Emmanuel de Grouchy

Count of the Empire

Emmanuel de Grouchy was born on October 23, 1766 at the family castle of Villette  in Condécourt, near Paris.

A true aristocrat (he came from one of the oldest Norman families of the noblesse d'épée), the son of a cavalry officer and a graduate of military schools, but also brother-in-law of the philosopher Nicolas de Condorcet and close to Pierre Jean Georges Cabanis (who also became his brother-in-law), he enthusiastically embraced the Revolution, abandoning his compromising rank of lieutenant-colonel in the king's bodyguard to pursue a career in the cavalry.

He was promoted to colonel in 1792 and took part as marshal de camp in the conquest of Savoy.

In May 1793, he defended Nantes against the Vendéens, but was expelled from the army in October as a ci-devant noble.

Grouchy was reinstated after the 9th of Thermidor, promoted to major general in 1795, and became Lazare Hoche's chief of staff in the Army of the West. In this capacity, he was present at Quiberon when the joint forces of emigrants from England and local Chouans were crushed, then took part in the Irish expedition, where, separated from his commander by the storm, he did not dare take the decision to land the troops.

Neglected by Napoleon Bonaparte when it came to setting up the staff for the Egypt expedition, he moved on to the Army of Italy under general Barthélemy Joubert. There, after forcing King Charles-Emmanuel IV of Sardinia to flee his continental states (November 1798), he received fourteen wounds at Novi (August 15, 1799) and fell into Austrian hands.

His captivity lasted a year, until he was exchanged with an English general. In the meantime, he sent a letter of protest against the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire to the Directoire, which arrived on the First Consul's desk.

Napoleon Bonaparte did not hold this against him, and gave him command of the Grisons army, with which he drove the Austrians out of the Engadine (south-eastern Switzerland). He was then assigned to the Army of the Rhine, and took part in the Battle of Hohenlinden. This time, his links with General Jean Victor Marie Moreau aroused suspicion and deprived him of any major command until 1805.

That year, he invested Ulm and then operated in the Tyrol.

In 1806, he pursued the remnants of the Prussian army after Jena, securing the surrender of General Frédéric-Louis de Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen.

In 1807, he was at Eylau and Friedland, where he was wounded.

Appointed governor of Madrid in 1808, Grouchy suppressed the May 2 insurrection under the orders of Joachim Murat.

In 1809, Grouchy, still a recent Count of the Empire, decided victory at the Battle of Raab (June 14), then played a brilliant role in the Battle of Wagram (July 6). Appointed colonel-general of the Guard's horse chasseurs, he took his place among the Empire's great officers.

During the Russian campaign, Grouchy commanded first one of the three cavalry corps, then the Sacred Squadron, which protected the Emperor during the retreat. He was partly responsible for the success of Borodino (September 7, 1812), a battle in which he was wounded.

He did not fight in 1813, Napoleon 1st having refused him the infantry command he had applied for.

But he returned to service for the campaign of Northeast France of 1814, commanding what remained of the cavalry and serving at Brienne (January 29), La Rothière (February 1), Montmirail (February 11) and Craonne (March 7), where he was seriously wounded.

Stripped of his rank by Louis XVIII, he immediately rallied to Napoleon on his return from Elba. He was given command of the Armée du Midi, with which he defeated the royalist troops of the Duc d'Angoulème, and captured this prince, son of the Comte d'Artois and nephew of the king.

He was rewarded with the marshal's baton (April 15, 1815), the final one awarded by Napoleon I.

Commander of the cavalry reserve during the Belgian campaign, his military reputation was tarnished at Waterloo by his lack of energy and decisiveness. By persisting in pursuing the elusive Prussians, as ordered, rather than coming to the rescue of the rest of the army at the sound of cannon fire, he incurred responsibility for the defeat. In the days that followed, however, he pulled off a fine retreat.

Proscribed by the decree of July 24, 1815 (the same decree that sent Marshal Ney to the execution post), he took refuge in Philadelphia, where he remained for five years. Finally, in a decree issued in November 1819, the King allowed him to return to France and restored his titles, ranks and honors on March 19, 1815 - which deprived him of his marshal rank.

He had to wait until Louis-Philippe and November 1831 to regain it.

Emmanuel de Grouchy, in his eighties, died in Saint-Etienne on May 29, 1847. He is buried in the 57th division of the Père-Lachaise cemetery  in Paris.

Grouchy's name is inscribed on the 4th column (north pillar) of the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile.