André Masséna André Masséna ( born Andrea Massena ) 1st Duc de Rivoli , 1st Prince d ' Essling ( May 6 , 1758 – April 4 , 1817 ) was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . Masséna was one of the original eighteen Marshals of the Empire created by Napoleon . His nickname was " l ' Enfant chéri de la Victoire " ( " the Dear Child of Victory " ) . Napoleon said of Masséna : he was " the greatest name of my military Empire . " According to Donald D . Horward , " Masséna ' s military career was equaled by few commanders in European history . In addition to his remarkable battlefield successes , he touched the careers of many who served under his command . " Early life . André Masséna was born in Nice , then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia , the son of a shopkeeper Jules Masséna ( Giulio Massena ) and wife Marguerite Fabre , married on August 1 , 1754 . His father died in 1764 , and after his mother remarried he was sent to live with relatives . At the age of thirteen , Masséna became a cabin boy aboard a merchant ship ; he sailed with it around the Mediterranean and on two extended voyages to French Guiana . In 1775 , after four years at sea , he returned to Nice and enlisted in the French Army as a private in the Royal Italian regiment . He had risen to the rank of warrant officer ( the top rank for a non - nobleman ) when he left in 1789 . In the same year he married on August 10 , Anne Marie Rosalie Lamare ( Antibes , September 4 , 1765 – Paris , January 3 , 1829 ) , daughter of a surgeon in Antibes , and they remained living at her birthplace . After a brief stint as a smuggler in Northern Italy ( his knowledge of the road networks would later prove useful ) , he rejoined the army in 1791 and was made an officer , rising to the rank of colonel by 1792 . Revolutionary Wars . When the Revolutionary Wars broke out in April 1792 , Masséna and his battalion were deployed along the border to Piedmont . Masséna continued training his battalion and prepared it for battle , hoping that it would be incorporated into the regular army . A month after the occupation of Nice , in October 1792 , the battalion was one of four volunteer battalions that became part of the French " Armée d ' Italie " . Masséna distinguished himself in the war , and was quickly promoted , attaining the rank of general of brigade in August 1793 , followed by general of division that December . He was prominent in all the campaigns on the Italian Riviera over the next two years , participating in the attack on Saorgio ( 1794 ) and the battle of Loano ( 1795 ) , and was commanding the two divisions of the army ' s advance guard when Napoleon Bonaparte took command of it in March 1796 . Masséna remained one of Bonaparte ' s most important subordinates throughout the extraordinary 1796 - 7 campaign in Italy . He played a significant part in engagements at Montenotte and Dego in the spring . He took a leading role at the battles of Lonato , Castiglione , Bassano , Caldiero and Arcola in the summer and fall , and the Battle of Rivoli and the fall of Mantua that winter . In another major effort to wrest Lombardy from the French , a fourth Austrian relief army was sent to relieve Mantua in January 1797 . In a three - pronged attack , the main Austrian army overran French forces near Rivoli while other enemy columns advanced on Verona and Mantua . Once Bonaparte determined the location of the main enemy force , he began juggling his forces . At 5 : 00 P . M . on 13 January , Masséna was ordered to march from Verona to Rivoli , fifteen miles away . Following a forced night march across the snow - covered roads , the first of his troops reached the battlefield at 6 : 00 A . M . Bonaparte deployed them on the left flank when the battle began . They were shifted to strengthen the sagging center and then deployed to crush an Austrian flanking maneuver . It proved to be a brilliant victory in which Masséna ' s troops played the decisive role ! However , the next day , with very little rest , Masséna and his troops marched thirty - nine miles in 24 hours to intercept a second Austrian army advancing to relieve Mantua . At La Favorita he closed the pincer on the Austrian army , forcing their surrender . As a result , within five days , Masséna ' s division had played the major role in Bonaparte ' s operation that cost the Austrians at least 35 , 000 casualties or prisoners ; two weeks later the 30 , 000 man garrison at Mantua capitulated . With his final victory complete , Napoleon showered praise on Masséna calling him " l ' enfant chéri de la victoire . " The president of the Directory in Paris , Jean Rewbell , responded in the same vein : " The Executive Directory congratulates you , citizen general , for the new success that you have obtained against the enemies of the Republic . The brave division that you command has covered itself with glory in the three consecutive days that forced Mantua to capitulate , and the Directory is obliged to regard you among the most capable and useful generals of the Republic . " In 1799 Masséna was granted an important command in Switzerland replacing Charles Edward Jennings de Kilmaine . As Russian reinforcements marched to support the Austrian armies in Italy and Switzerland , the Directory decided to consolidate the remnants of the French armies under Masséna ' s command . With a force totaling approximately 90 , 000 men , Masséna was ordered to defend the entire frontier . He repulsed Archduke Charles ' s advance on Zurich in June , but retired from the city and took up positions in the surrounding mountains . He triumphed over the Russians under Alexander Korsakov at the Second Battle of Zurich in September . Masséna , aware of Suvorov ' s advance toward St . Gotthard , quickly shifted his troops southward . General Claude - Jacques Lecourbe ' s division had already performed heroics in delaying the Russians at St . Gotthard Pass , and later at the spectacular crossing over the Reuss at Devil ' s Bridge . When Suvorov finally forced the Reuss , he was met by units of Soult ' s division blocking the route at Altdorf . Unable to break through the French lines and aware of Korsakov ' s disastrous defeat , the Russian general turned east through the high and difficult Pragel Pass to Glarus where he was dismayed to find other French troops awaiting him on 4 October . In waist - deep snow , his troops attempted six times to break through the French lines along the Linth but each attack was beaten back . Suvorov had no alternative but to make his escape across the treacherous Panixer Pass ( which is a difficult mountain trail to this day ) , abandoning his baggage and artillery , and losing as many as 5 , 000 men . This , and other events led Russia to withdraw from the Second Coalition . Meanwhile , his wife stayed at Antibes , where she had his children , the first of whom died in childhood : Marie Anne Elisabeth ( July 8 , 1790 – March 18 , 1794 ) , Jacques " Prosper " , 2nd Prince d ' Essling July 3 , 1818 ( June 25 , 1793 - May 13 , 1821 ) , unmarried and without issue , Victoire Thècle ( September 28 , 1794 – March 28 , 1857 ) , married on September 12 , 1814 Charles , Comte Reille ( Antibes , September 1 , 1775 – March 4 , 1860 ) , and François " Victor " , 2nd Duc de Rivoli , 3rd Prince d ' Essling ( April 2 , 1799 – April 16 , 1863 ) , married on April 19 , 1823 Anne Debelle ( 1802 - January 28 , 1887 ) , and had issue . Nevertheless , Bonaparte marched with the Army of the Reserve , not to the relief of Genoa , but to Milan where he spent six days . By the end of May , plague had spread throughout Genoa and the civilian population was in revolt . Negotiations were begun for the exchange of prisoners early in June , but the citizens and some of the garrison clamored for capitulation . Unknown to Masséna , the Austrian general , Peter Ott , had been ordered to raise the siege because Bonaparte had crossed Great St . Bernard Pass and was now threatening the main Austrian army . Describing the situation at Genoa , Ott requested and received permission to continue the siege . On 4 June , with one day ' s rations remaining , Masséna ' s negotiator finally agreed to evacuate the French army from Genoa . However , " if the word capitulation was mentioned or written , " Masséna threatened to end all negotiations . Two days later , a few of the French left the city by sea , but the bulk of Masséna ' s starving and exhausted troops marched out of the city with all their equipment and followed the road along the coast toward France , ending one of the most remarkable sieges in modern military history . The siege was an astonishing demonstration of tenacity , ingenuity , courage , and daring that garnered additional laurels for Masséna and placed him in the category previously reserved for Bonaparte alone . The grueling siege of some sixty days had ended but it played an important role in Bonaparte ' s strategy . By forcing the Austrians to deploy vast forces against him at Genoa , Masséna made it possible for Bonaparte to cross Great St . Bernard Pass , surprise the Austrians , and ultimately defeat General Michael Melas ' s army at Marengo before sufficient reinforcements could be transferred from the siege site . Less than three weeks after the evacuation , Bonaparte wrote to Masséna , " I am not able to give you a greater mark of the confidence I have in you than by giving you command of the first army of the Republic [ Army of Italy ] . " The Austrians also recognized the significance of Masséna ' s defense ; the Austrian chief of staff declared firmly , " You won the battle , not in front of Alessandria but in front of Genoa . " Masséna was then made commander of the French forces in Italy , but was later dismissed by Napoleon . Napoleonic Wars . Not until 1804 did Masséna regain the trust of Napoleon . That year he was promoted to the rank of Marshal of France in May . He led an independent army that captured Verona and fought the Austrians at Caldiero on October 30 , 1805 . Masséna was given control of operations against the Kingdom of Naples . He commanded the right wing of the Grand Army in Poland in 1807 . He was granted a ( first ) ducal victory title in chief of Rivoli on August 24 , 1808 . Masséna did not serve again until 1809 , against the forces of the Fifth Coalition . At the beginning of the campaign , he led the IV Corps at the battles of Eckmuhl and Ebersberg . Later in the war , when Napoleon tried to cross to the north bank of the Danube , at the Battle of Aspern - Essling , Masséna ' s troops hung onto the village of Aspern in two days of savage fighting . He was rewarded on January 31 , 1810 with a second , now princely victory title , " Prince d ' Essling " , for his efforts there and in the Battle of Wagram . During the Peninsular War , Napoleon appointed Masséna an army commander in the invasion of Portugal in 1810 . He started out by capturing Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida after successful sieges . He suffered a setback at the hands of Wellington ' s Anglo - Portuguese army at Buçaco on September 27 . Pressing on , he forced the allies to retreat into the Lines of Torres Vedras where a stalemate ensued for several months . Finally forced to retreat due to lack of food and supplies , Masséna withdrew to the Spanish frontier , allegedly prompting the comment " So , Prince of Essling , you are no longer Massena . " from Napoleon . After defeats at the battles of Sabugal and Fuentes de Oñoro , he was replaced by Marshal Auguste Marmont and did not serve again , being made a local commander at Marseilles . Retirement . Masséna retained his command after the restoration of Louis XVIII . When Napoleon returned from exile the following year , Masséna refused to commit to either side and kept his area quiet . He was disinclined to prove his royalist loyalties after the defeat of Napoleon . For example , he was a member of the court - martial that refused to try Marshal Michel Ney . He died in Paris in 1817 and was buried at Père Lachaise Cemetery , in a tomb he shares with his son - in - law Reille . Popular lore . The village of Massena in the state of New York , USA , is named in Masséna ' s honor . It was settled by French lumbermen in the early 19th century . Massena , Iowa , also in the USA , and which in turn was named for the community in New York , honours Masséna with a portrait of him in its Centennial Park . Place Massena in his birthplace , Nice , is named in his honour .