and was united with Stawell city, most of Kara Kara and Stawell shires, and parts of other municipalities to form Northern Grampians shire on 20 January 1995.
In 1903 St Arnaud was described in the Australian handbook:
In 1946 St Arnaud was described in the Australian blue book:
Refrences:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Leroy_de_Saint-Arnaud
https://www.victorianplaces.com.au/st-arnaud
In order to log this Virtual cache sucessfully,you need to
UP-LOAD 2 photos to your log
(DONT SEND PHOTOS TO CACHE OWNER)
A photo of Marshal Saint Arnaud (at the posted Cordinates)
- AND -
a 2nd photo at one (yes only one) of the "Welcome to St.Arnaud" township signs.(see the refrence points)
Both photos must have yourself OR a personal item at the locations. Your GPSr, a trackable or a piece of paper with your geocaching team name on it .
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Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
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