Niklaus Franz von Bachmann

He was the younger son of Maréchal de Camp Karl Leonhard von Bachmann and Maria Elisabetha Keller.

[1] His older brother was major and Maréchal de Camp Karl Josef von Bachmann, commanding officer of the Swiss Guard during the Insurrection of 10 August 1792.

[1] Promoted to colonel in 1779, Bachmann was in charge of the training of troops from Brittany sent to fight in North America in the American War of Independence,[1] and introduced the Prussian drill in the French Army.

Bachmann's brother, Karl Josef, was sentenced to death for his part in the defense of King Louis XVI on 10 August 1792 and was guillotined in September of the same year.

Here he recruited his own regiment and in 1793 entered the service of Victor Amadeus III, King of Sardinia, who was bolstering his army in fear of a French attack.

Bitter enemy of the revolutionaries (whom he called "the Regicides"), he fought successfully in the area of the Valley of Aosta and was promoted to lieutenant general in 1794, made a Knight of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus and a Count of the Kingdom of Sardinia.