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Herman Willem Daendels — news, coverage & facts — IJR

General in Napoleon's Grande Armée

During the incorporation of the Kingdom of Holland into France in 1810, Daendels returned to Holland and resided in Paris by November 1811. He was appointed as a divisional general (major general) and assumed command of the 26th Division of the Grande Armée. This division consisted of troops from Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Berg. In mid-March 1812, Daendels was appointed as the commander of the 26th Division, serving under Marshal Victor as part of IX Corps, which acted as a reserve.

In August, Victor received orders to march eastward, joining the Badeners in the Russian campaign 1812. Daendels arrived in Vilnius on 8 and 15 September, subsequently reaching Minsk. On 11 October, his division moved to Babinovichi, and on 20 October, they received orders to proceed to Vitebsk. By 27 October, they had occupied the nearby town of Beshenkovichi. The following day, temperatures dropped below zero. The supplies in Vitebsk were lost when the Russian army captured the city, and it began to snow on 29 October.

On 11 November, Daendels and the rearguard arrived in Chashniki, approximately 90 km southwest of their previous location. On 14 November, during the battle of Smoliani, the French suffered the loss of 3,000 men against General Peter Wittgenstein, and heavy snowfall of about 1.5 meters occurred that day. Four days later, the supplies in Minsk were also lost when Pavel Chichagov captured the city.

On 24 November, Daendels skirmished with some Russians but reunited with the rest of the French army near Bobr. Subsequently, all the French soldiers proceeded to Borisov, where the Russian army destroyed a crucial bridge crossing the Berezina River. Daendels' division, consisting of 4,000 men, played a decisive role in the Battle of Berezina.

From February 1813 until December 1813, General Daendels commanded Polish forces defending the Modlin Fortress, located northwest of Warsaw. It was the final French stronghold along the Vistula to surrender.

Governor-general of the Dutch Gold Coast

Following the downfall of Napoleon, concerns arose within the Dutch government, including King William I, regarding the potential influence and oppositional leadership of Daendels. To prevent this, he was appointed as the governor-general of the Dutch Gold Coast (now part of Ghana) and effectively prohibited from returning to the Netherlands. After the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade, Daendels aimed to revitalize the neglected Dutch territories into an African plantation colony focused on legitimate business. Leveraging his experience from the East Indies, he devised ambitious infrastructure projects, such as a comprehensive road network with a primary route connecting Elmina and Kumasi in Ashanti. The Dutch government granted him considerable autonomy and a substantial budget to execute his plans. Simultaneously, Daendels viewed his governorship as an opportunity to establish a personal monopoly on business in the Dutch Gold Coast.

In 1817, the British accused Daendels of supporting and facilitating the Atlantic slave trade, despite its prohibition by both the British and Dutch authorities, from his position at the Elmina fort, which was then under Dutch control. On 5 March 1817, the British governor of Cape Coast, John Smith, wrote to the African Committee in Parliament in London, stating, "We deem it our duty to inform you of the conduct of General Daendels, who is acting independent of his Government. Portuguese vessels were furnished with canoes, and Spaniards were supplied with water. At the beginning of last month, a large Spanish ship was four days at anchor in Elmina roads, receiving water and bartering dollars for goods suited for the purchase of slaves."

None of Daendels' infrastructure plans came to fruition, as he succumbed to malaria on 2 May 1818 while in the castle of St. George d'Elmina, which served as the Dutch seat of government. His body was interred in the central tomb at the Dutch cemetery in Elmina. He had been in the country less than two years.