Figueur, Thérèse (1774–1861)
Figueur, Thérèse (1774–1861)
French soldier. Name variations: Theresa or Therese Figueur; Therese Figueur de Lyon; Marie-Thérèse Figueur; Mademoiselle Sans-Gêne. Born Jan 17, 1774, in Talmay, near Dijon, France; died Jan 4, 1861; dau. of François Figueur and Claudine Viard (died Jan 17, 1774); married a gendarme.
At 18, with her uncle in Avignon in charge of the gunnery (1793), dressed as a man and became a soldier to fight the advancing army; served under Dugommier at the siege of Toulon; was taken captive near Marseilles and when her true gender was discovered it took her uncle to save her; later joined the 15th Dragoons (April 4, 1794); fought in the Napoleonic wars, taking part in the Italian campaigns; taken captive (1799), was imprisoned in Turin and later released; joined the 9th Dragoons; called Mademoiselle Sans-Gêne by Napoleon Bonaparte, declined the offer to enter the service of Empress Joséphine; returned to her regiment, fighting in Ulm and Austerlitz; had 4 horses shot out from under her.