The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Fersen, Hans Axel, Count von

FERSEN, Hans Axel,, Swedish military officer and diplomat: b. Stockholm, Sweden, 4 Sept. 1755; d. there, 20 June 1810. He came to America in 1780 on the staff of Rochambeau; fought under Lafayette and received from Washington the Order of the Society of the Cincinnati. Later he returned to Paris where he had already been stationed in 1778-80; he became a favorite at court, and was the disguised coachman at the flight of the royal family from Versailles during the Revolution. He was deeply devoted to Queen Marie Antoinette and made a number of unsuccessful attempts to save her. His relations with her have been the subject of a number of books. He returned to Sweden, where he was received with honor, and in 1801 was made grand marshal of that country. He was entrusted with a number of important diplomatic missions. On suspicion of complicity in the death of Prince Christian of Sweden he was seized by a mob while marshaling the funeral procession, and beaten to death. After his brutal assassination his entire innocence was clearly established. Consult Carnegy, M., &lsquo;A Queen's Knight; the Life of Count Axel de Fersen&rsquo; (London 1912); Fersen, Comte J. A. de, &lsquo;The French Army in the Revolutionary War&rsquo; (in Magazine of American History, Vol. XXV, pp. 55 and 156, New York 1891); Gaulot, P., &lsquo;Un Ami de la Reine&rsquo; (Paris 1894; translated into English as &lsquo;A Friend of the Queen&rsquo; by C. Hoey, 2 vols., London 1894); Granath, W., &lsquo;Fersenska Mordet. Historisk Roman&rsquo; (Stockholm 1904); Hansson, O, &lsquo;L'Assassinat de Fersen&rsquo; (in Revue d'Histoire Diplomatique, Vol. XXV, p. 195, Paris 1911); Heidenstam, O. G. de, &lsquo;Marie-Antoinette, Fersen et Barnave; leur Correspondance&rsquo; (Paris 1913); Klinckowström, R. M. de, ed., &lsquo;Le Comte de Fersen et la Cour de France&rsquo; (2 vols., Paris 1878); O'Connor, T. P. &lsquo;Some Old Love Stories&rsquo; (London 1895).