Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais
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| Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais | |
|---|---|
| 18 October 1777 – 3 January 1809 | |
 |
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| Place of birth | Paris |
| Place of death | Cacabelos |
| Allegiance | French Republic, French Empire |
| Service/branch | Cavalry |
| Years of service | 1795-1809 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Battles/wars | Egypt, Napoleonic Wars, Peninsular War |
| Awards | Comte de l'Empire |
Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais (18 October 1777, Paris - 1809, Cacabelos, Spain), comte de l'Empire was a general of the Napoleonic wars.
[edit] Life
Colbert joined the army as a private, but soon became aide-de-camp to Grouchy, then to Murat, and served in Italy and Egypt, taking part in the Saléhieh affair and the siege of Acre (receiving a serious wound at the latter). He returned to France with Desaix then went to Italy, where he behaved with distinction at Marengo. His actions merited the star of the Légion d'honneur, granted him on December 11, 1803, and on the following December 25 he was made a colonel in the 10th Chasseur Regiment. The following year, as colonel, he distinguished himself before Ulm and at the battle of Austerlitz. Promoted to Brigadier General at the end of 1805, he was given an important mission to St Petersburg by Napoleon, where he was accompanied by his great friend Claude Testot-Ferry, later a colonel in the cavalry of the Imperial Guard (they met again in Spain).
In 1806, Colbert served well at the battle of Jena, leading several charges of the 3rd Hussars and 2nd Chasseurs against enemy infantry. He married the daughter of senator Canclaux, and they had 2 sons in 1805 and 1808.
Sent to Spain in 1808 to join the Peninsular War, Colbert was at Médina del Rio Seco (14 July 1808) under Bessières's orders and at Tuleda (23 November) under Lannes. In 1809 he was commanding the cavalry advance guard of the duc d'Istrie's corps, pursuing Sir John Moore's disintegrating British and Portugal army in its disastrous retreat to A Coruña. On the Astorga road not far from Villafranca, his troops captured 2,000 prisoners and waggon trains carrying rifles in the chaos, as well as releasing some French troops captured by the English. Later the same day, however, British Rifleman Thomas Plunket, a noted sharpshooter in the 95th Rifles (one of the British units still under effective military discipline), advanced alone towards the French and killed Colbert with a single long-range rifle shot, then killed an officer who came to Colbert's assistance with a second shot — these shots were likely taken beyond the normal rifle range of 200–300 meters, and well beyond the musket range of 50 meters, so Colbert would not have considered himself close enough to the British rearguard to be in any danger.
By a decree of 1 January 1810, Napoleon decided that a statue of Colbert should be placed on the pont de la Concorde, though this project never came to fruition.
His name is on the west face of the Arc de Triomphe.
[edit] Sources
- Plunket's Shot by Richard Rutherford-Moore
- Les 3 Colbert, Général Thoumas
- "Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais", in Charles Mullié, Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850, 1852
