French General. Louis-Alexandre Berthier worked at the Hotel de la Guerre (Ministry of War) as early as 1768 under his father. By 1770, Berthier was a lieutenant. Helping with the American Revolution, he joined General Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau's army in Newport, Rhode Island and served until 1783, when he joined the service of Frederick the Great. He returned to France on the General staff of the Hotel de la Guerre, obtaining the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1789 and colonel in 1791. In 1789, during the French Revolution, Berthier joined the Versailles militia and was named chief of staff where he virtually commanded the National Guard at Versailles. When France declared war on Austria in 1792, Berthier became marechal de camp in the French army. He was relieved of his command after the overthrow of the king, however, because of his sympathies for the royal family. In 1795, after the Reign of Terror, Berthier was reinstated in the army as general and chief of staff to the Armies of the Alps and Italy. The following year he held the same position under Napoleon Bonaparte. He later became the commander in chief of the Army of Italy for a short time before rejoining Napoleon. He was a signatory of the Treaty of San Ildefonso on October 1, 1800 by which Spain ceded Louisiana to France. He then rejoined Napoleon, who named Berthier the first Marshal of the Empire in 1804. For his role in the Battle of Wagram on July 6, 1809, he was granted the title of Prince of Wagram. Berthier was with Napoleon in the field for the invasion of Russia, and he remained with the army as it wasted away to nothing. After Napoleon's exile to Elba, Berthier was at the head of the delegations welcoming back King Louis XVIII to Paris. In 1814, Berthier was made a Peer of France and a Commander of the Royal Order of Saint-Louis. Upon the return of Napoleon, Berthier, as Captain of the King's Bodyguard, joined the royal family in exile in Belgium for a time before removing to his family in Bamberg. While at his residence in Bamberg, Berthier jumped from of a window or was pushed from a window , either way, dying from the fall. His coffin lay in state in the cathedral on June 5, 1815 before receiving an escort to Duke Ludwig Wilhelm's castle at Banz. It is said that while Napoleon was waiting in vain for reinforcements at Waterloo only weeks later he exclaimed, "If Berthier were here, my orders would have been carried out, and I should have escaped this misfortune!" Berthier's name was carved on the inner wall of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris with other generals of the Revolution and Empire.