In 1854 the Lieutenant colonel Jacques Félix Auguste Lepic was the commanding officer succeeded in 1855 by Colonel Baron Albert Jacques Verly. The latter remained in command of the squadron until 1870, with Captain Arnaud Ernest Junqua as his second-in-command from 1857. The Cent-gardes escorted the Emperor during the Second Italian War of Independence at Magenta and Solferino where Verly, serving in the field as commander, was wounded in his arm.