The Fighting Marshals Serurier
Jean Mathieu Philibert Serurier
by Ian Barstow, UK
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It was the Royal Mole Catcher who obtained a commission for his son in the Laon Militia in 1755, when he was aged just 13. They started them young in those days. He was transferred to a line unit, the Regiment d'Aumont in 1759 to fight in the Seven Years' War, being wounded at the Siege of Warburg in 1760. After recovering, in 1762 he took part in the expedition to Portugal, having been promoted to lieutenant.
From 1770 to 1774 he was part of the French garrison of Corsica, and having seen his career hit something of a backwater, with no apparent prospect of further promotion, he was considering packing the army in completely. Although history does not record whether he intended to go into his father's business.
As things meandered along, Serurier finally promoted to captain in 1779, marrying a local girl of similar birth named Louise Marie Itasse. Not much changed, although he was made a Chevalier of St. Louis in 1781. Finally, in 1789, he attained the rank of major in the infantry regiment de Medoc. Still things did not look much like improving, when suddenly the French had a revolution. Which was nice.
We are all aware by now that the Revolution brought untold opportunities for a military man, be it promotion beyond his wildest dreams, or an equally unprepared for one-way trip to the guillotine. Serurier got lucky, and by 1791 was a lieutenant colonel, although his suspect background meant that Serurier had to tread very warily.
In 1792 Serurier was involved in anti-royalist purges, before ironically succumbing to the same fate himself later that year in October. He was at the time colonel of the 70eme de Ligne, and was reported for alleged royalist sympathies – always a bad thing, especially when your old man had spent his entire life attempting to socially elevate himself. At times like this, only a man of influence was of any use, and those without tended to perish. Luckily for Serurier, he was known to the cunning politician Paul Barras, who intervened on his behalf and had him reinstated.
On February 28th, 1793, Serurier fought at Utelle, before being recommended for further promotion at Barras' instigation. On June 25th he was confirmed as a General de Brigade in the Army of Italy, rising to General de Division in December of the following year. The next four years would see Serurier serving his future emperor in Italy with renewed enthusiasm. In 1795 he fought with distinction under Massena at First Laono. Then on March 27th, 1796, he finally met Bonaparte, having put down a minor mutiny only days before.
Despite the fact that his Austrian opponent, Beaulieu, had over 50,000 troops, Napoleon was not overly concerned and decided that it was in his best interests to quickly crush Piedmontese resistance and allow his starving troops fresh country to forage through. Serurier's division was held in reserve at Montenotte on April12th, before going on to win his greatest victory at Mondovi on April 21st, effectively putting Piedmont out of the war. Prior to the battle, the usual lack of French discipline had meant that for every two paces that they had taken forward, they had then taken one back. Bonaparte needed someone to win a decisive victory, and Serurier personally led the charge into Mondovi at the crucial juncture. Serurier's performance at Mondovi was strategically decisive, and it was a performance that Napoleon was not to subsequently forget.
Although Piedmont was down for the count, Beaulieu's Austrians still needed accounting for, particularly as it was believed that they might soon be reinforced. Beaulieu was now ensconced behind the Po River, holding a defensive position, and effectively challenging the French to make a crossing. Bonaparte was well out of the Austrian's league, however, and whilst Serurier and Massena feinted at Valenza, the main army crossed fifty miles to the east at Piacenza. Serurier was subsequently moved to Piacenza which he held whilst Napoleon took the bridge at Lodi, before catching up with Beaulieu at Borghetto, where Serurier did play a part, although the Austrians managed to retreat with far more alacrity than they usually put into their advances.
On June 4th Serurier was given command of the Siege of Mantua, following an unsuccessful storming attempt, Things in the main theatre hotted up when Wurmser arrived with Austrian reinforcements, but Bonaparte proceeded to run rings around him. Serurier was called back to the main army at the start of August, as Bonaparte was expecting a climax to occur, but on the eve of the Battle of Castiglione, Serurier contracted a bad case of malaria, and his division was led by Fiorella instead.
Following the battle, Serurier was examined in more detail and found to be deep in the grip of the sickness. With no other alternative, he was invalided back to France. In January of 1797 he returned to active service back at the Siege of Mantua, having missed Arcola. The Austrians were in the process of making a last push past Lake Garda to relieve Mantua, but Bonaparte put paid to this at Rivoli on January 14th. Despite this, 7,000 Austrians under Provera contacted Wurmser who was now also bottled up in Mantua, and arranged a breakout. This in turn was stymied by Bonaparte's arrival at the city with Massena's division, who, with Serurier, stopped the attempt cold, and forced Wurmser to surrender. In honour of his performance, Napoleon allowed Serurier the privilege of accepting the surrender on February 2nd.
Probably appreciating his weakened condition, and in further gratitude for past service, Bonaparte sent Serurier to Paris with the 22 captured Austrian standards, accompanied by a glowing personal report making note of his 'firm discipline and reliability'. Bonaparte's foresight was well warranted, as the remainder of 1797 saw Serurier wracked by illness. He was made governor of Venice when Napoleon wanted the place emptying without it all going into one of his general's pockets. This caused a degree of difficulty with the likes of Massena, who hadn't looted anywhere for months and had been casting greedy eyes on the City of Canals. Serurier was more than grateful when the task was complete, and he was posted to a division stationed at Rennes.
1798 saw him return to Italy, but under less satisfactory circumstances. The unfeasibly inept Scherer was back in command and handling things so badly that wholesale mutiny was on the cards. Serurier was disgusted, and demanded to be replaced. Even Scherer himself had had enough, and was requesting to be replaced by Moreau, but by this time the damage was done. The Russian General Suvarov was rampaging about the place like he owned it, and in the process he effectively surrounded Serurier who had been hung out on the western flank to dry. The whole nightmare ended in his capture by the Russian, who subsequently paroled him back to Paris.
Back home, it looked like he was about to be made Moreau's scapegoat, but fate intervened in the shape of Napoleon's coup d'etat, which Serurier enthusiastically supported. It was his last military adventure, and following his ascension, Bonaparte allowed him an honourable retirement as vice-president of the Senate. In 1804 he became governor of Les Invalides, followed shortly by his elevation to the marshalate, eighteenth in seniority. In 1808 he was made a Count of the Empire.
It seemed likely that Serurier would never be in another theatre of war, but in 1814 the war came to France. As the allies approached Paris, Serurier made a grand gesture at Les Invalides by burning 1,417 captured enemy flags, along with the insignia of Frederick the Great. This act did not put off the returning Bourbons, who bumped him up to a peerage – as did Napoleon during his brief return from exile – although this was short lived when he was subsequently replaced at Les Invalides and had his marshal's wages cut.
Everything to this point has been of a relatively satisfactory nature. Staunch loyalty to Napoleon and capable performance in the field. However, I wonder if you can at this point guess what transpired to thrust Serurier into this writer's historical trash bin? Those of you with a habit of taking your history 'lite' will be aware that my pet hate is any Frenchman who did anything to contribute to the death of Ney. Needless to say, with things looking a bit rough, Serurier took his thirty pieces of silver and voted for Ney's execution. Suddenly in 1819 he's a marshal again with plenty of ready francs. His death the same December could not have come soon enough, in my opinion.
So there we have another of the marshals. This one did his fighting early on, before France was an empire, and he did it with some credit. However, his betrayal of Ney – for so it was – cannot be forgiven or tolerated. Thumbs down, I'm afraid…
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Jean Mathieu Philibert Serurier was perhaps not the most inspiring of the marshals, yet I contest that he had by far the most interesting father. Born at Laon on December 8th, 1742, Serurier had the peculiar distinction of being the son of the Royal stud at Laon's Mole Catcher! Bizarre indeed. Stranger still, this was by no means a comedy job. Serurier's father considered himself as a minor noble, owning a manor near Vervins to back up his claim.