Louis-Marie Turreau (4 July 1756,

Évreux Évreux () is a commune in and the capital of the department of Eure, in the French region of Normandy. Geography The city is on the Iton river. Climate History In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named ...

Eure Eure () is a department in Normandy in Northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2019, Eure had a population of 599,507.Conches), also known as ''Turreau de Garambouville'' or ''Turreau de Linières'', was a French

general officer A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

of the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

. He was most notable as the organiser of the

colonnes infernales The infernal columns (French: ''colonnes infernales'') were operations led by the French Revolutionary general Louis Marie Turreau in the War in the Vendée, after the failure of the Royalist Virée de Galerne. Following the passage on 1 August ...

during the

war in the Vendée The war in the Vendée (french: link=no, Guerre de Vendée) was a counter-revolution from 1793 to 1796 in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the river Loir ...

, which massacred tens of thousands of Vendéens and ravaged the countryside. He attained army command, but without notable military accomplishments. Under the

First French Empire The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Eu ...

, he pursued a career as a high functionary, becoming

ambassador to the United States The following table lists ambassadors to the United States, sorted by the representative country or organization. See also *Ambassadors of the United States Notes {{reflist, 30em External linksCurrent and former Ambassadors to the United Sta ...

then a

Baron of the Empire As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles of nobility to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both before and since, Napoleon found that th ...

Life

Early life

Louis-Marie Turreau's father was fiscal procurator for waters and forests to the

comté d'Évreux ''Comte'' is the French, Catalan and Occitan form of the word 'count' (Latin: ''comes''); ''comté'' is the Gallo-Romance form of the word 'county' (Latin: ''comitatus''). Comte or Comté may refer to: * A count in French, from Latin ''comes'' * A ...

, before becoming mayor of

. This situation imparted certain privileges to the Turreau family, even though they were not nobles. Turreau was nevertheless a fervent revolutionary from 1789, profiting like many others, especially the bourgeois of that era. Elected mayor of

Aviron Aviron () is a commune in the Eure department in Normandy in northern France. Population See also *Communes of the Eure department The following is a list of the 585 communes of the Eure department of France. The communes cooperate in the ...

, he bought several clerical estates (such as that of the

abbaye de Conches An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

Career to 1794

Before the Revolution, he had not had any real military activity, having entered the guards corps of the comte d’Artois but only been inscribed for supernumerary roles (he was only a reservist). On the Revolution, he entered the

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

of Conches, and took over as its leader in July 1792. In September he was elected captain of a company of volunteers from

Eure Eure () is a department in Normandy in Northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2019, Eure had a population of 599,507.Army of the Moselle The Army of the Moselle (''Armée de la Moselle'') was a French Revolutionary Army from 1791 through 1795. It was first known as the ''Army of the Centre'' and it fought at Valmy. In October 1792 it was renamed and subsequently fought at Trier, F ...

. In June 1793, Turreau was brought into the

Army of the coasts of La Rochelle The Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle (french: Armée des côtes de La Rochelle) was an army of the French Revolution which was created on 30 April 1793 and responsible for defending a region from the mouth of the Loire River south to the Gironde ...

, remaining so until 8 October though the post did not please him. He wrote to a friend, "I would move heaven and earth not to go to

Poitou Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...

. This kind of war displeases me." Even so, he fought for two months in the

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

. He served as head of the

Army of the Eastern Pyrenees The Army of the Eastern Pyrenees (''Armée des Pyrénées Orientales'') was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It fought against the Kingdom of Spain in Roussillon, the Cerdanya and Catalonia during the War of the Pyrenees. This army and th ...

from 12 October until 27 November 1793. During that period, he was defeated by Spanish General

Antonio Ricardos Antonio Ricardos Carrillo de Albornoz (1727 in Barbastro – 13 March 1794) was a Spanish general. He joined the army of the Kingdom of Spain and fought against Habsburg Austria, the Portugal, and the First French Republic during a long military ...

at the Battle of the Tech (Pla-del-Rey) on 13–15 October. In January 1794, he denounced fellow general

Eustache Charles d'Aoust Eustache Charles Joseph d'Aoust (27 February 1763, Douai – 2 July 1794, Paris) was a general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars. He started his military career in the Old Regime army, served on the staffs of three of the early arm ...

to the

Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety (french: link=no, Comité de salut public) was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. S ...

, leading to d'Aoust's execution in July. He became commander in chief of the

Armée de l'Ouest The Army of the West (''armée de l'Ouest'') was one of the French Revolutionary Armies that was sent to fight in the War in the Vendée in western France. The army was created on 2 October 1793 by merging the Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle, ...

from 29 December, but he again regarded this post with little enthusiasm. Before he arrived at his post, the last elements of the Armée catholique et royale were erased by

Jean-Baptiste Kléber Jean-Baptiste Kléber () (9 March 1753 – 14 June 1800) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars. After serving for one year in the French Royal Army, he entered Habsburg service seven years later. However, his plebeian ances ...

and

François Séverin Marceau François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers (; 1 March 1769 – 21 September 1796) was a French general of the French Revolutionary Wars, Revolutionary Wars. Early life Desgraviers was born on 1 March 1769 in Chartres, in the province of Orléanais, ...

at the Battle of Savenay on 23 December.

The colonnes infernales

Later career

On 20 May Turreau was named governor of Belle-Île, then arrested on 28 September 1794. He spent a year in prison, which he used to edit his ''Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de la Vendée''. He refused the amnesty of 4 Brumaire year IV which closed the works of the

National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...

, aiming to be unequivocally rehabilitated. On 19 December 1795 he was acquitted by a military tribunal which judged he had only been obeying orders. Under the

French Consulate The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Con ...

he was sent as an envoy to Switzerland. In May and June 1800, he commanded a division in a diversionary attack on

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

from the west but missed the

Battle of Marengo The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Mic ...

.Arnold, p 118 and 130 From 1803 to 1811 he was French ambassador to the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

, then commander of several military strongholds. In 1814, he submitted to

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

and during the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

published a ''Mémoire contre le retour éphémère des hommes à privilèges''. On the

Bourbon Restoration Bourbon Restoration may refer to: France under the House of Bourbon: * Bourbon Restoration in France (1814, after the French revolution and Napoleonic era, until 1830; interrupted by the Hundred Days in 1815) Spain under the Spanish Bourbons: * ...

he was not prosecuted, either for libel or for the colonnes infernales. He was on the list of those awarded the cross of Saint-Louis, but died before being able to attend an official ceremony of the order to receive it.

Distinctions

* Baron de Linières (1812) * Chevalier de Saint-Louis (1814) * His name is engraved on the 15th column of the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...

colonne (the Arch shows TURREAU).

Footnotes

Sources

Books

* Arnold, James R. ''Marengo & Hohenlinden.'' Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword, 2005.

External links

''Louis Turreau Sa Defaite au Pla-del-Rey Un Secret Defense'' by Bernard Prats in French

''Banyuls-sur-Mer, l'Heritage du 25 Frimaire An II des Somatents'' by Bernard Prats in French
{{DEFAULTSORT:Turreau, Louis Marie 1756 births 1816 deaths People from Évreux French generals French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars Ambassadors of France to the United States Barons of France Republican military leaders of the War in the Vendée French Republican military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars Knights of the Order of Saint Louis Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe