On This Day in Napoleonic History – 6 April 1804

Jean-Charles_Pichegru2General Jean-Charles Pichegru dies in his cell

Pichegru was found strangled in his cell, where he was held following his arrest on February 6 for his part in a Royalist conspiracy against Napoleon. The official report stated that it was suicide but there were many who questioned this view. Pichegru’s co-conspirator, George Cadoudal, was captured on March 9 but not before he killed one gendarme in a carriage chase and wounded another.Β Napoleon told Davout that the news of the capture had made the people touchingly happy.

Cadoudal openly admitted that he had come to Paris to kill Napoleon. He was executed on June 25. β€˜They seek to destroy the Revolution by attacking my person. I will defend it for I am the Revolution,’ said Napoleon.

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