Jean Gabriel Marchand
Encyclopedia
Jean Gabriel Marchand, 1st Count Marchand (10 December 1765 – 12 November 1851) went from being an attorney to a company commander in the army of the First French Republic in 1791. He fought almost exclusively in Italy throughout the French Revolutionary Wars
and served on the staffs of a number of generals. He participated in Napoleon Bonaparte's celebrated 1796-1797 Italian campaign. In 1799, he was with army commander Barthélemy Catherine Joubert
when that general was killed at Novi
. Promoted to general officer soon after, he transferred to the Rhine theater in 1800.
At the start of the Napoleonic Wars
in 1805, Marchand led a brigade in the Grande Armée at Haslach-Jungingen
and Dürenstein
. Promoted to lead a division in Marshal
Michel Ney
's corps, he fought at Jena and Magdeburg
in 1806. Leading an independent force, he defeated 3,000 Prussians late in the year. The following year he led his troops at Eylau
, Guttstadt-Deppen
, and Friedland
. Napoleon bestowed honors and the rank of nobility upon him.
In 1808 Marchand went to Spain where he fought in the Peninsular War
. In Ney's absence, he took command of the corps and suffered a humiliating defeat at Tamamés
at the hands of a Spanish army. He went with Marshal André Masséna
's abortive invasion of Portugal in 1810 and 1811 and fought at Ciudad Rodrigo
, Almeida
, and Bussaco. During the retreat he performed well in one rear guard action against the British and later led his division at Fuentes de Onoro
.
In 1812 he commanded a division in Russia. He fought at the head of his division at Lützen
, Bautzen
, and Leipzig
in 1813. An Austrian division defeated his independent command near Geneva
in 1814. During the Hundred Days
he was tasked with stopping Napoleon's march near Grenoble
, but his troops went over to the ex-emperor. For this, he was later tried by the Bourbons
but acquitted. His surname is one of those names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
.
in the province of Dauphiné
on 10 December 1765, Marchand became a lawyer and practiced in Grenoble
. He joined the French army in 1791, leading a company of scouts in an Isère
volunteer battalion. In the French Revolutionary Wars
, he served in Italy during the years 1792-1799. He fought first in Savoy
, where he won notice, then at the Siege of Toulon
in 1793. Marchand became a staff officer to General Jean-Baptiste Cervoni
. At the Battle of Loano
on 23 and 24 November 1795, he and Colonel Jean Lannes
led 200 grenadiers against an enemy redoubt armed with six cannons. They successfully stormed the fortification and ejected the Hungarian grenadiers who defended it. For this exploit, his army commander Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer
named him chef de bataillon (major).
On 11 April 1796, as a junior officer on Amédée Emmanuel Francois Laharpe
's staff, Marchand accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte as the new army commander scouted the terrain before the Battle of Montenotte
. He participated in the battles of Ceva
and Caldiero
in 1796. He transferred to the staff of General Barthélemy Catherine Joubert
. In June of that year, while leading 300 carabiniers of the 3rd Light Infantry Regiment, he surprised a large camp of Austrians and captured 400 of them. He was shot in the chest during an action on 29 July in the Castiglione Campaign
. On 14 June 1797 he was made prisoner by the Austrians. Exchanged immediately, he was promoted to chef de brigade
(colonel) two days later.
After commanding the post of Rome
for a time in 1798, Marchand was dismissed, but Joubert took him back as an aide-de-camp
. At the Battle of Novi on 15 August 1799, when Joubert was killed by a chance shot at the beginning of the engagement, Marchand was at his side. He was promoted to general of brigade on 13 October 1799. He fought on the Rhine the following year.
's division of Marshal
Michel Ney
's VI Corps. In the Ulm Campaign
, he fought at the remarkable Battle of Haslach-Jungingen
, where Dupont's 5,350 infantry, 2,169 cavalry, and 18 guns held off 25,000 Austrians. The French lost 1,500 killed and wounded plus 11 guns and 900 men captured. Austrian losses numbered 1,100 killed and wounded, with 3,000 more captured. During the pursuit of Franz von Werneck
's corps, Dupont's division fought in clashes at Herbrechtingen
and Neresheim
on 17-18 October. Marchand fought at the Battle of Dürenstein
on 11 November.
Marchand won promotion to general of division on 25 December 1805. During the War of the Fourth Coalition
, Marchand commanded the 1st Division in Ney's VI Corps at the Battle of Jena on 14 October 1806. General of Brigade Eugene-Casimir Villatte
led the 6th Light Infantry Regiment while General of Brigade François Roguet commanded the 39th, 69th, and 76th Line Infantry Regiments. All regiments had two battalions each. His division participated in the Siege of Magdeburg
from 22 October to 11 November.
As the French advanced into Poland, they clashed with the Russians and Prussians in a series of actions, the most prominent of which was the Battle of Czarnowo
on 23 and 24 December 1806. On the 24th, Ney sent Marchand's division ahead to seize Działdowo (Soldau) and Mława. He arrived at Soldau at 2:00 PM on 25 December with two regiments and expelled the lone Prussian battalion he found there. Shortly afterward, his remaining two regiments joined him after marching via Mława. At 5:00 PM, Christoph Friedrich Otto Diercke's Prussian brigade turned up and attacked Soldau but was repulsed after stiff fighting. Marchand reported losing 220 casualties out of 6,000 troops and 12 guns, while Ney claimed his lieutenant inflicted 800 casualties on Diercke's 3,000 men and 8 guns. At this time, the 6th Light had temporarily been replaced by the 27th Line Infantry Regiment, while the other units remained the same. Marchand led his division at the Battle of Eylau
on 8 February 1807.
Levin August, Count von Bennigsen
fell upon the 17,000 soldiers of Ney's VI Corps with 63,000 Russians on 5 June 1807. At the Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen
, Ney fought a brilliant rear guard action before retreating behind the Pasłęka (Passarge) River. The French lost 400 killed and wounded plus 1,642 captured, while inflicting 2,500 casualties on their adversaries. At this time, Marchand's division included the 6th Light again. Marchand's division was deployed north of Dobre Miasto (Guttstadt)
while Baptiste Pierre Bisson
defended to the south. The two divisions gave ground slowly, relying on heavy skirmisher lines. Amazingly, Ney still held his ground to the east of the Passarge on the morning of the 6th. Adroit French generalship and Russian mistakes allowed the French to escape across the river that day.
On 14 June 1807, Marchand led his division at the Battle of Friedland
. Ney's corps formed the right flank, hidden in the Sortlack Wood. At 5:30 PM, Emperor Napoleon ordered a 20-gun battery to fire a salvo, signalling Ney to attack Bennigsen's left flank. As the VI Corps burst from the forest, Marchand took position on the right while Bisson formed to his left. Sweeping Russian light troops before him, Marchand diverged slightly to the right to push his opponents into the river. This opened a gap between the two divisions, which Russian cavalry tried to exploit. With the help of Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg
's cavalry, the enemy horsemen were dispersed. As Ney's troops advanced, they were enfiladed from the opposite bank of the river by a storm of cannon fire. As the soldiers hesitated, Bennigsen hurled a mass of cavalry at Bisson's left flank, causing Ney's corps to recoil. However, Claude Perrin Victor's I Corps arrived to beat back the Russians. This gave Ney and his officers time to rally the VI Corps and repulse the Russian Imperial Guard. At 8:30 PM, the troops of Marchand and Bisson seized Friedland itself.
On 13 July, Napoleon awarded Marchand the Grand Eagle of the Légion d'Honneur
. This honor was followed by his appointment as a Count of the Empire on 26 October 1808.
's 3,000-man brigade, inflicting 500 casualties. Ney soon arrived with the remainder of the 1st Division and drove La Romana away. Finally, in mid-June, Ney abandoned Galicia and fell back to Astorga.
In June 1809, Napoleon placed the VI Corps under Marshal Nicolas Soult's command. With Ney's troops, plus the II and V Corps, Soult planned to sweep south and destroy Arthur Wellesley's
British army. Wellesley beat King Joseph Bonaparte
and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
at the Battle of Talavera on 28 July. When Spanish guerillas captured a French dispatch, the British general found out that Soult was coming down from the north with three corps. Wellesley immediately bolted back toward Portugal and escaped the trap. During these operations, Ney's advanced guard clashed with a column under Robert Thomas Wilson
at Puerto de Baños on 12 August, but Marchand's troops were not engaged.
In the fall of 1809, the Spanish army of Lorenzo Fernández de Villavicencio y Cañas, Duke del Parque launched an offensive against the VI Corps. With Ney on leave, Marchand took command and suffered a stinging defeat at the Battle of Tamamés
on 18 October 1809. With only 14,000 men and 14 artillery pieces, he tried to oust del Parque's 20,000 infantry, 1,500 cavalry, and 18 guns from a ridge. Sending Maucune's brigade to attack the Spanish left flank and the 25th Light Infantry to pin the enemy right flank, he planned to send the brigade of Pierre-Louis Binet de Marcognet
to crush del Parque's center. Maucune's attack made considerable progress, but Marcognet's assault stalled in the face of heavy musketry and the fire of 12 cannons. Falling into confusion, Marcognet's men finally fled downhill and Marchand had bring up Mathieu Delabassée's reserve brigade to prevent a rout. His corps suffered 1,400 casualties while the Spanish only lost half as many.
Marchand evacuated his headquarters at Salamanca
and retired north to Toro
where François Étienne de Kellermann
joined him with a dragoon division and some infantry. With Kellermann in overall command, the French recovered Salamanca. Dropping off Marchand and the VI Corps, Kellermann returned north to suppress new guerilla attacks. At this, Del Parque promptly advanced with superior forces, compelling Marchand to abandon Salamanca again. Learning that the main Spanish army had been smashed at the Battle of Ocana
and fearing retribution, del Parque withdrew toward his mountain refuge. Meanwhile, Kellermann reappeared with his cavalry, joined Marchand, and launched a pursuit. The French cavalry found del Parque astride a river crossing at Alba de Tormes
and mounted a devastating attack. On 28 November, Kellermann routed del Parque at the Battle of Alba de Tormes
. Most of the fighting was over by the time Marchand's infantry arrived, though they managed to seize the vital bridge and town from the Spanish rear guard. For the loss of 300 to 600 men, the French inflicted 2,000 killed and wounded on del Parque's army. The French also captured 1,000 Spaniards, nine cannons, and most of the baggage train.
Marchand served under Ney again in Marshal André Masséna
's third invasion of Portugal in 1810. He fought at the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo
from 26 April ro 9 July 1810 and the Siege of Almeida
from 25 July to 27 August. On 15 September, Marchand's 1st Division consisted of Maucune's 1st Brigade, the 6th Light and 69th Line, and Marcognet's 2nd Brigade, the 39th and 76th Line. There were 6,457 men and 214 officers in the division. At the Battle of Bussaco on 27 September, Louis Henri Loison
's division led the attack up the main road toward to top of the ridge. Fighting its way through knots of British and Portuguese skirmishers, it was met at the crest by British infantry and artillery and defeated. Too late to support Loison, one of Marchand's brigades neared the top of the ridge. Because of hostile artillery fire it strayed to the left of the road. Marchand's attack was beaten by Denis Pack's Portuguese brigade. His division suffered the loss of 1,173 men while Loison's division sustained 1,252 casualties.
With the rest of the Army of Portugal, Marchand spent the winter before the Lines of Torres Vedras
. The next spring, he fought in the rear guard actions of Pombal
on 11 March 1811 and Redinha
on 12 March during the retreat from Portugal. On 14 March 1811, he gave the Marquess of Wellington
's famous Light Division
a bloody nose in the Battle of Casal Novo
. Sir William Erskine, 2nd Baronet
marched his 7,000 troops and six artillery pieces forward in a heavy fog without proper scouts. As the fog cleared, the Allies found Marchand's 4,600 men and six guns deployed across the road ready to receive them. During the action, the French lost 55 casualties but inflicted 155 killed and wounded on their opponents. On the 15th, Marchand's division suffered a defeat at the Battle of Foz do Arouce, losing 250 men and the eagle of the 39th Line. Allied casualties were only 71. In early May, he led his division at the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro
, where part of it participated in the first day's attack on the village. Two days later, his infantry flushed the British 85th Foot
and the Portuguese 2nd Caçadores out of the village of Pozo Bello into the open, where the two battalions were roughed up by French cavalry. Wellington soon managed to fend off the attack and forced Masséna to withdraw. Shortly after the engagement, Marshal Auguste Marmont
arrived to replace Masséna. The new commander abolished the corps organization and sent Marchand and other generals home.
's chief of staff
. Later, he took command of the 25th Division in Ney's III Corps
. He led the division at the battles of Smolensk
and Borodino
.
In 1813, Marchand commanded the 39th Division. General-major Stockhorn's brigade consisted of troops from the Grand Duchy of Baden
, 2 battalions each of the Stockhorn Infantry Regiment Nr. 1 and the Crown Prince Infantry Regiment Nr. 3, and a Baden foot artillery battery. General-major Prince Emil's brigade was made up of soldiers from the Grand Duchy of Hesse
, 2 battalions each of the Foot Guard, Life Guard, and 2nd Infantry Regiments, and a Hessian foot artillery battery. Marchand was present with Ney's III Corps at the battles of Lützen
and Bautzen
. He led his troops in Marshal Jacques MacDonald's XI Corps
at the Battle of Leipzig
. After his Germans abandoned the French alliance, he was responsible for defending the Department of Isère
in the 1814 campaign. While commanding 11,000 troops at Saint-Julien-en-Genevois
on 1 March 1814, he was defeated by Johann Nepomuk Joseph von Klebelsberg and a 6,000-man Austrian division. His forces lost 1,000 killed and wounded plus five guns and 300 men captured, while his opponents suffered 650 casualties.
After Napoleon's return from Elba
, the former emperor marched on Grenoble with about 1,000 troops. By 6 March 1815, Napoleon's little force reached Gap
, south of Grenoble. Marchand was in charge of the military district at Grenoble, with three battalions each of the 5th and 7th Line Infantry Regiments, the 3rd Engineer Regiment, and the 4th Hussar Regiment. He sent Colonel Lessard with one battalion of the 5th Line and a company of sappers to blow the bridge at Ponhaut. Lessard bumped into Napoleon's force and withdrew to a defile near Laffrey
. When the column from Elba appeared on 7 March, Napoleon walked forward alone toward the levelled muskets of the 5th Line. The soldiers immediately went over to his side in a body. On 8 March Napoleon was joined by the 7th Line and its Colonel Charles de la Bédoyère
, who also defected to him. That day, Marchand closed the gates of Grenoble and insisted that the cannons be loaded and trained. Fearing that he and his soldiers would be attacked by the enraged Grenoble mob, Marchand's artillery officer, a royalist, offered to surrender to Napoleon if his safety was guaranteed. At once the citizens of Grenoble dismantled the gates and let Napoleon's column into the city.
After Napoleon's final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo
, the Bourbons accused Marchand of delivering Grenoble to the former emperor. Dismissed from his command on 4 January 1816, he was hauled before a court-martial in Besançon
and acquitted after a six-month trial. He was taken off active service in 1818. He retired from the army in 1825 and died on 12 November 1851 at Saint-Ismier
in the Isère department. MARCHAND is engraved on Column 26 of the Arc de Triomphe
.
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
and served on the staffs of a number of generals. He participated in Napoleon Bonaparte's celebrated 1796-1797 Italian campaign. In 1799, he was with army commander Barthélemy Catherine Joubert
Barthélemy Catherine Joubert
Barthélemy Catherine Joubert was a French general. He joined the royal French army in 1784 and rose rapidly in rank during the French Revolutionary Wars. Napoleon Bonaparte recognized his talents and gave him increased responsibilities...
when that general was killed at Novi
Battle of Novi (1799)
The Battle of Novi was a battle near Novi Ligure, Italy. It was fought on August 15, 1799 in the French Revolutionary Wars. The Austrians and Russians under Fieldmarshal Alexander Suvorov defeated the French under General Barthelemy Catherine Joubert....
. Promoted to general officer soon after, he transferred to the Rhine theater in 1800.
At the start of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
in 1805, Marchand led a brigade in the Grande Armée at Haslach-Jungingen
Battle of Haslach-Jungingen
The Battle of Haslach-Jungingen, also known as the Battle of Albeck, fought on 11 October 1805 at Ulm-Jungingen north of Ulm at the Danube, was part of the War of the Third Coalition, which was a part of the greater Napoleonic Wars.-Background:...
and Dürenstein
Battle of Dürenstein
The Battle of Dürenstein , on 11 November 1805, was an engagement in the Napoleonic Wars during the War of the Third Coalition...
. Promoted to lead a division in Marshal
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
Michel Ney
Michel Ney
Michel Ney , 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I...
's corps, he fought at Jena and Magdeburg
Siege of Magdeburg (1806)
The siege of Magdeburg was a siege of the city that took place during the war of the Fourth Coalition...
in 1806. Leading an independent force, he defeated 3,000 Prussians late in the year. The following year he led his troops at Eylau
Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...
, Guttstadt-Deppen
Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen
In the Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen on 5 and 6 June 1807, troops of the Russian Empire led by General Levin August, Count von Bennigsen attacked the First French Empire corps of Marshal Michel Ney. The Russians pressed back their opponents in an action that saw Ney fight a brilliant rear guard action...
, and Friedland
Battle of Friedland
The Battle of Friedland saw Napoleon I's French army decisively defeat Count von Bennigsen's Russian army about twenty-seven miles southeast of Königsberg...
. Napoleon bestowed honors and the rank of nobility upon him.
In 1808 Marchand went to Spain where he fought in the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
. In Ney's absence, he took command of the corps and suffered a humiliating defeat at Tamamés
Battle of Tamamés
The Battle of Tamames was a sharp reversal suffered by part of Marshal Michel Ney's French army under Major-General Jean Marchand in the Peninsular War. The French, advancing out of Salamanca, were met and defeated in battle by a Spanish army on October 18, 1809.-Course of battle:The Spanish drew...
at the hands of a Spanish army. He went with Marshal André Masséna
André Masséna
André Masséna 1st Duc de Rivoli, 1st Prince d'Essling was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
's abortive invasion of Portugal in 1810 and 1811 and fought at Ciudad Rodrigo
Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1810)
In the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, the French Marshal Michel Ney took the fortified city from Field Marshal Don Andrés Perez de Herrasti on 9 July 1810 after a siege that began on 26 April...
, Almeida
Siege of Almeida
The Siege of Almeida may refer to one of a number of historical events including:* Siege of Almeida , during the Seven Years' War* Siege of Almeida , during the Peninsular War* Siege of Almeida , during the Peninsular War...
, and Bussaco. During the retreat he performed well in one rear guard action against the British and later led his division at Fuentes de Onoro
Battle of Fuentes de Onoro
In the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro , the British-Portuguese Army under Viscount Wellington checked an attempt by the French Army of Portugal under Marshal André Masséna to relieve the besieged city of Almeida.-Background:...
.
In 1812 he commanded a division in Russia. He fought at the head of his division at Lützen
Battle of Lützen (1813)
In the Battle of Lützen , Napoleon I of France lured a combined Prussian and Russian force into a trap, halting the advances of the Sixth Coalition after his devastating losses in Russia. The Russian commander, Prince Peter Wittgenstein, attempting to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig, attacked...
, Bautzen
Battle of Bautzen
In the Battle of Bautzen a combined Russian/Prussian army was pushed back by Napoleon, but escaped destruction, some sources claim, because Michel Ney failed to block their retreat...
, and Leipzig
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
in 1813. An Austrian division defeated his independent command near Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
in 1814. During the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
he was tasked with stopping Napoleon's march near Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
, but his troops went over to the ex-emperor. For this, he was later tried by the Bourbons
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
but acquitted. His surname is one of those names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
The following is the list of the names of the 660 persons inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris. Most of them are generals who served during the First French Empire with additional figures from the French Revolution ....
.
Revolution
Born in L'AlbencL'Albenc
L'Albenc is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France....
in the province of Dauphiné
Dauphiné
The Dauphiné or Dauphiné Viennois is a former province in southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of :Isère, :Drôme, and :Hautes-Alpes....
on 10 December 1765, Marchand became a lawyer and practiced in Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
. He joined the French army in 1791, leading a company of scouts in an Isère
Isère
Isère is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region in the east of France named after the river Isère.- History :Isère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Dauphiné...
volunteer battalion. In the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, he served in Italy during the years 1792-1799. He fought first in Savoy
Savoy
Savoy is a region of France. It comprises roughly the territory of the Western Alps situated between Lake Geneva in the north and Monaco and the Mediterranean coast in the south....
, where he won notice, then at the Siege of Toulon
Siege of Toulon
The Siege of Toulon was an early Republican victory over a Royalist rebellion in the Southern French city of Toulon. It is also often known as the Fall of Toulon.-Context:...
in 1793. Marchand became a staff officer to General Jean-Baptiste Cervoni
Jean-Baptiste Cervoni
Jean-Baptiste Cervoni became a general officer in the French army during the French Revolutionary Wars and was killed in action in 1809 during the Napoleonic Wars.-Revolution:...
. At the Battle of Loano
Battle of Loano
The Battle of Loano occurred on 23-24 November 1795 during the War of the First Coalition. The French Army of Italy led by Barthélemy Schérer defeated the combined Austrian and Sardinian forces under Olivier, Count of Wallis. -Context:...
on 23 and 24 November 1795, he and Colonel Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes, 1st Duc de Montebello, was a Marshal of France. He was one of Napoleon's most daring and talented generals. Napoleon once commented on Lannes: "I found him a pygmy and left him a giant"...
led 200 grenadiers against an enemy redoubt armed with six cannons. They successfully stormed the fortification and ejected the Hungarian grenadiers who defended it. For this exploit, his army commander Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer
Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer
Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer , born in Delle, near Belfort, became a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and on three occasions led armies in combat.-Early career:...
named him chef de bataillon (major).
On 11 April 1796, as a junior officer on Amédée Emmanuel Francois Laharpe
Amedee Emmanuel Francois Laharpe
Amédée Emmanuel François Laharpe fought in the armies of the First French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars, led a division in Italy under Napoleon Bonaparte, and died after being hit by friendly fire.-Early career:...
's staff, Marchand accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte as the new army commander scouted the terrain before the Battle of Montenotte
Battle of Montenotte
The Battle of Montenotte was fought on 12 April 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, between the French army under General Napoleon Bonaparte and an Austrian corps under Count Eugène-Guillaume Argenteau. The battle was fought near the village of Cairo Montenotte, in northwestern Italy, and...
. He participated in the battles of Ceva
Battle of Ceva
In the Battle of Ceva on 16 April 1796, troops of the First French Republic under Pierre Augereau fought against part of the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont led by General Giuseppe Felice, Count Vital. Augereau assaulted the strong defensive position without success...
and Caldiero
Battle of Caldiero (1796)
In the Battle of Caldiero on 12 November 1796, a Habsburg Austrian army led by Jozsef Alvinczi fought a First French Republic army commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte. The French assaulted the Austrian positions, which were initially held by the army advance guard under Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of...
in 1796. He transferred to the staff of General Barthélemy Catherine Joubert
Barthélemy Catherine Joubert
Barthélemy Catherine Joubert was a French general. He joined the royal French army in 1784 and rose rapidly in rank during the French Revolutionary Wars. Napoleon Bonaparte recognized his talents and gave him increased responsibilities...
. In June of that year, while leading 300 carabiniers of the 3rd Light Infantry Regiment, he surprised a large camp of Austrians and captured 400 of them. He was shot in the chest during an action on 29 July in the Castiglione Campaign
Battle of Castiglione
The Battle of Castiglione saw the French Army of Italy under General Napoleon Bonaparte attack an army of Habsburg Austria led by Feldmarschall Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser on 5 August 1796. The outnumbered Austrians were defeated and driven back along a line of hills to the river crossing at...
. On 14 June 1797 he was made prisoner by the Austrians. Exchanged immediately, he was promoted to chef de brigade
Chef de brigade
Chef de brigade was a military rank, equivalent to colonel, in the French Revolutionary army, in command of a demi-brigade. Both that unit and that rank were created at the same time, in 1793. The two designations disappeared just before the institution of the French Empire, in 1803, with the...
(colonel) two days later.
After commanding the post of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
for a time in 1798, Marchand was dismissed, but Joubert took him back as an aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
. At the Battle of Novi on 15 August 1799, when Joubert was killed by a chance shot at the beginning of the engagement, Marchand was at his side. He was promoted to general of brigade on 13 October 1799. He fought on the Rhine the following year.
Early Empire
In the War of the Third Coalition, Marchand commanded a brigade in Pierre Dupont de l'EtangPierre Dupont de l'Étang
Pierre-Antoine, comte Dupont de l'Étang was a French general of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as well as a political figure of the Bourbon Restoration.-Revolutionary Wars:...
's division of Marshal
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
Michel Ney
Michel Ney
Michel Ney , 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I...
's VI Corps. In the Ulm Campaign
Ulm Campaign
The Ulm Campaign consisted of a series of French and Bavarian military maneuvers and battles to outflank and capture an Austrian army in 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition. It took place in the vicinity of and inside the Swabian city of Ulm...
, he fought at the remarkable Battle of Haslach-Jungingen
Battle of Haslach-Jungingen
The Battle of Haslach-Jungingen, also known as the Battle of Albeck, fought on 11 October 1805 at Ulm-Jungingen north of Ulm at the Danube, was part of the War of the Third Coalition, which was a part of the greater Napoleonic Wars.-Background:...
, where Dupont's 5,350 infantry, 2,169 cavalry, and 18 guns held off 25,000 Austrians. The French lost 1,500 killed and wounded plus 11 guns and 900 men captured. Austrian losses numbered 1,100 killed and wounded, with 3,000 more captured. During the pursuit of Franz von Werneck
Franz von Werneck
Franz Freiherr von Werneck, born 13 October 1748 – died 17 January 1806, enlisted in the army of Habsburg Austria and fought in the Austro-Turkish War, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the Napoleonic Wars. He enjoyed a distinguished career until 1797, when he lost a battle and was dismissed...
's corps, Dupont's division fought in clashes at Herbrechtingen
Herbrechtingen
Herbrechtingen is a town in the district of Heidenheim in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is situated on the river Brenz, 7 km south of Heidenheim, and 28 km northeast of Ulm.-References:...
and Neresheim
Neresheim
Neresheim is a town in the Ostalbkreis district, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated northeast of Heidenheim, and southeast of Aalen....
on 17-18 October. Marchand fought at the Battle of Dürenstein
Battle of Dürenstein
The Battle of Dürenstein , on 11 November 1805, was an engagement in the Napoleonic Wars during the War of the Third Coalition...
on 11 November.
Marchand won promotion to general of division on 25 December 1805. During the War of the Fourth Coalition
War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition against Napoleon's French Empire was defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. Coalition partners included Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom....
, Marchand commanded the 1st Division in Ney's VI Corps at the Battle of Jena on 14 October 1806. General of Brigade Eugene-Casimir Villatte
Eugene-Casimir Villatte
Eugène-Casimir Villatte, Comte d'Oultremont fought in the French army during the Wars of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. He rose to command a division at many of the important battles in the Peninsular War...
led the 6th Light Infantry Regiment while General of Brigade François Roguet commanded the 39th, 69th, and 76th Line Infantry Regiments. All regiments had two battalions each. His division participated in the Siege of Magdeburg
Siege of Magdeburg (1806)
The siege of Magdeburg was a siege of the city that took place during the war of the Fourth Coalition...
from 22 October to 11 November.
As the French advanced into Poland, they clashed with the Russians and Prussians in a series of actions, the most prominent of which was the Battle of Czarnowo
Battle of Czarnowo
The Battle of Czarnowo on the night of 23–24 December 1806 saw troops of the First French Empire under the eye of Emperor Napoleon I launch an evening assault crossing of the Wkra River against Lieutenant General Alexander Ivanovich Ostermann-Tolstoy's defending Russian Empire forces...
on 23 and 24 December 1806. On the 24th, Ney sent Marchand's division ahead to seize Działdowo (Soldau) and Mława. He arrived at Soldau at 2:00 PM on 25 December with two regiments and expelled the lone Prussian battalion he found there. Shortly afterward, his remaining two regiments joined him after marching via Mława. At 5:00 PM, Christoph Friedrich Otto Diercke's Prussian brigade turned up and attacked Soldau but was repulsed after stiff fighting. Marchand reported losing 220 casualties out of 6,000 troops and 12 guns, while Ney claimed his lieutenant inflicted 800 casualties on Diercke's 3,000 men and 8 guns. At this time, the 6th Light had temporarily been replaced by the 27th Line Infantry Regiment, while the other units remained the same. Marchand led his division at the Battle of Eylau
Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...
on 8 February 1807.
Levin August, Count von Bennigsen
Levin August Gottlieb Theophil , Count von Bennigsen was a German general in the service of the Russian Empire....
fell upon the 17,000 soldiers of Ney's VI Corps with 63,000 Russians on 5 June 1807. At the Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen
Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen
In the Battle of Guttstadt-Deppen on 5 and 6 June 1807, troops of the Russian Empire led by General Levin August, Count von Bennigsen attacked the First French Empire corps of Marshal Michel Ney. The Russians pressed back their opponents in an action that saw Ney fight a brilliant rear guard action...
, Ney fought a brilliant rear guard action before retreating behind the Pasłęka (Passarge) River. The French lost 400 killed and wounded plus 1,642 captured, while inflicting 2,500 casualties on their adversaries. At this time, Marchand's division included the 6th Light again. Marchand's division was deployed north of Dobre Miasto (Guttstadt)
Dobre Miasto
Dobre Miasto is a town in Poland, in Olsztyn County in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It has 10,579 inhabitants . It is situated in the northwestern part of the Masurian Lake District in the heart of the historical region Warmia...
while Baptiste Pierre Bisson
Baptiste Pierre Bisson
Baptiste-Pierre-François Bisson, born 16 February 1767 at Montpellier, France and died 26 July 1811, at Mantua in the Kingdom of Italy, joined the French army and rose rapidly in rank during the French Revolutionary Wars. He served as a division commander in the Grand Armée of Emperor Napoleon in...
defended to the south. The two divisions gave ground slowly, relying on heavy skirmisher lines. Amazingly, Ney still held his ground to the east of the Passarge on the morning of the 6th. Adroit French generalship and Russian mistakes allowed the French to escape across the river that day.
On 14 June 1807, Marchand led his division at the Battle of Friedland
Battle of Friedland
The Battle of Friedland saw Napoleon I's French army decisively defeat Count von Bennigsen's Russian army about twenty-seven miles southeast of Königsberg...
. Ney's corps formed the right flank, hidden in the Sortlack Wood. At 5:30 PM, Emperor Napoleon ordered a 20-gun battery to fire a salvo, signalling Ney to attack Bennigsen's left flank. As the VI Corps burst from the forest, Marchand took position on the right while Bisson formed to his left. Sweeping Russian light troops before him, Marchand diverged slightly to the right to push his opponents into the river. This opened a gap between the two divisions, which Russian cavalry tried to exploit. With the help of Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg
Marie Victor de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg
Marie Victor Nicolas de Fay, marquis de Latour-Maubourg was a French cavalry commander starting under the Ancien Régime of France, and rising to prominence during the First French Empire...
's cavalry, the enemy horsemen were dispersed. As Ney's troops advanced, they were enfiladed from the opposite bank of the river by a storm of cannon fire. As the soldiers hesitated, Bennigsen hurled a mass of cavalry at Bisson's left flank, causing Ney's corps to recoil. However, Claude Perrin Victor's I Corps arrived to beat back the Russians. This gave Ney and his officers time to rally the VI Corps and repulse the Russian Imperial Guard. At 8:30 PM, the troops of Marchand and Bisson seized Friedland itself.
On 13 July, Napoleon awarded Marchand the Grand Eagle of the Légion d'Honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. This honor was followed by his appointment as a Count of the Empire on 26 October 1808.
Peninsular War
Still commanding Ney's 1st Division, Marchand participated in Napoleon's 1808 invasion of Spain. In February 1809, his division numbered 6,860 soldiers in 12 battalions. In early 1809, Ney campaigned in Galicia but his 17,000 French soldiers had their hands full trying to control 10000 square miles (25,899.9 km²) of territory. On 19 May there was a clash at Gallegos where Marchand's division was involved. Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana with 1,500 regulars and 8,000 militia attacked Antoine Louis Popon de MaucuneAntoine Louis Popon de Maucune
Antoine Louis Popon de Maucune joined the pioneer corps of the French army in 1786 and was a lieutenant by the time the French Revolutionary Wars broke out. He fought in the north in 1792 and in the Alps in 1793. Afterward he served in Italy through 1801. During this period, he fought at Arcole in...
's 3,000-man brigade, inflicting 500 casualties. Ney soon arrived with the remainder of the 1st Division and drove La Romana away. Finally, in mid-June, Ney abandoned Galicia and fell back to Astorga.
In June 1809, Napoleon placed the VI Corps under Marshal Nicolas Soult's command. With Ney's troops, plus the II and V Corps, Soult planned to sweep south and destroy Arthur Wellesley's
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
British army. Wellesley beat King Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph Bonaparte
Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily , and later King of Spain...
and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, 1st Comte Jourdan , enlisted as a private in the French royal army and rose to command armies during the French Revolutionary Wars. Emperor Napoleon I of France named him a Marshal of France in 1804 and he also fought in the Napoleonic Wars. After 1815, he became reconciled...
at the Battle of Talavera on 28 July. When Spanish guerillas captured a French dispatch, the British general found out that Soult was coming down from the north with three corps. Wellesley immediately bolted back toward Portugal and escaped the trap. During these operations, Ney's advanced guard clashed with a column under Robert Thomas Wilson
Robert Thomas Wilson
General Sir Robert Thomas Wilson Kt was a British general and politician who served in Egypt, Prussia, and was seconded to the Imperial Russian Army in 1812. He sat as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Southwark from 1818 to 1831...
at Puerto de Baños on 12 August, but Marchand's troops were not engaged.
In the fall of 1809, the Spanish army of Lorenzo Fernández de Villavicencio y Cañas, Duke del Parque launched an offensive against the VI Corps. With Ney on leave, Marchand took command and suffered a stinging defeat at the Battle of Tamamés
Battle of Tamamés
The Battle of Tamames was a sharp reversal suffered by part of Marshal Michel Ney's French army under Major-General Jean Marchand in the Peninsular War. The French, advancing out of Salamanca, were met and defeated in battle by a Spanish army on October 18, 1809.-Course of battle:The Spanish drew...
on 18 October 1809. With only 14,000 men and 14 artillery pieces, he tried to oust del Parque's 20,000 infantry, 1,500 cavalry, and 18 guns from a ridge. Sending Maucune's brigade to attack the Spanish left flank and the 25th Light Infantry to pin the enemy right flank, he planned to send the brigade of Pierre-Louis Binet de Marcognet
Pierre-Louis Binet de Marcognet
Pierre-Louis Binet de Marcognet joined the French army in 1781 as an officer cadet and fought in the American Revolutionary War. During the French Revolutionary Wars he fought in the Army of the Rhine and was wounded at First and Second Wissembourg...
to crush del Parque's center. Maucune's attack made considerable progress, but Marcognet's assault stalled in the face of heavy musketry and the fire of 12 cannons. Falling into confusion, Marcognet's men finally fled downhill and Marchand had bring up Mathieu Delabassée's reserve brigade to prevent a rout. His corps suffered 1,400 casualties while the Spanish only lost half as many.
Marchand evacuated his headquarters at Salamanca
Salamanca
Salamanca is a city in western Spain, in the community of Castile and León. Because it is known for its beautiful buildings and urban environment, the Old City was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. It is the most important university city in Spain and is known for its contributions to...
and retired north to Toro
Toro, Zamora
Toro is a town and municipality in the province of Zamora, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, Spain. It is located on a fertile high plain, northwest of Madrid at an elevation of 740 meters....
where François Étienne de Kellermann
François Étienne de Kellermann
Francois Étienne de Kellermann, 2nd Duc de Valmy was a French cavalry general noted for his daring and skillful exploits during the Napoleonic Wars...
joined him with a dragoon division and some infantry. With Kellermann in overall command, the French recovered Salamanca. Dropping off Marchand and the VI Corps, Kellermann returned north to suppress new guerilla attacks. At this, Del Parque promptly advanced with superior forces, compelling Marchand to abandon Salamanca again. Learning that the main Spanish army had been smashed at the Battle of Ocana
Battle of Ocana
The Battle of Ocana or Battle of Ocaña was fought on 19 November 1809 between French forces under Marshal Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult and King Joseph Bonaparte and the Spanish army under Juan Carlos de Aréizaga, which suffered its greatest single defeat in the Peninsular War...
and fearing retribution, del Parque withdrew toward his mountain refuge. Meanwhile, Kellermann reappeared with his cavalry, joined Marchand, and launched a pursuit. The French cavalry found del Parque astride a river crossing at Alba de Tormes
Alba de Tormes
Alba de Tormes is a municipality in the province of Salamanca, western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile-Leon. The town is on the River Tormes upstream from the city of Salamanca. Alba gave its name to one of Spain's most important dukedoms. St Teresa of Ávila died at a convent...
and mounted a devastating attack. On 28 November, Kellermann routed del Parque at the Battle of Alba de Tormes
Battle of Alba de Tormes
In the Battle of Alba de Tormes, fought on November 26, 1809, a French army commanded by Major General Jean Marchand routed Lieutenant-General Duke del Parque's retreating Spanish army during the Peninsular War.-Strategic situation:...
. Most of the fighting was over by the time Marchand's infantry arrived, though they managed to seize the vital bridge and town from the Spanish rear guard. For the loss of 300 to 600 men, the French inflicted 2,000 killed and wounded on del Parque's army. The French also captured 1,000 Spaniards, nine cannons, and most of the baggage train.
Marchand served under Ney again in Marshal André Masséna
André Masséna
André Masséna 1st Duc de Rivoli, 1st Prince d'Essling was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
's third invasion of Portugal in 1810. He fought at the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo
Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo (1810)
In the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, the French Marshal Michel Ney took the fortified city from Field Marshal Don Andrés Perez de Herrasti on 9 July 1810 after a siege that began on 26 April...
from 26 April ro 9 July 1810 and the Siege of Almeida
Siege of Almeida (1810)
In the Siege of Almeida, the French corps of Marshal Michel Ney captured the border fortress from Brigadier General William Cox's Portuguese garrison. This action was fought in the summer of 1810 during the Peninsular War portion of the Napoleonic Wars...
from 25 July to 27 August. On 15 September, Marchand's 1st Division consisted of Maucune's 1st Brigade, the 6th Light and 69th Line, and Marcognet's 2nd Brigade, the 39th and 76th Line. There were 6,457 men and 214 officers in the division. At the Battle of Bussaco on 27 September, Louis Henri Loison
Louis Henri Loison
Louis Henri Loison briefly joined the French Army in 1787 and after the French Revolution became a junior officer. Blessed with military talent and courage, he rapidly rose to general officer rank during the French Revolutionary Wars. He also got into difficulties because of his fondness for...
's division led the attack up the main road toward to top of the ridge. Fighting its way through knots of British and Portuguese skirmishers, it was met at the crest by British infantry and artillery and defeated. Too late to support Loison, one of Marchand's brigades neared the top of the ridge. Because of hostile artillery fire it strayed to the left of the road. Marchand's attack was beaten by Denis Pack's Portuguese brigade. His division suffered the loss of 1,173 men while Loison's division sustained 1,252 casualties.
With the rest of the Army of Portugal, Marchand spent the winter before the Lines of Torres Vedras
Lines of Torres Vedras
The Lines of Torres Vedras were lines of forts built in secrecy to defend Lisbon during the Peninsular War. Named after the nearby town of Torres Vedras, they were ordered by Arthur Wellesley, Viscount Wellington, constructed by Sir Richard Fletcher, 1st Baronet and his Portuguese workers between...
. The next spring, he fought in the rear guard actions of Pombal
Battle of Pombal
The Battle of Pombal was a sharp skirmish during Marshal Masséna's retreat from the Lines of Torres Vedras, the first in a series of lauded rearguard actions fought by Michel Ney...
on 11 March 1811 and Redinha
Battle of Redinha
The Battle of Redinha was a rearguard action which took place on March 12, 1811, during Masséna's retreat from Portugal, by a French division under Marshal Ney against a considerably larger Anglo-Portuguese force under Wellington. Challenging the Allies with only one or two divisions, Ney's 7,000...
on 12 March during the retreat from Portugal. On 14 March 1811, he gave the Marquess of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
's famous Light Division
Light Division
The Light Division was a light infantry Division of the British Army formed in the early 19th Century. It can trace its origins to the Light Companies which had been formed to move at speed over inhospitable terrain and protect the main forces by skirmishing tactics...
a bloody nose in the Battle of Casal Novo
Battle of Casal Novo
The Battle of Casal Novo was a rear-guard action fought on March 14, 1811, during Massena's retreat from Portugal. During this retreat the French rear-guard, under command of Michel Ney, performed admirably in a series of sharp rear-guard actions...
. Sir William Erskine, 2nd Baronet
Sir William Erskine, 2nd Baronet
Major-General Sir William Erskine, 2nd Baronet was an officer in the British Army, served as a member of Parliament, and achieved important commands in the Napoleonic Wars under the Duke of Wellington, but ended his service in insanity and suicide.He was the eldest son of Lieutenant-General Sir...
marched his 7,000 troops and six artillery pieces forward in a heavy fog without proper scouts. As the fog cleared, the Allies found Marchand's 4,600 men and six guns deployed across the road ready to receive them. During the action, the French lost 55 casualties but inflicted 155 killed and wounded on their opponents. On the 15th, Marchand's division suffered a defeat at the Battle of Foz do Arouce, losing 250 men and the eagle of the 39th Line. Allied casualties were only 71. In early May, he led his division at the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro
Battle of Fuentes de Onoro
In the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro , the British-Portuguese Army under Viscount Wellington checked an attempt by the French Army of Portugal under Marshal André Masséna to relieve the besieged city of Almeida.-Background:...
, where part of it participated in the first day's attack on the village. Two days later, his infantry flushed the British 85th Foot
85th Regiment of Foot (Bucks Volunteers)
The 85th Regiment of Foot was a British Army line infantry regiment. During the Childers Reforms it was united with the 53rd Regiment of Foot to form the King's Shropshire Light Infantry.-Service history:...
and the Portuguese 2nd Caçadores out of the village of Pozo Bello into the open, where the two battalions were roughed up by French cavalry. Wellington soon managed to fend off the attack and forced Masséna to withdraw. Shortly after the engagement, Marshal Auguste Marmont
Auguste Marmont
Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, 1st Duke of Ragusa was a French General, nobleman and Marshal of France.-Biography:...
arrived to replace Masséna. The new commander abolished the corps organization and sent Marchand and other generals home.
Later Empire and Restoration
The start of Napoleon's invasion of Russia found Marchand serving as Jérôme BonaparteJérôme Bonaparte
Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia, 1st Prince of Montfort was the youngest brother of Napoleon, who made him king of Westphalia...
's chief of staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
. Later, he took command of the 25th Division in Ney's III Corps
III Corps (Grande Armée)
The III Corps of the Grande Armée were few military units during the Napoleonic Wars. The III Corps came to prominence between 1805 and 1809 under the command of Marshal Louis Nicolas Davout, when it repeatedly scored impressive victories single-handedly or in conjunction with other French forces...
. He led the division at the battles of Smolensk
Battle of Smolensk (1812)
The Battle of Smolensk, the first major battle of the French invasion of Russia took place on August 16–18, 1812, between 175,000 men of the Grande Armée under Napoleon Bonaparte and 130,000 Russians under Barclay de Tolly, though only about 50,000 and 60,000 respectively were actually engaged...
and Borodino
Battle of Borodino
The Battle of Borodino , fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia and all Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties...
.
In 1813, Marchand commanded the 39th Division. General-major Stockhorn's brigade consisted of troops from the Grand Duchy of Baden
Grand Duchy of Baden
The Grand Duchy of Baden was a historical state in the southwest of Germany, on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.-History:...
, 2 battalions each of the Stockhorn Infantry Regiment Nr. 1 and the Crown Prince Infantry Regiment Nr. 3, and a Baden foot artillery battery. General-major Prince Emil's brigade was made up of soldiers from the Grand Duchy of Hesse
Grand Duchy of Hesse
The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine , or, between 1806 and 1816, Grand Duchy of Hesse —as it was also known after 1816—was a member state of the German Confederation from 1806, when the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt was elevated to a Grand Duchy, until 1918, when all the German...
, 2 battalions each of the Foot Guard, Life Guard, and 2nd Infantry Regiments, and a Hessian foot artillery battery. Marchand was present with Ney's III Corps at the battles of Lützen
Battle of Lützen (1813)
In the Battle of Lützen , Napoleon I of France lured a combined Prussian and Russian force into a trap, halting the advances of the Sixth Coalition after his devastating losses in Russia. The Russian commander, Prince Peter Wittgenstein, attempting to undo Napoleon's capture of Leipzig, attacked...
and Bautzen
Battle of Bautzen
In the Battle of Bautzen a combined Russian/Prussian army was pushed back by Napoleon, but escaped destruction, some sources claim, because Michel Ney failed to block their retreat...
. He led his troops in Marshal Jacques MacDonald's XI Corps
XI Corps (Grande Armée)
The XI Corps of the Grande Armée was the name of more than one French military unit that existed during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1809 during the War of the Fifth Coalition, General of Division Auguste Marmont's Army of Dalmatia was renamed the XI Corps. Emperor Napoleon I held it in reserve at the...
at the Battle of Leipzig
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
. After his Germans abandoned the French alliance, he was responsible for defending the Department of Isère
Isère
Isère is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region in the east of France named after the river Isère.- History :Isère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Dauphiné...
in the 1814 campaign. While commanding 11,000 troops at Saint-Julien-en-Genevois
Saint-Julien-en-Genevois
Saint-Julien-en-Genevois is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:...
on 1 March 1814, he was defeated by Johann Nepomuk Joseph von Klebelsberg and a 6,000-man Austrian division. His forces lost 1,000 killed and wounded plus five guns and 300 men captured, while his opponents suffered 650 casualties.
After Napoleon's return from Elba
Elba
Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...
, the former emperor marched on Grenoble with about 1,000 troops. By 6 March 1815, Napoleon's little force reached Gap
Gap, Hautes-Alpes
Gap is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Hautes-Alpes department.-Geography:An Alpine crossroads at the intersection of D994 and Route nationale 85 the Route Napoléon, Gap lies above sea level along the right bank of the Luye River...
, south of Grenoble. Marchand was in charge of the military district at Grenoble, with three battalions each of the 5th and 7th Line Infantry Regiments, the 3rd Engineer Regiment, and the 4th Hussar Regiment. He sent Colonel Lessard with one battalion of the 5th Line and a company of sappers to blow the bridge at Ponhaut. Lessard bumped into Napoleon's force and withdrew to a defile near Laffrey
Laffrey
Laffrey is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.- See also :* Communes of the Isère department* Rampe de Laffrey* Grand lac de Laffrey* Route Napoléon...
. When the column from Elba appeared on 7 March, Napoleon walked forward alone toward the levelled muskets of the 5th Line. The soldiers immediately went over to his side in a body. On 8 March Napoleon was joined by the 7th Line and its Colonel Charles de la Bédoyère
Charles de la Bédoyère
Charles Angélique François Huchet, Comte de la Bédoyère was a French General during the reign of Emperor Napoleon I who was executed in 1815....
, who also defected to him. That day, Marchand closed the gates of Grenoble and insisted that the cannons be loaded and trained. Fearing that he and his soldiers would be attacked by the enraged Grenoble mob, Marchand's artillery officer, a royalist, offered to surrender to Napoleon if his safety was guaranteed. At once the citizens of Grenoble dismantled the gates and let Napoleon's column into the city.
After Napoleon's final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
, the Bourbons accused Marchand of delivering Grenoble to the former emperor. Dismissed from his command on 4 January 1816, he was hauled before a court-martial in Besançon
Besançon
Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...
and acquitted after a six-month trial. He was taken off active service in 1818. He retired from the army in 1825 and died on 12 November 1851 at Saint-Ismier
Saint-Ismier
Saint-Ismier is a commune in the Isère department in south-eastern France.-Twin towns:It is twinned with the English town of Stroud in Gloucestershire.-References:*...
in the Isère department. MARCHAND is engraved on Column 26 of the Arc de Triomphe
Arc de Triomphe
-The design:The astylar design is by Jean Chalgrin , in the Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture . Major academic sculptors of France are represented in the sculpture of the Arc de Triomphe: Jean-Pierre Cortot; François Rude; Antoine Étex; James Pradier and Philippe Joseph Henri Lemaire...
.