Joseph Souham
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Joseph Souham (April 30, 1760 - April 28, 1837) was a French general, born at Lubersac.
[edit] French revolutionary years
He served in the Royal French army as a private from 1782 to 1790. In 1792, having shown himself active in the cause of the Revolution, he was elected commandant of a volunteer battalion from the Corrèze, with which he served at Jemappes.
By 1793 Souham had risen to the rank of general of division. In 1794 Souham won the Battle of Tourcoing. He served under Charles Pichegru in Holland (1795), but in 1799 he fell into disgrace on suspicion of being concerned in Royalist intrigues. He was reinstated in 1800 and served under Jean Moreau in the Danube campaign of that year. During the Consulate he appears to have been involved in conspiracies and was suspected with his old commanders Moreau and Pichegru to have participated in the plot of Georges Cadoudal.
[edit] Empire and later years
Having been unemployed from 1800 to 1809. The events of 1809 lead to a shortage of available experienced officers and he was put back on active duty and was send to Spain where he took a notable part in Gouvion St Cyr's operations in Catalonia. The actions at Vichy in which he was wounded won him the title of count. In 1812 Marshal Massena declined the command of Marmont's army which had just been defeated at the Battle of Salamanca but recommended Souham for the job. Souham by skilful manoeuvres drove the English under Wellington back from Burgos and regained the ground lost at Salamanca. In 1813 he distinguished himself again at the Battle of Lützen (1813) and at the Battle of Leipzig where he was wounded. At the fall of the First Empire he deserted the emperor and, having suffered for the Royalist cause, was well received by Louis XVIII, who gave him high commands. These honors Souham lost at the return of Napoleon and were regained once more after the Second Restoration. He retired in 1832, and died on the 28 April 1837 in Versailles.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
