1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Bernard, Simon

BERNARD, SIMON (1779–1839), French general of engineers, was born at Dôle, educated at the École Polytechnique, and entered the army in the corps of engineers. He rose rapidly, and served (1805–1812) as aide-de-camp to Napoleon. He was wounded in the retreat after Leipzig, and distinguished himself the same year (1813) in the gallant defence of Torgau against the allies. After the emperor’s fall he emigrated to the United States, where, being made a brigadier-general of engineers, he executed a number of extensive military works for the government, notably at Fortress Monroe, Va., and around New York, and did a large amount of the civil engineering connected with the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Delaware Breakwater. He returned to France after the revolution of 1830, was made a lieu tenant-general by Louis Philippe, and in 1836 served as minister of war.