Charles-Philippe Ronsin

He was an extreme radical leader of the French Revolution, and one of the many followers of Jacques-René Hébert, known as the Hébertists.

[1] Born in 1751 in Soissons, Aisne, a city northeast of Paris, Ronsin was son of a master cooper or barrel maker.

In November, the minister of war, Pache, named him commissioner-organizer in Belgium to the army of Dumouriez.

In this post, Ronsin denounced the acts of violence of the suppliers to the armed forces, who were protected by the general.

Ronsin was named assistant of the minister of war of Bouchotte on 23 April 1793, without ever commanding a squadron.

Because of Ronsin's decision the Vendeans took over Beaulieu and managed to convince the Committee to get rid of Canclaux.

Ronsin's support among the Cordeliers and the ministry allowed him to cross the rank of captain to that of brigadier general in the army of the coasts of Rochelle.

However, thanks to his quick ascent and his character Ronsin acquired numerous enemies, particularly Pierre Philippeaux and Fabre d'Eglantine.

Ronsin stayed true to his words in prison: as Thomas Carlyle relates the event, he alone among the Hébertists went to the scaffold with an "air of defiance", still maintaining a steely "eye of command".