Why have you never heard of The Black Count? Well, Napoleon intentionally buried his record, in one of the most successful cover-ups in the history of propaganda.
When we think of wild adventures, we think of fictional heroes fighting impossible odds, overcoming family difficulties and deep personal loss, and facing huge personal challenges that must be overcome.
I think of The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood, Treasure Island, Hornblower, The Count of Monte Cristo, and other great adventures.
But what if there was a true story just as wild, swashbuckling, and full of adventure. In fact, some of those stories are based on the real life adventures of Alex Dumas — The Black Count.
Alex Dumas’ son, the iconic writer Alexandre Dumas, grew up in a world that was shaped in many ways by his father and in a life filled with wild exploits. The stories of his father became an obsession as the author began to research tirelessly for all the records of his hero’s iconic life. His father’s feats of valor become the backbone of his famous works like The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo.
For example, the familiar story of fictional D’Artagnan: young man with little more than skill with a sword striking off to seek his fortune and rising like a meteor to become a general commanding 30,000 men is clearly based on General Dumas. He was known as the strongest soldier in the army and a master duelist who joined the French army as an enlisted soldier without rank and was told that he needed to make Sargent before he could marry his fiancé. Perhaps to his future father-in-law’s surprise, he moved to sargent quickly, but did not stop there. Once he was a colonel it was clear that his life as a soldier—and his leadership—would combine personal bravery and physical strength with his diligent work and convictions of justice and place him as one of the most important generals in Europe.
He was so valient on the battlefield his enemies called him the “Black Devil,” but in victory, he would refuse plunder, punish his men for taking advantage of innocents, and be sure that even those he pummeled in battle were treated with dignity and preserved their human rights.
HOWEVER, this is just part of the adventure. Although his father was a French Maquis, his mother was a slave. In fact, at one point, his nobleman father sold young Alex into slavery for a short time when he was down on his luck… *Jerk.* Alex, as a mixed-race child went from a slave in the sugar islands of the caribbean to unfettered foppery in Paris.
He lived through periods of massive social acceptance (when human rights were in vogue and it didn’t matter your skin color) and periods of extreme racism. France was both the first major empire to abolish slavery, brought it back, embraced human rights, and later embraced pure “frenchness” that didn’t include “Americans” the term they used for black frenchmen. This was an age of extremes and Alex’s fate seemed to swing with the tides of social movements. His personal example as a model soldier and citizen turned the world of many Paris elites upside down, and he became a symbol of how character and honor are human not based on ethnicity or how one is born.
Like the Count of Monte Cristo, General Dumas was also unjustly imprisoned at one point and kept as a prisoner without anyone—including his family—knowing where he was. In this time, he was betrayed by his country who refused to lift a finger to secure the release of their famous General who was captured returning from Egypt. In the meantime, Napoleon consolidated his influence.
Napoleon and General Dumas were kinda rivals, and while they did often work well together, Dumas was—true to form—a blunt cavalry officer who would tell any other General exactly what he thought. Napoleon preferred obedience, and did not like the blunt words of this bold general.
When Napoleon declared the Republic corrupt and effectively seized control of the legislature and rewrote the constitution giving himself vast powers, not only did he roll back the abolition policies that came out of the good parts of the revolution, he also established himself as an emperor. To do this, he needed to undermine the ideals of the revolution, and one of the most iconic Frenchmen whose whole life displayed the best principles of the revolution was General Alex Dumas.
General Dumas was known for criticizing corruption, opposing brutality, and speaking bluntly to superiors. While he was able to leverage his heroics to survive the Terror despite constant treats from the revolutionaries, Napoleon used his power of the press to first sideline then erase his rival and his rival’s legacy.
It is sad that to this day, Alex Dumas has been largely ignored by history. But I don’t think that would bother him so much. His goal was never to make history, his goal was to stand for justice, live honorably, lead his men to victory, hold his men to virtue, and love his family well. I think he did all of this well.
If you want to know more about General Alex Dumas, I just finished reading this book. In fact, this blogpost is a Goodreads review that went wild. So, instead I did a short Goodreads review, but turned all my thoughts into this post. If you are interested in other lesser known heroes of mine like Tadeusz Kosciuszko (fought alongside George Washington), Stauffenberg (led a coup against Hitler), and Saint Moses the Black (pirate to saint), let me know! I’ve been thinking about how their stories inspire me.
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published on Jeremiah’s Substack and is republished here with permission. Visit his Substack to read more of his work and subscribe for updates.
Bonus comment:
Have any of you watched the Three Musketeers series on Prime? They dive into the characters a lot more than most of the films, and Porthos is outstanding and it seems like they are really leaning into the Gen. Alex Dumas legacy for inspiration for him.
