Appointed at the command of the horse artillery of the Imperial Guard on 13 September 1808, he was particularly noted at the bloody Battle of Wagram, where he was at the head of a company of thirty pieces, and had his right arm torn by a cannonball, an injury which almost cost him his life. The Emperor made him a Brigadier General on 9 July 1809 and gave him the command of the artillery school of La Fère, as well as the title of Baron of the Empire. He did not see active service again until 1814, when he was called to command the artillery during the defense of Paris, where he stoutly checked the best efforts of the enemy, inflicting considerable losses in the process. Left without a command following Napoleon's abdication, he did benefit from the favours of the new regime, when King Louis XVIII granted him the Commander's Cross of the Order of Saint Louis (5 August 1814).