Thomas-Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (also known as Alexandre Dumas; 25 March 1762 – 26 February 1806) was a French general in Revolutionary France. With Toussaint Louverture and Abram Petrovich Gannibal in Imperial Russia, Thomas-Alexandre Dumas stands as one of the highest-ranking men of African descent (his father being white, and his mother black) ever to lead a European army. He was the first person of color in the French military to become brigadier general, the first to become divisional general, and the first to become general-in-chief of a French army. Dumas and Toussaint Louverture (appointed a general-in-chief in 1797) were the two highest-ranking officers of sub-Saharan African descent in the Western world until 1975, when "Chappie" James achieved the equivalent rank of four-star general in the United States Air Force.