De Grouchy

Emmanuel, Marquis, Marshal (1815)
(Paris, 1776 Saint Etienne, 1847)

The last marshal, the only one named during the Hundred Days, one of the most brilliant horsemen of the empire. Always faithful to Napoleon. Some people held him responsible for the defeat at Waterloo. None-the-less, Grouchy was where he was supposed to be.

Grouchy, from an old noble family of Normandy, was an officer in the bodyguard when the revolution came about. He adopted the new ideas, mixed with enlightened men such as Beaumarchais, d'Alembert, Turgot, Condorcet and Cabanis; moreover, the last two became his brothers-in-law . He remained in the army.

In 1792 he was named a camp marshal and commanded the cavalry of the Army in the Alps. He was sent into the Vendee. He had to leave the army in 1793 as a result of the decree excluding nobles from the army. He enlisted as a simple soldier in the national guard. On June 11, 1795, he was confirmed as a division general, a grade which the commissioners had conferred on him the year before. He was head of the major staff in the army in the west. He became second to Hoche in the Vendee.
At the end of 1796 the Directorate named him second in command of the army charged with invading Ireland, but he never succeeded in setting foot there. In 1798 he joined the army in Italy under the orders of Joubert. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Novi (August 15, 1799), where he received fourteen wounds and was finally made prisoner.

Commanding general of a cavalry division, Grouchy took part in the Prussian campaign of 1806; he was the first to enter Luebeck. At Eylau on February 8, 1807, his cavalry charge was heroic.. Our months later, at Friedland (June 14, 1807) he distinguished himself again. He was sent to Spain, named governor of Madrid, and participated in the repression of May 2, 1808. Charged with the command of the cavalry of the army in Italy, he took part in the Battle of Raab under the command of Prince Eugene de Beauharnais. At Wagram in 1809 his division of dragoons played a decisive role.

At Borodino in 1812 his command of the III Corp was irreproachable. He was charged with covering the retreat of the great army. When at the end of the campaign he asked to transfer to the infantry Napoleon refused the request, wanting to keep such a brilliant cavalryman. Grouchy, his self-esteem injured, retired. None-the-less, he remained faithful and offered his services for the campaign in France in 1814. He was placed at the head of the cavalry and distinguished himself at Vauchamps.

Napoleon named him a marshal, but he did not receive his brevet until during the Hundred Days. Grouchy commanded the French cavalry at Ligny (June 16, 1815). On the seventeenth of June Napoleon gave him the order to pursue Bluecher with two infantry corps and two cavalry corps to prevent him from joining up with Wellington. The Prussian masked the movement of his troops by leaving a rearguard as a screen. On June 18 Gouchy, on his way to Wavre, heard the sound of the cannon at the Battle of Waterloo. He did not turn around. He had not received an order to do that. [Translatorþs note: Compare Gouchyþs reaction with that of Desaix when the latter heard the cannon fire at Marengo.]

At the second restoration Gouchy fled to America. He returned to France in 1821 when Louis XVIII restored all his titles to him except that of marshal. During the Monarchy of July Louis-Philippe gave him back that title and named him a peer of France. He died in 1847.