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- Charles-pierre-Francois Augereau, Duke of Castiglione
Charles Pierre François Augereau[1], 1757 in Paris- June 12, 1816 in La Houssaye-en-Brie, Marshal of the Empire, Duke of Castiglione.
Youth
Coming from a modest family, his father is a servant and his mother, a fruit seller in the Faubourg Saint-Marceau, is uneducated
Exile
He enlisted at the age of seventeen in the King's armies, in the Burgundy-Cavalry regiment and then in that of the Carabinieri, which he left after a few pranks:Having drawn the sword against an officer who insulted him, he fled France, went to Naples, where he lived until 1787, as a fencing master. He travels to Greece.
Unique among Napoleon's marshals, Augereau served in the Prussian army where he fought against the Ottoman Empire and Austria. Having become a sergeant, he deserted and managed to reach the borders of Saxony, taking his platoon with him. During the years 1788 - 1791, we find him in the service of the army of Naples and then in Portugal. The events of the French Revolution caused him to return to France towards the end of 1792.
Soldier of the Revolution
A fierce Jacobin, he joined the National Guard and became a sergeant.
Appointed captain then lieutenant-colonel, he participated in the repression of the Chouan revolt in Brittany then joined the Army of the Pyrenees where he was quickly promoted to general of division on December 23, 1793. His division distinguished itself even more when it was transferred to the Army of Italy in 1795 where she took part in the battle of Loano.
Italian Campaign
In 1796, under the orders of Bonaparte, he distinguished himself at the Battle of Montenotte and the Battle of Millesimo, then during the capture of the Château de Cosseria on April 14.
During the Battle of Lodi Bridge on May 10, 1796, the rotating movement of his troops contributed to the victory. But it was at Castiglione, on August 5, 1796, that he rendered the most brilliant service by reversing the fate of the battle. He is also present, on November 15, in Arcole, where he rushes on the bridge at the head of his troops.
Bonaparte appreciated Augereau to the point of appointing him to bring the flags taken from the enemy to the Directory.
Away from the army, Augereau engaged in all the political intrigues of which Paris was the scene. He thus participated in the coup d'état of 18 Fructidor (September 4, 1797) which dismissed advisers suspected of monarchist sympathies.
In gratitude, he was appointed commander of the army of Sambre-et-Meuse, then of the army of the Rhine. He was elected deputy of Haute-Garonne to the Council of Five Hundred where he sat on the left. A Jacobin, he showed his hostility to the coup d'etat of 18 Brumaire but ended up rallying behind Bonaparte, who entrusted him with the command of the French army in Batavia.
The following year he was replaced by Victor, and remained unemployed for quite a long time. He then resumed his attacks against the consular government. His republican ardor eventually subsided when Napoleon I, Emperor, appointed him Marshal of the Empire on May 19, 1804, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, Duke of Castiglione and Grand Cross of the Order of Charles II of 'Spain.
Napoleonic Wars
Commander of the VII Corps of the Grande Armée the following year, he was assigned to Austria and Germany but did not take part in the Battle of Austerlitz.
In 1806, he participated in the German campaign, he distinguished himself on October 14, 1806 in Jena, where he defeated the Saxons and crushed Rüchel's corps, which had come to the aid of the Prussian army, then in Golymin. At the beginning of 1807, he fell ill and had to be tied to his horse during the Battle of Eylau on February 8, 1807. While he was to attack the Russian center, his army corps was lost in the a snow storm. French soldiers are decimated by enemy guns. Wounded in the arm, Augereau returns to France. On March 19, 1808, he received the title of Duke of Castiglione.
He then served in Spain where he showed cruelty during the Catalonia campaign in 1809. His first victories at the head of the army of Catalonia were soon followed by defeats.
The Emperor sends Augereau back to his lands but calls him back for the Russian campaign of 1812 where he entrusts him with the XI Corps of the Grande Armée in Germany (reserve corps). The marshal was present during the French defeat at Leipzig, from October 16 to 19, 1813. His fierce defense won him back Napoleon's favor.
In 1814, during the French campaign, Augereau commanded the army corps posted in Lyon. His mission is to cut the lines of communication of the army of Bohemia but compromises and refuses the fight. His conduct is described as defection by those around him.
On April 16, 1814, he issued a proclamation in which he ordered his soldiers to adopt the white cockade of the Bourbons and denounced Napoleon as a tyrant.
Louis XVIII made him peer of France and knight of Saint-Louis. On Napoleon's return, Augereau published (March 22) a pompous agenda in his favour. But the Emperor crossed out his name from the list of marshals, calling him a "traitor to France" and leaving him jobless.
Returning to the throne, Louis XVIII also dismissed him. He retired to his property in La Houssaye. He died shortly afterwards and without issue, of dropsy. His body is buried in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris
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- Augereau coat of arms