page_title: Jean Gabriel Marchand
section_title: Peninsular War
hierarchical_section_title: Jean Gabriel Marchand / Peninsular War
context_page_description: Jean Gabriel Marchand, 1st Count Marchand went from being an attorney to a company commander in the army of the First French Republic in 1791. He fought almost exclusively in Italy throughout the French Revolutionary Wars and served on the staffs of a number of generals. He participated in Napoleon Bonaparte's celebrated 1796-1797 Italian campaign. In 1799, he was with army commander Barthélemy Catherine Joubert when that general was killed at Novi. Promoted to general officer soon after, he transferred to the Rhine theater in 1800.
  At the start of the Napoleonic Wars in 1805, Marchand led a brigade in the Grande Armée at Haslach-Jungingen and Dürenstein. Promoted to lead a division in Marshal Michel Ney's corps, he fought at Jena and Magdeburg in 1806. Leading an independent force, he defeated 3,000 Prussians late in the year. The following year he led his troops at Eylau, Guttstadt-Deppen, and Friedland. Napoleon bestowed honors and the rank of nobility upon him.
  In 1808 Marchand went to Spain where he fought in the Peninsular War. In Ney's absence, he took command of the corps and suffered a humiliating defeat at Tamamés at the hands of a Spanish army.
context_section_description: Still commanding Ney's 1st Division, Marchand participated in Napoleon's 1808 invasion of Spain. In February 1809, his division numbered 6,860 soldiers in 12 battalions. In early 1809, Ney campaigned in Galicia but his 17,000 French soldiers had their hands full trying to control 10,000 square miles (26,000 km²) of territory. On 19 May there was a clash at Gallegos where Marchand's division was involved. Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana with 1,500 regulars and 8,000 militia attacked Antoine Louis Popon de Maucune's 3,000-man brigade, inflicting 500 casualties. Ney soon arrived with the remainder of the 1st Division and drove La Romana away. Finally, in mid-June, Ney abandoned Galicia and fell back to Astorga.
  In June 1809, Napoleon placed the VI Corps under Marshal Nicolas Soult's command. With Ney's troops, plus the II and V Corps, Soult planned to sweep south and destroy Arthur Wellesley's British army. Wellesley beat King Joseph Bonaparte and Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan at the Battle of Talavera on 28 July. When Spanish guerillas captured a French dispatch, the British general found out that Soult was coming down from the north with three corps. Wellesley immediately bolted back toward Portugal and escaped the trap. During these operations, Ney's advanced guard clashed with a column under Robert Thomas Wilson at the Battle of Puerto de Baños on 12 August, but Marchand's troops were not engaged.
  In the fall of 1809, the Spanish army of Diego de Cañas y Portocarrero, Duke del Parque launched an offensive against the VI Corps. With Ney on leave, Marchand took command and suffered a stinging defeat at the Battle of Tamamés on 18 October 1809. With only 14,000 men and 14 artillery pieces, he tried to oust del Parque's 20,000 infantry, 1,500 cavalry, and 18 guns from a ridge. Sending Maucune's brigade to attack the Spanish left flank and the 25th Light Infantry to pin the enemy right flank, he planned to send the brigade of Pierre-Louis Binet de Marcognet to crush del Parque's center. Maucune's attack made considerable progress, but Marcognet's assault stalled in the face of heavy musketry and the fire of 12 cannons. Falling into confusion, Marcognet's men finally fled downhill and Marchand had to bring up Mathieu Delabassée's reserve brigade to prevent a rout. His corps suffered 1,400 casualties while the Spanish only lost half as many.
  Marchand evacuated his headquarters at Salamanca and retired north to Toro where François Étienne de Kellermann joined him with a dragoon division and some infantry. With Kellermann in overall command, the French recovered Salamanca. Dropping off Marchand and the VI Corps, Kellermann returned north to suppress new guerilla attacks. At this, Del Parque promptly advanced with superior forces, compelling Marchand to abandon Salamanca again. Learning that the main Spanish army had been smashed at the Battle of Ocana and fearing retribution, del Parque withdrew toward his mountain refuge. Meanwhile, Kellermann reappeared with his cavalry, joined Marchand, and launched a pursuit. The French cavalry found del Parque astride a river crossing at Alba de Tormes and mounted a devastating attack. On 28 November, Kellermann routed del Parque at the Battle of Alba de Tormes. Most of the fighting was over by the time Marchand's infantry arrived, though they managed to seize the vital bridge and town from the Spanish rear guard. For the loss of 300 to 600 men, the French inflicted 2,000 killed and wounded on del Parque's army. The French also captured 1,000 Spaniards, nine cannons, and most of the baggage train.
  Marchand served under Ney again in Marshal André Masséna's third invasion of Portugal in 1810. He fought at the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo from 26 April ro 9 July 1810 and the Siege of Almeida from 25 July to 27 August. On 15 September, Marchand's 1st Division consisted of Maucune's 1st Brigade, the 6th Light and 69th Line, and Marcognet's 2nd Brigade, the 39th and 76th Line. There were 6,457 men and 214 officers in the division. At the Battle of Bussaco on 27 September, Louis Henri Loison's div
caption: François Kellermann
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