Jourdan, JEAN BAPTISTE, COMTE

Jourdan, JEAN BAPTISTE, COMTE, a French marshal, born 29th April 1762, at Limoges. He entered the army at sixteen, and, after seeing service in North America, rose under the Republic to the rank of a general of division. In September 1793 he obtained the command of the Army of the North, and on 16th October defeated the Austrians at Wattignies. In 1794 and 1795 he commanded the Army of the Meuse and Sambre, and with it gained the victory of Fleurus (26th June 1794), drove the Austrians back across the Rhine, took Luxemburg, and laid siege to Mainz. But on 11th October 1795 he was defeated at Höchst, and thus compelled to retreat over the Rhine. Crossing this river again in 1796, he penetrated as far as Bavaria, but was there beaten by the Archduke Charles at Amberg and Würzburg; this discomfiture made him resign his command. In 1799 the Directory entrusted him with the command of the Army of the Danube; but he was again defeated by the Archduke Charles at Ostrach and at Stockach. Although he took no part in the coup-d'état of 18th Brumaire, the First Consul employed him in 1800 in the reorganisation and administration of Piedmont; and on the establishment of the Empire in 1804 he was made a marshal and a member of the Council of State. In 1806 he was nominated governor of Naples, and afterwards accompanied King Joseph Napoleon to Spain as chief of his staff. Louis XVIII. made him a count in 1819. But his republican principles led him to enter heartily into the revolution of 1830. He died at Paris, 23d November 1833.