(Théophile et Félicité de Fernig, by Albert Ferdinand Le Dru)
Félicité & Théophile Fernig - Warrior sisters
Félicité (1770-1841) and her sister Théophile (1775-1819) Fernig were two sisters who fought in the French army and distinguished themselves during the French Revolutionary Wars.
Their father, Louis Joseph Fernig, was an Alsatian philosopher and military officer who had been appointed commandant of a National guard detachment in the district of Mortagne in 1789. The sisters felt their “warlike ardor stirring” and submitted the following official request on June 7 1792:
“Gentlemen, though our sex is accused of weakness and timidity, although we are excused from the honor of the oath, as well as civic inscription, we nevertheless dare to offer our country our arms and our lives; therefore, we beg you gentlemen, my younger sister and I, not only to register us on the volunteer list of the National guard of our city, but also to take the civil oath, to be faithful to our nation, to the law and to the king to hold with all our strength the constitution of the kingdom. We are happy to pay homage to the Homeland and to share the victory with the brave volunteers and our brothers in arms.”
22 years old Félicité and 17 years old Théophile fought against the intrusions of the Austrian enemy soldiers, preventing pillage and plundering. They first tried to prevent their father from discovering their secret. The masquerade lasted only for a few days. One night, the sisters fought in an ambush against the enemy. Their father saw them with their sabers and firearms, faces smeared with smoke and lips blackened by bullet cartridges that they tore open with their teeth. After recognizing them, he decided that the should be allowed to fight.
(Félicité et Théophile de Fernig, héroïnes, by Frédéric Lix)
Louis Joseph was proud of his daughters’ exploits. He describes in one of his letters how they, dressed in uniform, led a National guard detachment. The sisters and their father then joined General Dumouriez’s troops. At the battle of Jemappes, on November 6 1792, Théophile shot 2 Hungarian grenadiers and disarmed and “with her own hand” and took prisoner their commanding officer. Meanwhile, Félicité was “in the thickest of the mélée”, rallied Dumouriez’s retreating battalions, charging on the battlefield “holding her bridle in her teeth and with a pistol in each hand”.
Other women fought at Jemappes, such as Pélagie Dulière, a gunner who was named sublieutenant by Dumouriez and was wounded in the leg. Another was 22 years old Catherine Pochetat, gunner and sublieutenant as well, who distinguished herself by her courage.
A week later, Félicité cut through the enemy ranks to rejoin her column. She reportedly rescued a Belgian officer who had fallen from his horse and engaged in a sword fight with the Polish cavalry. She shot two of them before escorting the wounded Belgian to a field hospital and returning to Dumouriez. As General de Beurnonville stated that: “The Fernig girls were very capable of killing their men”. Many accounts praise their bravery, calling the sisters “modest and courageous” as well as “intrepid”.
In April 1793, Dumouriez betrayed the French Republic and joined the Austrian army. Trusting him and accustomed to obeying, the sisters went with him without realizing what was happening. When they realized what Dumouriez had done, they left his side to keep fighting for the Republic. Ir was too late, they were considered as his accomplices and briefly imprisoned before they could join their family again.
The two sisters then had to leave France. Félicité married Jean-François Vanderwallen, possibly the Belgian officer that she had saved on the battlefield while Théophile chose to stay celibate. The two sisters fought for the right to return to France which they finally obtained in 1801.They nevertheless returned to Brussels where they both died, Théophile in 1819, Félicité in 1841.
Warrior women of the French Revolution era:
Rose-Alexandrine Barreau
Marie-Angélique Duchemin
Bibliography:
Bocquillet Auguste, Félicité et Théophile Fernig, aides-de-camp du général Dumouriez
Godineau Dominique, “De la guerrière à la citoyenne. Porter les armes pendant l’Ancien Régime et la Révolution française”
Grant de Pauw Linda, Battle Cries and Lullabies
Jacotey M. L., Femmes aux armées de 1792 à 1815
Wheelwright Julie, Sisters in arms, female warriors from antiquity to the new millenium