Jean-Bernard Gauthier de Murnan

Who was Jean-Bernard Gauthier de Murnan?

Jean-Bernard Gauthier de Murnan was a French officer for the Continental Army and a French General during the French Revolution.

When he was young, he had to leave France to serve as a cavalry officer and then military engineer in the Russian army. When he returned to France, he was sent to support the newly born United States as a Lt. Colonel Engineer in the Continental Army. During the French Revolution era, he was appointed Colonel of the Infantry, then Colonel of the Cavalry, and then promoted to Brigade General in command of the cavalry.

Jean-Bernard Gauthier was born in a family of jurists in Bourg-en-Bresse of France. He was baptized on 28 November 1748. He became an officer in the French Royal Army. He had to leave France for a bad duel affair, and take refuge in Russia. He was hired as a lieutenant in the Regiment of Dragoons of Smolensk, Belarus. He was under the command of Prince Golitsyn until 1776, when he became Captain-Engineer, after studying at the Moscow University.