Gaspard Gourgaud
Baron Gaspard Gourgaud (born September 14, 1783 in Versailles , † July 25, 1852 in Paris ) was a French général de brigade.
biography
He was the son of middle-class parents and attended a polytechnic school in 1798. From there he went to the military school in Chalons. He excelled in higher mathematics and military science. For his achievements he was promoted to Sous-lieutenant and came to the artillery school in Metz as adjunct of the teacher for fortification .
In 1801 he moved to the “6 e régiment d'artillerie à cheval”. He received a company and in 1803 marched with the regiment to Hanover. In 1803 he became adjutant to the artillery general Fouche, with whom he was also in the camp near Boulogne in 1804. In the campaign of 1805 he was in the army of the Duke of Montebello and distinguished himself when crossing the Danube near Vienna (November 13, 1805). There he was wounded by a shrapnel. In the Fourth Coalition War he fought near Saalfeld and in the Battle of Jena and was awarded the Legion of Honor for his bravery . For his behavior in the Battle of Friedland he was promoted to captain . He took part in the campaign against Spain, where he received an honorable mention at the siege of Saragossa. He was relocated to Austria for the Fifth Coalition War. He fought in the battles near Abensberg, Eckmühl , Regensburg, Ebersberg and in the battles near Eßlingen and Wagram . After the Treaty of Schönbrunn, he was transferred to the rifle factory in Versailles as director.
In 1811 Gourgaud was sent to Danzig on a reconnaissance . As a result of his excellent report, Napoleon made him his orderly officer . Then he was given the task of surveying the islands on the French west coast. Because of the proximity to England, unreliable teams were removed from there on his advice. He also measured the Maumusson Channel (between the island of Oleron and the continent). He realized that this is passable for warships. For this he was appointed Baron des Émpire on January 1, 1812 and received a majorate of 2000 francs.
As an orderly, Gourgaud took part in the Russian campaign of 1812. After the Battle of Borodino , he was sent to Moscow with a translator, where he became the first French to enter the Kremlin. There he discovered a powder deport prepared for detonation, which he had cleared. For this he was appointed peer by Napoleon.
As he retreated, he directed the construction of the bridge over the Beresina , for which he had to swim across the river twice.
In 1813 he was appointed first orderly officer, a position that Napoleon had created just for him.
He distinguished himself in the battle of Bautzen in 1813 . He examined Dresden, whereupon Napoleon went from Silesia to Dresden on August 24 and fought his battle for Dresden there .
For this he received 6000 francs as well as the Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honor. After the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig , the bridge in Freiburg on the Unstrut was left to guard . He was supposed to hold this until October 21st, but he managed to hold the bridge until the Oudinot Corps crossed over on the 22nd, after which he had it destroyed. He was also used in the battle of Hanau .
In 1814 he was busy rebuilding the army, but in the Battle of Brienne he saved Napoleon's life: he shot a Cossack with his pistol who had already put his lance on Napoleon. Gourgaud received his sword from the emperor, which he had carried with him since the campaigns in Italy. That year he was also promoted to Général de brigade .
Gourgaud fought at Montmirail (February 11), Nangis (February 17) and Laon (March 10). After the conquest of Rheims on March 14th, he was appointed Commander of the Legion of Honor on March 24th. When Napoleon gathered his followers around him on his abdication, Gourgaud was there too.
After Napoleon's abdication, Gourgaud joined the Bourbons . He was awarded the Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis and received the post of Chief of the General Staff of the 1st Military Division. He remained loyal to the Bourbons until they fled Paris when Napoleon returned. On his arrival Napoleon summoned the general and made him his adjutant general again. He followed the emperor to the battle of Waterloo , where he was one of the last to leave the battlefield. After the defeat, Napoleon sent him from Rochefort to England with an embassy, but they did not want to hear him there. He returned unfinished and met Napoleon on July 24th in the roadstead outside Torbay.
He also accompanied Napoleon to Saint Helena , but returned to England after three years because he could not stand the climate. There he published La Campagne de 1815 (London 1818), whereby he incurred the displeasure of Wellington , so that he had to leave England. He went to Cuxhaven and did not receive permission to return to France until 1821 . When Napoleon died, he and four others wrote a petition to transfer the body to France. At that time it was not discussed further.
Gourgaud published the Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire de France sous Napoléon, écrits à Sainte Hélène sous la dictée de l'empereur with Montholon (8 vols., London and Paris, 1822-1824).
In 1830 Gourgaud returned to active service and became commander of the artillery in Paris. He also became a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. In 1832 Louis Philippe made him his adjutant . In 1835 Gourgaud was appointed lieutenant-général . In 1840 he was a member of the commission that brought Napoleon's body back to France from Saint Helena. In the following year he was admitted to the chamber of peers .
After the February Revolution of 1848, Gourgaud was retired and elected to the legislative assembly in 1849.
Gaspard Gourgaud died in Paris on July 25, 1852. He is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.
family
In 1822 he married Françoise Marthe Roederer (1783–1823), a daughter of Count Pierre-Louis Roederer . The couple had a son:
- Louis Napoléon Marie Hélène (1823–1879), 2nd Baron Gourgaud ∞ Alexandrine Victoire Catherine Melin-Ramond du Taillis (1836–1915)
literature
- Hanns Eggert Willibald von der Lühe, Militair-Conversations-Lexikon , Volume 3, p.486f
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gourgaud, Gaspard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 14, 1783 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Versailles |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 25, 1852 |
| Place of death | Paris |