Murat, Achille, 1801-1847

Achille Murat, christened Charles Louis Napoléon Achille, became Crown Prince of Naples in 1808. Having lost his crown at the fall of the French empire, he came to the United States in 1828.

Achille Murat, son of Caroline Bonaparte and Joachim Murat (King of Naples, 1808-1815), grew up in Paris and Naples. After the fall of Napoleon he lived in Austria. In the early 1820's, he travelled to the United States where he applied for citizenship and married Catherine Willis Gray. Murat returned to Europe for a brief period in the 1830s as head of the Foreign Legion of Belgium. He was the author of a book on the United States and was known to be a supporter of slavery.

Planter and attorney.

Napoleon Achille Charles Louis Murat was the son of Joachim Murat and Caroline Bonaparte, and the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte. After the fall of Napoleon and the death of his father, young Achille lived under house arrest with his mother and brothers in Austria. Frustrated by the conservative reaction in Europe and by the surveillance of his family, he immigrated to the United States in 1822. Staying for a while with his uncle, Joseph Bonaparte, at Point Breeze, New Jersey,

Achille eventually settled in Florida, first in St. Augustine, and afterwards at Wascissa, Florida, near Tallahassee. On July 12, 1826, he married Catherine Daingerfield Willis Gray, a distant niece of George Washington. Achille made his living as a planter and an attorney, published his observations on life in America, and made numerous trips back to Europe, involving himself in various intrigues against the French monarchy.

Because of his father's title as King of Naples, Floridians often referred to Murat and his wife as the Prince and Princess of Tallahassee. He was one of the most colorful and opinionated settlers in territorial Florida.

Biography

Achille Murat, son of Caroline Bonaparte and Joachim Murat (King of Naples, 1808-1815), grew up in Paris and Naples as heir presumptive to his father's titles. After the fall of Napoleon he lived in exile with his mother, brother Lucien, and sisters Letizia and Louise at Frohscorf Castle in Austria. Upon reaching his majority he petitioned for a passport to America. In 1823, he arrived in New York where news of a Spanish liberal revolution reached him. He decided to violate his promise never to return to Europe and sailed for Gibraltar, but he arrived too late. Upon his return to New York, he took out American citizenship papers and married a great-grand-niece of Washington, Catherine Willis Gray. He lived in Florida and for a time in New Orleans engaged in farming and various highly speculative business ventures. In the revolutionary 1830s he returned to Europe to become head of the Foreign Legion of the new Kingdom of Belgium, hoping for a "call from Italy" which never came. Back in America he published a book on the United States which failed to catch the public fancy. Murat was a staunch supporter of slavery though he professed to fight for the liberation of man. He was engaged in continuous litigation with the French Government for the Murat properties seized in 1815. He also tried to compel his uncle Joseph (Napoleon's elder brother) to give an accounting of funds the Emperor had given him to us "as I would use it."

Achille Murat was born in 1801 in Paris, the son of Joachim Murat and Caroline Bonaparte, and the nephew of Napoléon Bonaparte. During Napoleon's time in power, Murat was part of the family dynasty that ruled the kingdom of Naples. After his father's death and the downfall of Napoléon, he was placed under house arrest in Austria with his remaining family. In 1822, aggravated with Austrian surveillance of his family and inspired by his appreciation for America, he made his way across the Atlantic to make a better life for himself.

In 1823 Murat moved to Florida and resided for while as a planter and attorney near St. Augustine. At this time he began to write about his observations on American politics and life in Florida. He relocated to Tallahassee around 1825 and established a plantation that he called Lipona, an anagram for "Napoli." In 1826 he married Catherine Gray, great-grand-niece of George Washington. His book Esquisse morale et politique des États-Unis de l'Amérique du Nord appeared first in French in 1832 and was later translated into English as The United States of America (1833) and America and the Americans (1849). Another work, Exposition des principes du gouvernement républicain, tel qu'il a été perfectionné en Amérique, dedicated to Andrew Jackson, appeared in 1833. Murat long-identified himself as an American citizen and his writings were often in praise of the country's accomplishments and culture.

Many of his observations were first written in letters to his former tutor, Comte Antoine Thibaudeau. Murat's correspondence with Thibaudeau discussed various topics of his personal life as well as his experiences as an American citizen.

He returned to Europe in 1830 after the outbreak of the "July Revolution" in France and served briefly as colonel of the Belgian Legion. While there, he unsuccessfully attempted to restore his family fortune. In 1834 he returned to the Tallahassee area empty-handed. He died in 1847 and was buried in Tallahassee at the St. John's Episcopal Church Cemetery.