François Christophe de Kellermann

Army-General François-Étienne-Christophe Kellermann or de Kellermann, 1st Duke of Valmy (German: Franz Stephan Christoph Edler von Kellermann; 28 May 1735 – 23 September 1820) was a French Army officer and politician who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. One of the original eighteen Marshals of the Empire created by Napoleon, he was best known for leading the French army to victory at the Battle of Valmy.

Born into a Saxon noble family in Alsace, Kellermann joined the French Royal Army in 1750 and served with distinction in the Seven Years' War. He reached the rank of maréchal de camp in 1785 and was the highest ranked of Napoleon's marshals under the ancien régime. A freemason, Kellermann enthusiastically embraced the Revolution. He was made a lieutenant general in 1789 and achieved a major victory over the Prussian Army at Valmy. Kellerman further distinguished himself as head of the Army of the Alps, but was later imprisoned on suspicion of disloyalty during the Reign of Terror. He was acquitted and reinstated following the fall of Maximilien Robespierre.