Jean-Baptiste Salme or Salm (18 November 1766 – 27 May 1811) led French troops in several actions during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Several times he landed in trouble by associating with the wrong people, including his wife who tried to kill him. He served alongside Jacques MacDonald when they were both generals of brigade in the Flanders Campaign in 1794. Still commanding only a brigade, he served in MacDonald's army in Italy during 1799 and in Spain during 1810.
In 1784, he joined a dragoon regiment in the French Royal Army in 1784. He emerged as the commanding officer of the 3rd Infantry Demi-brigade in the Army of the Rhine in 1793. He led his unit at Haguenau and Second Wissembourg. In 1794, he transferred to northeast France and was promoted to general officer, subsequently fighting at Tourcoing, Tournay and Hooglede. After besieging and capturing the fortress of Grave he was on occupation duty in Belgium and Holland.
Salme's friendship with the traitor Jean-Charles Pichegru caused him to be unemployed for over a year. He served in Italy in 1798 and led the army advance guard at the Trebbia in 1799 where he was wounded and captured by the Austrians. In 1802 he went on the Saint-Domingue expedition to Haiti but was sent home early, possibly for having a sexual liaison with Pauline Bonaparte. Then his wife tried to poison him and he was retired from the army. In 1809 he briefly led a second-line outfit in the Walcheren Campaign. The following year he was given a brigade and served in Catalonia. He was killed in action during the Siege of Tarragona in 1811. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 38.
Early career
Salme was born on 18 November 1766 in Aillianville to father Jean Baptiste Salme and mother Marie Jeanne Vignon. The godparents at the baptism were Nicolas Salme and Marie Gérard, the paternal grandfather and his second wife. Salme's father was a laborer and later became a timber merchant in 1784. Jean-Baptiste père was accused of misappropriating civic funds in 1789. The father's membership in the bourgeoisie may have aroused suspicion, causing him some trouble in May 1793, but he went on to become mayor in 1807. Jean Baptiste fils was well-educated by his uncle Gaspard who was a parish priest.
Against his parents' wishes, Salme ran off and enlisted in the Tribois company of the Noailles Dragoon Regiment on 16 April 1784. The unit's commander was Philippe Louis de Noailles and its garrison town was Épinal. The youthful dragoon was described as five feet four inches tall with light brown hair. He was round-faced and had a smallpox scar on his nose. He remained a simple private during his early military career, serving in garrison at Toulouse and Carcassonne in 1788 and Montauban in 1790. His father finally persuaded him that there was no future for him in the army and he left the service on 12 January 1791.
War of the First Coalition
On 9 July 1791 a law provided for the formation of volunteer battalions and Salme joined the 1st Battalion of the Vosges National Guard at Neufchâteau. Recognizing his former service as a dragoon, the old soldier who commanded the battalion made him a sergeant. Salme so enthusiastically participated in the training of the battalion while it was cantoned at Saverne that he was promoted to sous-lieutenant on 15 April 1792. He was married the next day to Jeanne Henriette Masse. War broke out on 20 April and the battalion was ordered to the front on 19 July. Salme was involved in operations around the Prussian siege of Longwy, being wounded at Rülzheim on 3 August 1792. The 1st Vosges Battalion was present at the capture of Speyer on 30 September when Adam Philippe, Comte de Custine's 24,000-man Army of the Rhine trapped 3,600 Imperial troops in a bend of the Rhine River. In the spring of 1793 the 1st Vosges was in Jean Nicolas Houchard's 1st Brigade of Joseph Victorin Nevinger's Left Wing near Bingen am Rhein. On 14 September 1793 Salme greatly distinguished himself in an action at Nothweiler in which he was wounded.