Rose-Alexandrine Barreau

Background

Barreau, who was born in May 1773 in the region of the Tarn in France.

Career

Rose enlisted with her husband Francois Leyrac and with her brother. Her original enlistment, the day after her marriage on 5 March 1792, was in the 2nd Battalion of the Tarn (Army of the Pyrenees), which was later amalgamated into the 63rd Demi-brigade. She was inscribed in the military register as the "son of Jacques and Jeanne Barreau," bearing the name "Liberte" in honor of the French Revolution.

Rose distinguished herself at Breaton in July 1793 in combat against Spanish incursions on the French border while under the command of Latour d'Auvergne. When her brother was killed at her side and her husband was grievously injured, she moved forward with the troops. According to contemporary stories of the incident, she rushed through cross-fire to avenge herself against Spanish soldiers, firing her husband's weapon until she had no more ammunition. Then she wielded her saber, and finally, she relied on hand-to-hand combat. Only after the fighting ended did she return to bandage her husband's wounds and to mourn the death of her brother. "Showing herself to be more than a man," she had behaved like a soldier first, the report of her actions noted. Then she had turned back to care for others. After serving one year and two months, Barreau was discharged. Experiencing severe headaches, phlebitis, and impaired sight and hearing, she was also six months pregnant.

Achievements

• Rose became best known for her actions fighting against the Spanish Empire during an incursion near Biriatou in July 1793. She was written off as a national hero in the 1793 Annales du Civisme et de la Vertu. Barreau received a military pension in 1806.

Personality

Although Rose received an award of 300 livres from the National Convention of France for her valor, she was not granted a retirement pension until 1806. In the intervening years, she had followed her husband as part of the army train rather than as a fellow soldier; and according to reports in 1809, she was the mother of five children. Later treated as the subject of prescriptive literature for young French women, Barreau was heralded as a mother "who had not relinquished the virtues of her sex. So it was that after having made war, she set about remedying the depopulation it caused." Invalided later in life, Barreau petitioned tirelessly to be admitted to veterans' care.

Connections

Rose-Alexandrine Barreau married Francois Leyrac on 4 March, 1792.

husband:

Francois Leyrac

References

• Amazons to Fighter Pilots: A Biographical Dictionary of Military Women
  2003