Here is a painting I think you would appreciate, oh Cap'n. Maybe someone could do a portrait of you in a similar pose (not mounted upon a steed, however) leading a charge against rogue rum producers and Potemkin rye bottlers?
Found in part 4 of the "Wine and Warfare" series I posted about, this section deals with Hussars and "
sabrage". Behold the swagger of General Lasalle, as painted by Édouard Detaille in 1912, 103 years after his death in a blaze of shot and glory.
The caption with the picture reads "Lasalle rides to his doom at the Battle of Wagram in 1809. Convinced of his impending death the general didn’t even draw his sword but rode full tilt at the Austrian guns flourishing his pipe."
Also from the article, "The Alsatian born Antoine-Charles-Louis Comte de Lasalle fought with Napoleon’s armies across Europe into Egypt, where he adopted bright red Mameluke saroual trousers and then back into Europe, cutting a dash wherever he fought; the Spanish called him “el Picador“, the rogue.
He was the inspiration for Arthur Conan-Doyle’s rip-roaring Brigadier Gerard stories and once proclaimed: “Any hussar who isn’t dead by 30 is a blackguard!”
He actually outlived his proclamation by four years but he did die heroically and at the head of his beloved cavalry, killed in a charge against the Austrians at the Battle of Wagram in 1809 (above).
On the day of the battle he is said to have opened his luggage and found only a broken pipe, a smashed glass and a full bottle of wine. “I will not survive this day,” he told his aide-de-camp."
Wiki has a little more deatial as follows, "He wrote a letter to his wife that read: "Mon coeur est à toi, mon sang à l'Empereur, ma vie à l'honneur" (My heart belongs to you, my blood to the Emperor, my life to honor).
On the night of the second day, Lasalle’s men had still not been ordered to fight so Lasalle went to Marshal Masséna to ask permission to pursue the enemy. Masséna ordered him to go aid General MacDonald. Lasalle exclaimed, "The battle is almost finished and we are the only ones who have not contributed to the victory! Let’s go, follow me!" Lasalle was temporarily separated from his division and accidentally alerted a battalion of enemy infantry, so he charged them with the 1st Cuirassier Regiment. Lasalle was shot in the chest but continued to charge. The enemy infantry broke and was routed as Lasalle and regiment pursued them. As he charged, Lasalle was shot between the eyes by an Austrian grenadier and was killed instantly."
