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 Italian campaign of 1796–1797. 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 a rear guard action at Casal Novo 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.
Revolution Born in L'Albenc 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.Mullié, Marchand, Jean-Gabriel In the French Revolutionary Wars, he served in Italy during the years 1792-1799.Chandler Dictionary, 265 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,Smith, 108 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.Boycott-Brown, 208 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.Broughton, Marchand, Jean-Gabriel
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,Smith, 163 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'Etang'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.Smith, 203-204 During the pursuit of Franz von Werneck's corps, Dupont's division fought in clashes at Herbrechtingen and Neresheim on 17–18 October.Smith, 205-206 Marchand fought at the Battle of Dürenstein on 11 November.Smith, 213
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.Chandler Jena, 36 His division participated in the Siege of Magdeburg from 22 October to 11 November.Smith, 232
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.Petre, 87-88 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.Smith, 235 Marchand led his division at the Battle of Eylau on 8 February 1807.Smith, 241
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.Smith, 246-247 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.Petre, 282-284
On 14 June 1807, Marchand led his division at the Battle of Friedland.Smith, 249 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.Chandler Campaigns, 576-578 At 8:30 PM, the troops of Marchand and Bisson seized Friedland itself.Chandler Campaigns, 582
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.
Peninsular War Still commanding Ney's 1st Division, Marchand participated in Napoleon's 1808 invasion of Spain.Chandler Campaigns, 1105 In February 1809, his division numbered 6,860 soldiers in 12 battalions.Gates, 489 In early 1809, Ney campaigned in Galicia but his 17,000 French soldiers had their hands full trying to control of territory.Gates, 144-147 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 regularsSmith, 306 and 8,000 militia attacked Antoine Louis Popon de Maucune'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.Gates, 155-157
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.Gates, 177 Wellesley beat King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan at the Battle of Talavera on 28 July.Smith, 326-327 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.Gates, 186-187 During these operations, Ney's advanced guard clashed with a column under Robert Wilson at the Battle of Puerto de Baños on 12 August, but Marchand's troops were not engaged.Smith, 331
In the fall of 1809, the Spanish army of Diego de Cañas y Portocarrero, 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 to 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.Gates, 196-197