Joseph Bara

François Joseph Bara (30 July 1779[1] – 7 December 1793) was a French soldier best known for his death during the War in the Vendée.

When Bara was twelve his father died, so when the Levée en masse was issued, his mother enlisted him in the French Revolutionary Army.

"[2] The boy's death was seized on as an opportunity by the revolutionaries, who praised him at the Convention's tribune saying that "only the French have thirteen-year-old heroes".

But rather than simply being killed by rebels who solely wanted to steal horses, Bara was transformed into a figure who resisted the Ancien Régime at the cost of his death.

His remains were to be transferred to the Panthéon during a revolutionary festival in his honour but the event was cancelled when Robespierre was overthrown the day before it was to take place.