Amédée Willot, Count of Gramprez, (31 August 1755 – 17 December 1823) held several military commands during the French Revolutionary Wars but his association with Jean-Charles Pichegru led to his exile from France in 1797.

Shortly after being promoted commander of a light infantry regiment Willot was appointed general of brigade in June 1793.

Willot overtly embraced the Royalist cause and worked with France's enemies to overthrow the First French Republic.

[1] Willot was put in charge of 500 regulars and 1,000 volunteers and sent to block a Spanish thrust in the eastern Pyrenees at Céret.

[6] On 23 June, the representatives on mission elevated Willot to the rank of general of brigade and assigned him to lead the army advance guard.

Two divisions numbering 10,995 soldiers were assembled under Willot and Dessein and ordered to march to join Lazare Hoche's Army of the West.

[11] Historian Ramsay Weston Phipps stated that Willot became "a thorn in Hoche's side", without giving an explanation.

[12] Yet when Hoche was called to Paris on 17 December, Willot assumed the acting command of the Army of the West.

[17] Evidently, his political leanings were well known because Pierre Augereau blustered that Willot in Marseilles had nearly sabotaged the Battle of Arcole campaign by failing to reinforce the Army of Italy.

The other two directors, Lazare Carnot and François-Marie, marquis de Barthélemy as well as a swelling majority of the Five Hundred and the Ancients were in the opposition which wanted a change in government and a stop to the endless wars.

The opposition included both Republicans who wanted better government and avowed Royalists such as Jean-Charles Pichegru and Willot.

Foolishly, the Royalists refused to assure the Republican members of the opposition that they would not be punished if the House of Bourbon returned.

[19] Another blunder made by the opposition was making an enemy of Bonaparte at a time when he was a national hero for his victories in Italy.

Despite being warned by members of the opposition Club de Clichy, the outspoken Jacques-Victor Dumolard offended Bonaparte in a speech made to the Five Hundred.

[21] Though Bonaparte proved coy, Hoche, the commander of the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse was eager to intervene on behalf of the Triumvirate.

The attempted coup collapsed and the troops withdrew when it was discovered that Hoche was too young to assume the position of Minister of War.

[21] The Coup of 18 Fructidor occurred on 4 September 1797 as soldiers under Augereau and Lemoine occupied key positions in Paris.

They and 51 others were sentenced to be transported to Sinnamary (Cayenne) where it was expected that the so-called "dry guillotine" of tropical diseases would soon kill them.

[23] Pichegru and three other deportees escaped from French Guiana by boat on 3 June 1798, but Willot and François Aubry fell desperately ill with fever and were unable to join them.

[25] Pichegru planned to lead the rebellion in Franche-Comté, Willot in Marseilles and Louis François Perrin de Précy in Lyon.

[27] Though he could have taken advantage of the amnesty after the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799, Willot was too deeply involved as a Royalist; he chose to remain in exile.