Entering the école spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1829, he left it as a sous-lieutenant in 1831. Promoted to lieutenant in 1834, then to captain, he served in the 5th Dragoon Regiment. A chef d'escadron during the 1848 Revolution, he was beside general Négrier when the latter was wounded. He then participated in the siege of Rome in 1849 as chef d'état-major of the second division of the French expeditionary corps in the Mediterranean. Promoted to lieutenant-colonel, he was attached to the Constantine division as chef d'état major in 1852. Rising to colonel in January 1855, he fought in the Crimean War as chef d'état-major of the 2nd and then the 1st division of II Corps. Chef d'état-major to general Mac Mahon in 1855 in Algeria, he was then given the same post in the Paris division two years later. Made a general in 1858 he fought in the battles of Turbigo, Magenta and Solferino.