page_title: Étienne Pierre Sylvestre Ricard
section_title: 1814
hierarchical_section_title: Étienne Pierre Sylvestre Ricard / 1814
caption_attribution_description: Battle of Vauchamps (14 February 1814). Engraving from book FRANCE MILITAIRE.
context_page_description: Étienne Pierre Sylvestre Ricard was a prominent French division commander during the 1814 Campaign in Northeast France. In 1791 he joined an infantry regiment and spent several years in Corsica. Transferred to the Army of Italy in 1799, he became an aide-de-camp to Louis-Gabriel Suchet. He fought at Pozzolo in 1800. He became aide-de-camp to Marshal Nicolas Soult in 1805 and was at Austerlitz and Jena where his actions earned a promotion to general of brigade. From 1808 he functioned as Soult's chief of staff during the Peninsular War, serving at Corunna, Braga, First and Second Porto. During this time he sent a letter to Soult's generals asking them if the marshal should assume royal powers in Northern Portugal. When he found out, Napoleon was furious and he sidelined Ricard for two years.
  In 1811 Soult got Ricard reinstated and he fought at Tarragona. He participated in the 1812 French invasion of Russia, was promoted general of division and fought at Krasnoi. In 1813 he led a division in the III Corps at Lützen, Bautzen, Leipzig and Hanau, briefly leading the corps that winter.
context_section_description: On 30 December 1813, Ricard commanded the 3,000-man 1st Division in Marshal Auguste Marmont's VI Corps. That day his troops left Koblenz and moved south, to be replaced by Pierre François Joseph Durutte's division. During this transfer, the Allies launched a successful crossing of the Rhine on 1 January 1814 and threatened to capture the isolated French. By hard marching, Ricard and Durutte managed to elude the Allies and reach Saarbrücken. On 14 January, believing he was about to be surrounded, Ricard evacuated Pont-à-Mousson without orders. His worst mistake was not destroying the bridge over the Moselle River. The French forces withdrew toward the Meuse River.  On 19 January Ricard's rear guard ambushed some Prussian cavalry in a brisk skirmish at Manheulles.
  When Napoleon arrived at the front on 26 January 1814, Marmont's 12,051-man command included Jean-Pierre Doumerc's I Cavalry Corps and the VI Corps with the divisions of Ricard and Joseph Lagrange. Hoping to surprise Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's army, Napoleon launched an advance in three columns. The right column led by Étienne Maurice Gérard consisted of the divisions of Ricard and Georges Joseph Dufour. Marmont guarded the army's rear with Lagrange's division. On 1 February the Allies with 120,000 troops defeated Napoleon with 45,000 at the Battle of La Rothière. Only 85,000 Allies came into action. Gérard's ad hoc corps held Dienville on the right flank with 8,300 men. Their opponents were the Austrian III Corps under Ignaz Gyulai with one division on the west bank of the Aube River and the brigade of Franz Splény de Milháldy on the east bank. The west bank division briefly captured Dienville's bridge before being thrown back. The Austrians only took Dienville at midnight after Gérard abandoned the village. Both sides suffered about 6,000 casualties in the battle, but Napoleon lost 60 field pieces and was forced to retreat.  A battle map showed Dufour in the first line and Ricard in the second line. A Russian attempt to cut off the French retreat the next day was blocked by Emmanuel Grouchy's cavalry and Ricard at Piney.
  Napoleon with 30,000 troops pounced on Blücher's widely separated army in the Six Days' Campaign. On 10 February, the French attacked Nicolay Dmitrevich Olssufiev's 4,000 Russian infantry and 24 guns. Stung by recent criticism, Olssufiev unwisely stood his ground against overwhelming odds in the Battle of Champaubert. About 11:00 am Marmont's corps began the assault with the divisions of Ricard on the right against Baye and Lagrange on the left against Bannay. Despite stout resistance, the villages were seized by 3:00 pm and French cavalry was advancing on both flanks. Belatedly Olssufiev ordered a retreat but 1,000 men and nine guns were surrounded at Champaubert and forced to surrender. At most, 1,700 Russians escaped through the woods east to Étoges and Olssufiev became a French prisoner. There were 38,000 Allies under Fabian Wilhelm von Osten-Sacken and Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg to the west and Blücher's 19,000 to the east.
  In the Battle of Montmirail on 11 February, Napoleon moved against Sacken's 18,000 Russians and 90 guns west of Montmirail with Ricard's division and some cavalry. After being driven out of Marchais at 11:00 am, Ricard's division was ordered to recapture the village. After a furious struggle that raged until 2:00 pm, Marchais remained in Russian hands. By this time Ney's corps arrived to put more pressure on the Russians. The French finally captured Marchais and most of its defenders were cut down by French cavalry as they fled. Escaping to the north with difficulty, Sacken lost 2,800 men, six colors and 13 guns while Yorck's Prussians sustained 900 casualties. The French lost 2,000 killed and wounded. At Montmirail Ricard's division consisted of the one battalion each of the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 9th and 16th Light Infantry and the 22nd, 40th, 50th, 65th, 136th, 138th, 142nd, 144th and 145th Line Infantry.
  Ricard missed the Battle of Château-Thierry on the 12th. The Battle of Vauchamps was fought on 14 February 1814 bet
caption: Battle of Vauchamps, 14 February 1814
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