Sigismond Frédéric de Berckheim (9 May 1775 – 28 December 1817) became a French division commander during the last years of the Napoleonic Wars. Born into an old Alsatian family, he joined an infantry regiment at the age of 14. In 1807 he became the commanding officer of the 1st Cuirassier Regiment. In 1809 he led his cavalrymen at Eckmühl, Ratisbon, Aspern-Essling and Wagram. Promoted to general of brigade, he fought at First and Second Polotsk and the Berezina in 1812. He led a cavalry brigade at Lützen and Bautzen in 1813. Promoted to general of division, he led a cavalry division at Dresden, Leipzig and Hanau. He commanded a cavalry division at Arcis-sur-Aube in 1814. He became an inspector general and a member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1815 and 1816. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 12.
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Early career
Berckheim was born on 9 May 1775 in Ribeauvillé in the French province of Alsace. The village later became part of the Haut-Rhin department. The Berckheims were an old Alsatian aristocratic family. His father was Philipp Friedrich de Berckheim (1732–1812), a captain in the Regiment of Alsace and deputy in the 1787 assembly of Alsace. In 1766 his father married his mother, Marie-Octavie-Louise de Glaubitz. Sigismond was the third of seven children and the first born son. His siblings were Caroline-Octavie-Louise (1771–1842), Louise-Henriette-Sophie (b. 1772), Louise-Amélie (1776–1855), Frédérique-Françoise (b. 1778), Chrétien-Frédéric (1781–1832) and Philippe-Gustave (1783–1812).
At the age of 14, in about 1789, Berckheim entered the Infantry Regiment of Lamarck as a sous-lieutenant and progressed through the grades in rank. Though there are records of his Légion d'Honneur awards, the French archive for Berckheim is missing the important document Etat de Services et Campagnes (Statement of Service and Campaigns). The regiments and campaigns in which he served between 1789 and 1805 are unknown. For example, the records for his younger brother Chrétien-Frédéric exist. These show that Chrétien joined the French military service as a guide for Jean Victor Marie Moreau on 22 March 1800 and was promoted to chef d'escadron (major) on 4 November 1813.
Empire
1805–1811
Berckheim became a member of the Légion d'Honneur on 6 August 1805. He was appointed colonel of the 1st Cuirassier Regiment on 1 April 1807. As part of the 2nd Cuirassier Division, the 1st Cuirassiers were involved in a skirmish at Königsberg on 14 June 1807, the same day as the Battle of Friedland, which the regiment missed. According to one source, Berckheim fought at both Friedland and the Battle of Heilsberg. However, the battle honors of the 1st Cuirassiers do not include either action.
At the beginning of the War of the Fifth Coalition, the 1st Cuirassiers (793-strong) formed part of the 2nd Heavy Cavalry Division of Raymond-Gaspard de Bonardi de Saint-Sulpice. At first, the division was attached to III Corps, but Emperor Napoleon soon assigned it to a provisional corps led by Marshal Jean Lannes along with another heavy cavalry division under Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty, a cavalry brigade led by Charles Claude Jacquinot and two infantry divisions borrowed from III Corps. At the Battle of Abensberg on 20 April 1809, Lannes' corps and the Bavarian VII Corps smashed the Austrian left flank, killing and wounding 2,700 enemies and capturing 4,000 more. However, one brigade from Saint-Sulpice's division was assigned to guard the defile at Saal an der Donau. The battle honors of the 1st Cuirassiers do not include Abensberg, but they do include the next four major actions in 1809.
At the Battle of Eckmühl on the afternoon of 22 April 1809, the key to the Austrian position was the Bettelberg, a hill topped by a 16-gun battery of artillery and defended by the Austrian IV Corps under Franz Seraph of Orsini-Rosenberg. Some Bavarian cavalry tried to overrun the hill but were driven off. Next, Saint-Sulpice's four cuirassier regiments, two Württemberg cavalry regiments and the rallied Bavarians charged the Bettelberg again. Despite counterattacks by Austrian horsemen and blasts of canister shot from the guns, the Allies seized the hill, capturing most of the cannons. Rosenberg immediately ordered his beaten corps to retreat. At 7:00 pm that evening there was a cavalry melee that involved perhaps 15,000 horsemen. On the Allied side were Nansouty's 24 squadrons of cuirassiers and six squadrons of Württemberg cavalry in the first line. In the second line were Saint-Sulpice's 16 squadrons and in reserve there were 10 to 14 Bavarian squadrons. They were opposed by 32 squadrons of Austrian cavalry. The more numerous Allied cavalry routed the Austrians. As Saint-Sulpice's division led the pursuit, it encountered two battalions of Austrian grenadiers formed in squares and completely smashed them. At 9:00 pm the pursuit ended due to the exhaustion of the Allied cavalry.
1812–1814
Berckheim led a cavalry brigade during the French invasion of Russia in 1812. The brigade was part of Jean-Pierre Doumerc's 3rd Cuirassier Division in the III Cavalry Corps under Emmanuel de Grouchy. Like all three of Doumerc's brigades, Berckheim's brigade consisted of only one strong regiment, the 4th Cuirassiers, with 35 officers and 821 rank and file. The other two brigades were led by Samuel-François Lhéritier (7th Cuirassiers) and Ignace Laurent Oullenbourg (14th Cuirassiers). At the First Battle of Polotsk on 18 August 1812, Marshal Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr surprised the Russians and drove them back. The Russian commander Peter Wittgenstein ordered a cavalry counterattack led by elements of the Chevalier Guard Regiment that broke through a gap in the Franco-Allied lines. Saint-Cyr repulsed the Russians when he threw in a Swiss infantry regiment and Berckheim's 4th Cuirassiers.
Doumerc's division also fought at the Second Battle of Polotsk on 18–20 October 1812. The 23,000 Franco-Allies fought 40,000 Russians to a draw, but the survivors were so few that they had to retreat. On 26 November, the 3rd Cuirassier Division fought at the Battle of Berezina. That day Marshal Nicolas Oudinot with 11,000 infantry and Doumerc's cuirassiers assumed a position covering the key bridges over which Napoleon's army was escaping. On 27 November, Oudinot's troops repelled enemy attacks, but on the following day the Russians were close to breaking through. Doumerc's horsemen made a climactic charge and crushed the Russians with heavy losses; after that, they declined to close with the French. Berckheim's youngest brother Philippe-Gustave became a captain of cuirassiers and died during the 1812 campaign.
At the Battle of Lützen on 2 May 1813, Berckheim commanded the 1st Brigade in Étienne Tardif de Pommeroux de Bordesoulle's 1st Heavy Cavalry Division in the I Cavalry Corps. The 363-man brigade consisted of the 2nd (151), 3rd (110) and 6th Cuirassiers (102). According to one source, only the 2nd Cuirassiers came into action that day. On 20–21 May at the Battle of Bautzen, Berckheim's brigade numbered 504 troopers of the 2nd (210), 3rd (199) and 6th Cuirassiers (95). This time only the 3rd Cuirassiers were engaged in action.
For the Battle of Dresden on 26–27 August 1813, Berckheim commanded the 1st Light Cavalry Division in Victor de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg's I Cavalry Corps. The division arrived late on the first day, but participated in Marshal Joachim Murat's grand cavalry attack on the second day. In this action, the 1st Light Cavalry Division attacked an Austrian infantry square and forced it to surrender. Because it was raining hard, most foot soldiers could not fire their muskets, allowing the cavalry to approach very close to the infantry. Berckheim was promoted general of division on 3 September 1813.
Restoration
In 1816 Berckheim married Elisabeth Barthodi (1789–1858). The couple had two children, Gustave (1818–1824) and Elisabeth Octavie (1820), neither of whom survived childhood. Another source mentioned only a son who died at a young age. After Berckheim's death, Elisabeth remarried Marquis de Boubers from a noble family of Artois. During the Hundred Days, Berckheim rallied to Napoleon. This deeply troubled his older sister Henriette, who was married to the banker Augustin Perier and opposed to Napoleon's return. Under the Bourbon Restoration Berckheim was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for Haut-Rhin on 2 August 1815 and again on 4 October 1816, voting with the Constitutional Royalists. Thanks to the patronage of the Duke of Angoulême he was named Inspector General of Cavalry. He was made Chevalier of the Order of Saint-Louis. He died at Paris on 28 December 1819. BERCKHEIM is inscribed on the east side of the Arc de Triomphe. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, in the 24th division, 1st line.