Joseph Lagrange (General)

Joseph Lagrange

Joseph Lagrange (born January 10, 1763 in Sempesserre , † January 16, 1836 in Paris ) was a French Général de division .

Life

Lagrange was a son of the citizen Armand Lagrange and his wife Marianne Baruit. Enthusiastic about the ideals of the revolution , Lagrange acted as mayor of Lectoure in 1791 . He became a partisan of Napoleon early on and fought in the Italian campaign in 1796 .

In some battles, Lagrange distinguished himself through bravery and was also quickly promoted. He was able to participate in Napoleon's Egyptian expedition (1798/1801) with the rank of Général de brigade . He was involved in the sieges of al-Arish (February 8/19, 1799) and Acre (March / May 1799) and was able to fight at the pyramids (July 21, 1798) and at Heliopolis (March 20, 1800) distinguished by bravery.

On November 6, 1802, he married Marie de Talhouet (1786–1849) in Paris ( 1st arrondissement ) and had four daughters and a son with her.

In 1805 General Lagrange led an expeditionary army against the British in the Antilles ( Roseau ); At the beginning of 1806 he was able to return to France. He later became Minister of War in the Kingdom of Westphalia under King Jérôme Bonaparte .

Under the command of Marshal Jean Lannes , Lagrange fought in the Napoleonic Wars in Spain from 1808 .

In the Battle of the Nations near Leipzig he commanded the 21st Infantry Division in the 6th Corps of Marshal Marmont .

With effect from June 11, 1832, Lagrange resigned all his offices and duties and retired into private life. He settled in Paris (1st arrondissement), where he died on January 16, 1836, six days after his 73rd birthday.

Honors

• December 11, 1803 Chevalier of the Legion of Honor
• June 14, 1804 Grand Officier of the Legion of Honor
• April 26, 1810 Comte de l'Émpire
• May 1, 1821 Grand Croix of the Legion of Honor
• November 19, 1831 Peer of France
• His name can be found on the western pillar (34th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris).
• In January 2002 the police barracks "Géneral Lagrange" in Auch was named after him

literature

• Kevin F. Kiley: Once there were titans. Napoleon's generals and their battles 1800–1815 . Greenhill, London 2007, ISBN 978-1-85367-710-6 .
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 vols.).
• Alain Pigeard: Dictionnaire de la Grande Armée . Tallandier, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-84734-009-2 .
• Stephen Pope: The Cassell dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars . Cassell, London 1999, ISBN 0-304-35229-2 .