page_title: Pierre François Sauret
section_title: War of the Pyrenees
hierarchical_section_title: Pierre François Sauret / French Revolutionary War / War of the Pyrenees
caption_attribution_description: Porta de Mar de la Ciutadella de Roses (Alt Empordà)
context_page_description: Pierre François Sauret de la Borie led a combat division under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte during the Castiglione Campaign in 1796. He enlisted in the French army as a private in 1756. During the Seven Years' War he fought at Hastenbeck and Rossbach. He became a first lieutenant in 1789 and a lieutenant colonel in 1792. Assigned to the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, served with distinction during the War of the Pyrenees against Spain. He was promoted to general officer in 1793 and became one of three infantry division commanders in the field army. He led his division at Palau, Boulou, Collioure, Black Mountain, Roses, and Bascara. He transferred to the Army of Italy in 1795. Bonaparte called him a very good soldier, but unlucky. He retired from active military service in order to enter politics.
context_section_description: In 1792, Sauret served in the Army of the Alps. During 1793-1795, he fought in the Army of the eastern Pyrenees against Spain and earned rapid advancement. In October 1793 he was elevated to the rank of general of brigade. In December he was wounded in the left leg at the battle of Villelongue-dels-Monts and received promotion to general of division.
  When Jacques François Dugommier took command in January 1794, he reorganized the army into three infantry divisions and a cavalry reserve. Sauret, Dominique Pérignon, and Pierre Augereau became the infantry division commanders and André de La Barre the cavalry leader. During Dugommier's offensive, Sauret led his troops in the French victory at the Battle of Boulou on 30 April and 1 May 1794. His troops, including the brigades of Jean-François Micas, Louis Pelletier, Jean-Jacques Causse, Jean Simon Pierre Pinon, and Claude Perrin Victor, participated in the siege of Collioure, which began the day after Boulou. On 26 May, the 7,000-man Spanish garrison surrendered, while the French Émigrés escaped in fishing boats. The Spanish surrender of the Fort de Bellegarde in September allowed Dugommier to plan an invasion of Catalonia that fall.
  Sauret commanded the left wing at the Battle of the Black Mountain, where Dugommier ordered him to mount a feint attack on 17 November. Dugommier was killed by a Spanish artillery shell on the 18th, and his successor Pérignon reinforced Sauret. After four days of fighting, the French army broke through the fortifications, which were manned by Spanish, Portuguese, and French Émigré soldiers. The Spanish commander Luis Firmin de Carvajal, Conde de la Union died defending the Notre-Dame-Del-Roure redoubt on 20 November and his army took to its heels.
  Pérignon quickly captured Figueres and invested the port of Rosas. From 28 November 1794 to 4 February 1795, Sauret commanded 13,000 troops at the successful Siege of Rosas in northeast Spain where he was wounded twice. His command included the brigades of Victor, Causse, Joseph Magdelaine Martin, Robert Motte, Théodore Chabert, and François Gilles Guillot, plus a small division under Jean Baptiste Beaufort de Thorigny. Pérignon and Sauret vigorously pressed the siege operations despite severe winter weather. Heavy guns were mounted on Mont Puy-Bois in order to take the Castillo de la Trinidad, a key outwork, under fire. The Spaniards abandoned the badly damaged Castillo on 1 January. On the night of 3 February, the fleet of Federico Gravina evacuated the garrison before a threatened French assault could take place.
caption: Citadel of Rosas, Portal del Mar
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "E8800", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ACD Systems Digital Imaging", "Image DateTime": "2008:05:08 21:34:40", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "233", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2222", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8034", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:04:01 17:22:57", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:04:01 17:22:57", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "7", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "31/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "89/10", "EXIF SubSecTime": "796", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1224", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "918", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2142", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}