Background
Pierre Augereau was born on October 21, 1757 in Faubourg Saint-Marceau, Paris. He was the son of a Parisian fruit seller (in some accounts, a servant).
Pierre Augereau was born on October 21, 1757 in Faubourg Saint-Marceau, Paris. He was the son of a Parisian fruit seller (in some accounts, a servant).
In Saxony he was learning to fence.
He turned to a military career at the age of 17. But he was soon discharged. Later he joined the dragoons. He became a noted swordsman and duellist, but he had to flee France after killing an officer in a quarrel.
Then he served in several foreign armies, and returned to France in 1792.
He quickly advanced in rank and by 1793 was general of a division stationed in the eastern Pyrenees.
In 1795 his division served in the Italian campaign, and his victory at Castiglione (August 5, 1796) convinced Napoleon of his indispensability.
He carried out the coup d’état of 18 Fructidor (September 4, 1797) and was elected a deputy and secretary of the Assembly in 1799.
Augereau opposed Napoleon’s coup d’état of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799) and was consequently given unimportant commands from 1800 to 1805.
Yet he was appointed a marshal of France in 1804.
In 1806 Augereau commanded a corps at the Battle of Jena. At the Battle of Eylau (February 7–8, 1807), his corps, misdirected in a snowstorm, lost half its numbers.
Nevertheless, in 1808 Napoleon named him duc de Castiglione and gave him a new command in Catalonia, in Spain, where he was soon defeated.
Recalled to France in 1810, he was given only a minor post during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812.
He continued fighting in Germany the following year, but after the losses at the Battle of Leipzig (October 16–19, 1813) he returned to France.
Augereau had grown weary of the war by 1810.
After another defeat at Lyon, in 1814, he bitterly attacked Napoleon and declared himself a royalist after the First Restoration of the Bourbon monarchy (1814).
Louis XVIII rewarded Augereau for his anti-Napoleonic sentiments, and when he again offered his services to Napoleon in 1815, he was ignored.
After the Battle of Waterloo the king gave him no command, and he retired to his estate at La Houssaye.
Louis XVIII, when re-restored to the royal throne, deprived him of his military title and pension. Augereau died at his estate of La Houssaye.
Pierre Augereau was an army officer whose military ability won for France a series of brilliant victories in Italy under Napoleon’s command.
His name is engraved under the Triumphal Arch (South pillar, column 23).
His name was given to the Augereau street, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris , Lille and in Tours, France.
His name was given to a hiking trail near Jena (Germany).
His name was given to the first of two districts which make up the military enclosure of the School of Officers of the National Gendarmerie in Melun.
Quotations: Napoleon reproached him with not being the Augereau of Castiglione; to which he replied, " Give me back the old soldiers of Italy, and I will show you that I am. "
In person he was tall and commanding, but his loud and vulgar behaviour frequently betrayed the soldier of fortune.
Quotes from others about the person
Napoleon wrote of Augereau that he "has plenty of character, courage, firmness, activity; is inured to war; is well liked by the soldiery; is fortunate in his operations. "
He married Joséphine-Marie-Marguerite-Gabrielle Grach (1766-1806) in Naples in 1788. They had no childten.
On February 23, 1809 he married Adélaïde-Josèphe Bourlon de Chavanges (1789-1869) for second time, in La Houssaye-en-Brie. They also had no children.
After his death she remarried to Count Charles Camille of Sainte-Aldegonde .
