Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier
Jean-Mathieu-Philibert, comte Sérurier led a division in the War of the First Coalition and became a Marshal of the Empire under Emperor Napoleon. He was born into the minor nobility and in 1755 joined the Laon militia which was soon sent to fight in the Seven Years' War. After transferring into the regular army as an ensign, he was wounded at Warburg in 1760. He fought in the Spanish-Portuguese War in 1762. He married in 1779 after a promotion to captain. A newly minted major in 1789, the French Revolution sped up promotion so that he was colonel of the regiment in 1792. After leading Army of Italy troops in a number of actions, he became a general of brigade in 1793 and a general of division the following year.
Sérurier led a division in Napoleon Bonaparte's Italian campaign of 1796, except during bouts of illness. He especially distinguished himself at the Battle of Mondovì and the Siege of Mantua. In 1799, he again fought in Italy during the War of the Second Coalition at Verona, Magnano and Cassano, being captured in the latter action. After being paroled, he supported Napoleon's rise to political power in the Coup of 18 Brumaire in late 1799. The apex of his career occurred on 19 May 1804 when Napoleon appointed him a Marshal of the Empire. His active military career over, Sérurier served in the French Senate and was ennobled by Napoleon. In 1814, as the First French Empire was crumbling, he burned all the many flags captured by the French armies to keep them from falling into the enemy’s hands. His troops called him the "Virgin of Italy" for his rigorous standards of discipline and honesty, in contrast to an army known for generals who enriched themselves by plundering the occupied territories. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, listed first on Column 24 before Murat.
Early life
Sérurier was born at Laon on 8 December 1742, the son of Mathieu-Guillaume Sérurier. The family formed part of the minor provincial nobility, his father holding the title Seigneur de Sort and the job of mole-catcher to the king's breeding stud. After 1750 his father's title became Seigneur de Saint-Gobert. Sérurier got a good education and was of sober character. He received a commission as lieutenant in the Laon militia battalion on 25 March 1755, his uncle being the unit's commander. He transferred to the Soissons militia battalion on 12 June 1758. When he heard that the Laon battalion was called to serve in the Seven Years' War he switched back to his old unit on 30 November 1758. After sustaining a bayonet wound, he transferred into the Mazarin Infantry Regiment as a cadet on 1 October 1759. At the Battle of Warburg on 31 July 1760, Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel surprised the French under Louis Nicolas Victor de Felix d'Ollieres, Count Du Muy. While defending a critical post, Sérurier was hit on the right side of his face by a bullet, which broke his jaw and left a lasting scar. The injury also cost him most of his teeth. He was promoted to second lieutenant on 25 April 1762.Sérurier's regiment was ordered to Bayonne where it joined a force under Charles Juste de Beauvau, Prince of Craon. These troops entered Spain on 3 June 1762 to take part in the Spanish-Portuguese War. The first battalion, in which Sérurier served, participated in the siege of Almeida which fell to the Franco-Spanish on 25 August 1762. The unit returned to France in November that year and after the Treaty of Paris was renamed the Beauce Regiment. After the peace Sérurier was demoted to sous-lieutenant and spent six years as a drill instructor. He was promoted to second lieutenant again on 21 February 1767 and was shipped to Corsica in 1770. The Republic of Genoa transferred Corsica to France in 1764 but Pasquale Paoli led an insurrection against the occupiers which resulted in a few skirmishes. His superiors called Sérurier an "excellent officer" but he was not promoted to first lieutenant until 28 February 1778. A year later he was promoted to captain. He married Louise-Marie-Madeleine Itasse on 3 July 1779. Her father was the Registrar of the bail bondsmen of Laon.
On 29 July 1781 Sérurier was awarded the Order of Saint-Louis. On 10 May 1782 he assumed the rank of captain commandant and on 1 June 1783 he took command of the regiment's Chasseur company. Irked by the lack of promotion, he asked to retire on pension on 8 September 1788. His commanding officer argued to retain such a good officer and Sérurier transferred into the Médoc Regiment as a major on 17 May 1789. He became lieutenant colonel on 1 January 1791. Since the French Revolution the garrison at Perpignan became agitated so the regiment was sent there to calm down the other troops. Instead, the Médoc Regiment itself became affected by the troubles. On 23 July 1791, fearing that Sérurier was about to leave the country with the regiment's colors, a body of soldiers removed them from his quarters. In January 1792, 19 officers from the regiment emigrated to Spain. A story existed that Sérurier and a companion tried to flee to Spain but were nearly caught by a patrol and only his companion made it across the border. In June 1792 the Médoc, renamed the 70th Infantry Regiment, marched to the Camp of Tournoux in the Alps. Sérurier became the commanding officer of the 70th with the rank of colonel on 7 August 1792.
French Revolutionary Wars
1792–94
On 29 September 1792, a 10,000-man division under Jacques Bernard d'Anselme crossed the Var River and occupied Nice, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. This force was part of the Army of the Midi which was split on 1 October 1792, with the troops on the Alpine front becoming the Army of the Alps. On 7 November d'Anselme's division became the Army of Italy, which included the 70th Regiment. At about this time Sérurier was arrested for harboring royalist sentiments, but Paul Barras got his rank restored. On 19 May 1793, the new army commander Gaspard Jean-Baptiste Brunet sent him with a column to occupy Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée. Sérurier moved north up the Tinée River and captured Isola on the 21st. With 3,000 troops, he attacked the Col de Raus west of Belvédère but was repulsed on 8 June. During the First Battle of Saorgio he led a major attack on the Massif de l'Authion on 12 June, but it was defeated with losses of 280 dead and 1,252 wounded. At the end of July Brunet made another assault on Massif de l'Authion while Sérurier attacked the Col de Raus again but both efforts failed. The representatives on mission were pleased with Sérurier's performance and nominated him general of brigade on 25 June; the promotion was confirmed on 22 August 1793. Meanwhile, Brunet was arrested and executed on 15 November 1793.In September 1793 the Sardinian army tried to recapture the County of Nice. The French right flank held its ground, but on the left Sérurier gave up the east bank of the Vésubie River and fell back to Utelle on 10 September. Jacques François Dugommier took command of the left wing three days later and Sérurier took charge of the right wing of the Army of the Alps at Entrevaux. Sérurier was arrested for retreating too much and for being of noble blood. He was reinstated after the representatives on mission and the War Minister Jean Baptiste Noël Bouchotte termed the charges as unimportant while the citizens of Laon sent a petition vouching for his patriotism. After the fighting petered out in the December snow, Sérurier's division was transferred to form the left flank of the Army of Italy. In January 1794 he was denounced for listening to aristocratic songs and for not caring about desertions, but Bouchotte and the representatives brushed aside these charges. Under army commander Pierre Jadart Dumerbion a French offensive began on 5 April and Oneglia was seized. André Masséna commanded the 20,000-man main column on the right wing while François Macquard directed the center division and Pierre Dominique Garnier led the left division. Sérurier, who commanded Garnier's left brigade, reoccupied Isola and went on to seize the Colle delle Finestre against weak resistance. In the Second Battle of Saorgio on 24 April 1794, Masséna defeated Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi, the French inflicting 2,800 casualties on the Sardinians while losing 1,500 killed and wounded. In the aftermath, Macquard occupied Saorge and the Col de Tende while Masséna held Ormea in the Tanaro valley. At the end of June, Sérurier took part in a small operation in the Valle Stura di Demonte.
In September 1794 the Sardinians and Austrians advanced to Carcare, threatening to cut the French link to Genoa, where supplies were obtained. Advised by his artillery chief Napoleon Bonaparte, Dumerbion struck back on 15 September. While Sérurier feinted at Vinadio on the left and Macquard feinted at Limone Piemonte in the center, Masséna mounted the main thrust on the right. In the First Battle of Dego on 21 September, 18,000 French troops beat Olivier, Count of Wallis and 8,000 Austro-Sardinians. Though the allies escaped encirclement, the French later seized the port of Vado Ligure. Dumerbion and Garnier both recommended Sérurier's promotion and he was nominated general of division on 22 December 1794. Given command of the right flank division in place of Masséna who was sick, his brigadiers were Barthélemy Catherine Joubert and Sextius Alexandre François de Miollis.
1795
On 4 November 1794, Barthélemy Louis Joseph Schérer replaced the ill Dumerbion as army commander. Schérer wrote that Sérurier was "a very good officer, devoted to his duties; his patriotism has been attacked in the time of Hébert and his consorts; he has emerged victorious from all these charges. In my opinion he is worthy of the post he holds on the right of the active army." Sérurier's promotion was not confirmed until 13 June 1795. The Austro-Sardinian commander Joseph Nikolaus De Vins attacked the French lines on 24 June. Most of the assaults failed but since a few positions were captured and could not be retaken, the French withdrew from Vado to Borghetto Santo Spirito by 5 July. In the new line, Masséna with 14,000 troops held the coast while Sérurier and 6,000 men defended Ormea. On 5 July Sérurier reported that a key position had been partly lost, causing consternation at army headquarters. Later that day he reported that one of his brigadiers, Louis Pelletier, retook the position. Curiously, this incident did not count against him; instead Sérurier was given command of the left wing in place of Garnier. On the evening of 31 August, his headquarters at Saint-Martin-Vésubie was surrounded by the enemy. Though only 318 soldiers were at hand, Sérurier resisted successfully until early the following morning when he attacked and scattered his attackers, capturing 86 of them. The enemy commander, the émigré Chevalier Bonnaud committed suicide. Not only was he a good soldier, but Sérurier's troops liked him, he treated the local civilians with decency and his diplomacy allowed him to serve as a link between his army and the neighboring Army of the Alps. François Christophe Kellermann then in command of both armies, wrote, "It is to the coolness and courage of this excellent officer that was due the success of this glorious day."On 23–24 November 1795, the Battle of Loano was fought. Schérer deployed Pierre Augereau with 6,961 troops on the right, Masséna with 13,276 men in the center and Sérurier with 5,155 soldiers on the left. The plan called for Sérurier to pin down the Allied right while Masséna broke through the center and rolled up the Allied left with the help of Augereau. By luck, Wallis replaced De Vins in command of the Allies on 22 November. That day Sérurier's attack on the Colle San Bernardo was repulsed but it tied down Colli's division. The plan was carried out with success. Masséna and Augereau both defeated the forces in front of them. The Austro-Sardinians suffered losses of 3,000 killed and wounded, 4,000 prisoners, 48 guns and five colors while French losses numbered 2,500 killed and wounded and 500 captured. Snow soon compelled both armies to withdraw into winter quarters. The French soldiers were in a wretched state, with very little food; they became insubordinate and the generals quarreled. Sérurier got into a dispute with Schérer and nearly left the army. On 18 March 1796 Sérurier's division refused to obey orders.