General Jean-Maximilien Lamarque

The son of a deputy to the National Consituent Assembly, Jean Maximilien Lamarque joined the army as a grenadier in the 4th Battalion of Landes in January of 1792. In 1793, he was promoted to lieutenant in April, and then joined the Army of the Western Pyrenees and was promoted to captain the next month. He served with the infernal column of Latour d'Auvergne and was twice wounded. In August of 1794 he was selected to take the captured flags of the enemy to the convention, and after presenting the flags he was promoted to chef de bataillon. The next year Lamarque was promoted to chef de brigade.

In 1797 Lamarque joined the Army of the Rhine. In 1799 he joined the Army of the Rhine's staff, and then the next May fought at Engen, Moesskirch, and Biberach. In June he fought at Hochstaedt and then in December at Hohenlinden. The next year he was promoted to general de brigade and commanded the troops on the expedition to Cadiz.

In 1803 General Lamarque joined the camp at Bayonne, and then in 1804 the camp at Brest. When war broke out in 1805 he took command of the 2nd Brigade of Desjardin's division in VII Corps. After participating in the campaign, the next year he followed Joseph Bonaparte and passed into the service of Naples. In June he fought against Fra Diavolo and served at the siege of Gaëte. Next he seized Camerotta and battled the English at the cape of Licersa.

In April of 1807 General Lamarque became chief of staff to King Joseph Bonaparte of Naples, and then at the end of the year he was promoted to general de division. In October of 1808, he led an attack on the Isle of Capri, successfully forcing the English governor Hudson Lowe to surrender. Next Lamarque became chief of staff to Marshal Murat when Murat arrived in Naples, and he was rewarded with a Grand Cross of the Order of the Two Sicilies.

February of 1809 saw Lamarque named to the Army of Italy, taking command of a division. In April he was given the 2nd Division of the right wing under General Macdonald. That May he fought at Piave, Prewald, and Laibach, and then in July took part in the fighting at Enzersdorff and Wagram.

Lamarque bounced around various commands before returning to Naples to resume the position of chief of staff to Murat in April of 1810. He was rewarded as a Baron of the Empire and served in Calabria before being sent to Lower Catalonia in Spain in late June. In January of 1812 he was present at Ordal and Altafulla, and then in November he fought at Ametta and Casa Massana. Lamarque won a victory at Banolas in June of 1813, and then took part in the rescue of Tarragona that August.

After Napoleon's abdication in 1814, General Lamarque was put on non-activity but then rewarded as a Knight of Saint Louis. When Napoleon returned for the Hundred Days, Lamarque was given command of a division but then transferred to take command of the Army of the Loire. With this force he won at Rocheservière against the Royalists in June and then signed a peace treaty with them. Nonetheless, Napoleon abdicated again and Lamarque was proscribed. He left France and retired to Brussels and then Amsterdam, finally returning to France in October of 1818 once authorized. He became active in politics during the 1820s and was recognized as a defender of the people, and his death in 1832 contributed to the riots of June of 1832.

Sources:

Six, Georges. Dictionnaire Biographique des Généraux & Amiraux Français de la Révolution et de l'Empire (1792-1814). Paris: Gaston Saffroy, 2003.