Exelmans was bom on 13 November 1775 in Bar-le-Duc (Meuse). On 6th September 1791 he enlisted as a volunteer wilh the 3rd Battalion of the Meuse, which at the time was led by Lieutenant Colonel Oudinot, later duc de Rovigo and Marechal de France. His talents soon recognised, by January 1792 he had risen through the ranks to sergeant major with the regimental artillery company, only two months after his seventeenth birthday. On Active Service His first active service was with the Army of the Moselle, where he served for two years. He spent time in garrison at Thionville from November 1792, was then present at the defence of Bitche 10-11th November 1793 and fought at Kaiserlautern on 23rd May 1794. In June 1794 after the victory at Fleurus his battalion became part of the 34th Demi-Brigade with the Army of the Sambre Meuse. He served with the Sambre Meuse as it made its spectacular advances. Notably, the triumphant march to Brussels, the seizure of Namur, and in the autumn the advance to the Rhine. In 1796 he was with the Army during the crossing of the Rhine and its advance to the Bohemian frontier. He was present at its check at Amberg on 16th August, the defeat at Wurzburg on 3rd September and the desperate scramble back to the Rhine and safety. On 22nd October 1796 he gained promotion to sous lieutenant. With Austria knocked out of the Coalition in 1797 and the main war effort turned against England, he passed to the Army of England in January 1798. He served on the regimental staff of the 43rd Demi-Brigade and was promoted Lieutenant on 19th June 1798. On 22nd October 1798 he became aide de camp to general of engineers Eble, the hero at the crossing of the Beresina in 1812. When Eble later moved to the Army of Rome in December 1798 he followed him. He took part in the brief campaign against Naples, was present at the capture of Capua on 10th January 1799 and distinguished himself in the operations that led to the capture of Naples itself on 22-23rd January. Keen to serve in the cavalry, he secured a transfer to the regimental staff of the 16th Dragoons on 13th April 1799. Here he struck up a good rapport with General Broussier and in July 1799 returned with him to France as his aide serving at the cavalry depot at Valenciennes. He was with Broussier during the Marengo Campaign and served in the cavalry brigade attached to Loison's Division. He was present at the storming of Fort Bard on 25th May 1800, fought at Pizzighettone on 5th June, was at the crossing of the Adda on 12th June and the capture of Cremona the following day. Promoted Capitaine on 8th July 1800 he moved with Broussier to Murat's cavalry camp at Amiens. When hostilities resumed with Austria in December 1800 he resumed to Italy with Broussier, who led a division of the Army of Italy. He was commended for bravery during the crossing of the Adige on 25th December. When Broussier became governor of Milan, Exelmans transferred to Murat's Staff on 21st March 1801 and served as one of his aides with the Army of the South during its occupation of the Kingdom of Naples. He spent a pleasant period in Naples till June 1802 when the army was dissolved and returned to France. Chef d'Escadron For the next four years his career revolved around that of Murat's. He was with him during his tenure a governor of Paris and gained promotion to chef d'escadron on 3rd October 1803. Murat commander of the Cavalry Reserve during the Austerlitz Campaign led to Exelmans attached to its advance guard as it masked the Grande Armee's approach to the Danube. He was with the first squadrons that reached the river at Donauworth on 6th October 1805--an event that tore aside the curtain to reveal Napoleon's army astride the river between the Austrian army and Vienna. On 8th November his name shot to the fore when he won a reputation for bravery that bordered on being reckless during the first serious encounter of the Campaign at Wertingen. Exelmans in charge of a squadron of dragoons, in the morning encountered a body of several hundred Austrian infantry and cavalry guarding the village of Hohenreichen. The village lay in the Army's path and annoyed by the sporadic fire from the buildings, he dismounted his two hundred dragoons and threw them muskets in hand into the village. Fresh detachments of dragoons came and pressed the Austrians harder, and drove them back into Wertingen. After they passed through the town they came upon a huge Austrian square formed on the high ground beyond. It was Auffenberg's force, comprising nine battalions of infantry, four squadrons of cavalry with cannon, numbering some 7,000 men. Mack had sent them out from Ulm to reconnoitre, based on vague reports that had spread of the appearance of French troops on the Danube. Murat arrived, surveyed the scene and sent Exelmans forward with orders for the cavalry to charge. Maupetit commander of the 9th Dragoons hesitated, thought the odds too great and that the young aide carrying Murat's message was mad. Undeterred Exelmans charged on his own, Maupetit aghast with his effrontery took his lead and followed with the 9th Dragoons. Exelmans' horse was brought down thirty yards from the enemy squares by the first crashing volley. Remounting another he joined the melee. For a while the square held while the dragoons tried to sabre the Austrian grenadiers, who replied with musketry and bayonet thrusts, one of which killed Maupetit. Attracted by the noise of fire, Murat's main body of cavalry arrived plus Lannes with Oudinot's grenadiers. Alarmed at the size of the approaching forces the Austrian square tried to move to a nearby wood. Charged by cavalry in the front and threatened by infantry in the rear, the Austrians in a compact mass fell into disorder. The dragoons swept the field as they took several colours and cannon, plus over 2,000 prisoners. Lannes and Murat had seen Exelmans' bravery, and sent him to Napoleon with news of the first success and to present the captured standards. In front of the assembled General Staff Napoleon gave a stirring speech and then decorated Exelmans with the Lagion d'Honnour. After the Army surrounded Ulm, he joined Murat's pursuit of Archduke Ferdinand's forces that slipped the French noose and made for the upper Palatinate and Bohemia. He was at Neresheim on 18th October when Wemeck surrounded, surrendered with 8,000 infantry after Ferdinand with the cavalry abandoned him. He fought at Lambach on 31st October when the Cavalry Reserve after crossing the Inn engaged the rearguard of Kutuzov's army for the first time. He fought at Amstetten on 5th November, when the Russians made a brief stand before retiring to Krems, where they crossed to the north bank of the Danube. With Murat's march along the Danube to Vienna he entered the city with him on 13th November 1805. At Austerlitz on 2nd December 1805 he was at the fore during Murat's epic struggle on Napoleon's northern flank to stem the advance of the Russian cavalry. Colonel On 27th December 1805 he left Murat's service when appointed colonel of the 1st Chasseurs a Chaval with Vialannes's cavalry brigade of Davout's III Corps. During the Prussian Campaign of 1806 with Vialannes's cavalry he screened III Corps's advance into Saxony. On 12th October, near Naumberg on the Saale, he encountered three Prussian squadrons escorting a large pontoon train. The pontoons, plus forty baggage wagons fell into his hands after a short struggle and proved invaluable later in the campaign. On 13th October he crossed the river and by evening reached the Unstrutt at Freiburg. At the same time, Napoleon ordered Davout to march on Weimar and join him there as he expected a battle there the next day. Early in the morning, Davout sent Exelmans ahead from Freiburg to reconnoitre the route. With the 25th Line in support he quickly secured the head of the defile on the edge of the Hassenhausen Plateau. His patrols moved on and located some Prussians in Hassenhausen itself and took several prisoners. They then beat a hasty retreat when pursued by a large cavalry force led by Blucher. As the Prussians followed him and emerged through the mist, Gudin's battalions deployed in square caught them in a vicious fire. Then faced by the rest of Vialannes's brigade the enemy retired taking with them several battalions of infantry moving up to threaten Gudin's right. The epic battle of Auerstadt for the French was mainly an infantry affair, simply because Davout's cavalry was so hopelessly outnumbered. During the struggle, Exelmans was held back but near the end of the day when he played a destructive role in the pursuit. He drove hard against the Prussian left flank in the hope of pushing them towards Alpolda into the arms of Napoleon. After ten miles, exhausted, he broke off the pursuit and bivouacked at Buttstadt. During the pursuit of the Prussian Army in the days that followed, he seized the bridge over the Elbe at Wittenberg on 19th October. Then as he neared Berlin was diverted from the main advance to secure the crossings into Poland at Frankfurt-on-Oder on 27th October. Poland His regiment was the first to cross into Poland on 1st November 1806 and occupied Posen four days later amidst a tremendous welcome from the local populace. After resting for several days while the Army caught up, he then set out on 16th November as part of Murat's screen that preceded the Army's advance to the Vistula. He entered Warsaw on 28th November 1806. He was at the crossing of the Ukra on 22th December, fought at Czarnovo the next day and was again in action at Golymin on 26th December. At Eylau on 8th February 1807, he cleared the Cossacks before Serpallen and then supported III Corps's advance against the Russian left covering Davout's assault on Ankleppen. General de Brigade On 4th May 1807 he was promoted general de brigade and senior aide to Murat. He was with Murat during the rout of the French cavalry at Heilsberg on 10th June. Four days later he had revenge when present at the destruction of the Russian Army at Friedland on 14th June 1807. Capture and Parole He was made baron de l'Empire on 17th March 1808. He accompanied Murat to Spain and was with him during the French occupation of Madrid in April. After Dos Mayos he joined Moncey's expedition against Valencia. Whilst at the head of a patrol near Cuenica on 16th June 1808, the Spanish took him prisoner. Brought to Valencia, when the city's fall appeared imminent he was placed on an English vessel and shipped to England. After a short period of imprisonment, he was placed on parole but after two years broke it and escaped to France in April 1811. He rejoined Murat, now King of Naples as his Grand Master of the Palace. Life as a courtesan not to his liking, he resumed to France and took an inferior posting as adjutant commandant major with the Chasseur a Cheval of the Imperial Guard on 24th December 1811. Into Russia During the Russian Campaign he changed regiments and took the title major with the Horse Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard on 9th July 1812. He served at Smolensk on 17th August and was present at Borodino. Attrition amongst senior officers severe, he was promoted general de division the day after the battle on 9th September 1812 and replaced the wounded Pajol as head of the 2nd Light Cavalry Divisbn. During the retreat from Moscow he shot to prominence at Krasnoe on 15th November. The Army at the time showed signs of complete disintegration. Miloradovich with a column of 20,000 men barred the road west and started to shell a horde of Westphalian stragglers eager to reach Krasnoe. The Westphalians froze in panic, they made no attempt to deploy as thirty squadrons of Russian cavalry prepared to bear down on them. Exelmans nearby at the time galloped into their midst, assumed command and urged them to defend themselves. The jaded troops responded to the orders of this strange general, who had arrived in their midst and began to form into columns. With Exelmans at their head they joined the Vistula Legion under Claparede and the Old Guard in an attack on the Russian positions. Miloradovich, surprised by the ferocity of the assault, withdrew and contented himself with falling on stragglers. The Campaigns of 1813 Shot in the thigh near Vilna on 10th December, Exelmans returned to France to recover. On 15th February 1813 he assumed command of the 4th Light Cavalry Division forming at Mainz, where an acute shortage of horses delayed his preparations. Part of Sebastiani's II Cavalry Corps he only reached Saxony in late May, so missing the battles at Lutzen and Bautzen, where Napoleon's shortage of cavalry was critical. During the Autumn Campaign his reckless bravado proved his undoing during operations against Blucher's Army of Silesia. On 14th August, in violation of the Armistice, Blucher struck westwards. When Napoleon turned on him, he suffered a reverse at Goldberg and fell back on Jauer behind the Katsbach. Napoleon then faced by a new threat to Dresden, quickly reorganised the Army on 23rd August. He gave Macdonald the new Army of the Bober to shadow Blucher, with orders not to pursue him in force beyond the river. Macdonald convinced by reports that the enemy was in full flight, crossed the river. Poor reconnaissance by the cavalry failed to reveal that Blucher had heard of Napoleon's departure. As a result, the Prussian turned his army about with the aim to recross the river and engage the weakened French. The two armies bumbled into each other on 26th August. More by luck than design Blucher caught Macdonald's widely spread columns in detail as they crossed the Katsbach. Exelmans crossed the Katsbach at the ford of Chemochowitz in the morning and climbed the steep slopes to the vast Janowitz plateau. At first he scented success, several French infantry divisions had crossed and were posted prudently near the woods and coppices that covered the plateau. There was no sign of the enemy, prudence dictated a thorough reconnaissance of the countryside, but neither he nor Sebastiani ordered one. Roussel D'Urbal pushed ahead through the driving rain and disappeared from view with the heavy cavalry division and corps artillery. Undoing It was at this stage that Exelmans' dogmatic and overbearing manner proved to be his undoing when he failed to allow his regimental or brigade commanders to exercise a little initiative. His guns taken without his permission angered him. He called the division to halt, and left it with strict orders not to move, until he, personally, had recovered the guns. His two brigades five hundred yards apart were drawn up in columns of regiments. In the circumstances avery vulnerable position, which worried his brigade commanders Maurin and Wathiez, who dared not move. From a nearby wood a large body of Prussian lancers charged the 23rd and 24th Chasseur a Cheval regiments, who barely managed to deploy in time. After a furious melee the three regiments of Prussian horse fled. The 7th Chasseurs a Cheval on their own defeated another regiment. Marbot, (the memoirs writer) colonel of the 23rd Chasseurs a Cheval then fell on some Prussian infantry formed in square, but a wall of bayonets held his men back. To Marbot's assistance came the 6th Light Lancers, who outreaching the enemy's bayonets exacted a heavy toll. The Prussians their powder wet, unable to fire their muskets, gave way and fled to a nearby wood. Two miles away while this was all going on Exelmans neared Roussel's division. He saw to his horror his colleaque's horse swamped by elements of the 20,000 Allied horsemen that flooded the field. He turned and fled white-faced to warn his division of the new avalanche of Allied horse about to descend on them. Committed against one foe, his regiments had no time to prepare and face another. First the sight of Roussel's division unsettled them, and then when the Prussians appeared through the swirling rain they turned and fled. Charpentier's 36th Infantry Division nearby, unable to form square or fire on the approaching horse, as their powder was soaked, broke. This unwieldy mass pursued by the triumphant Prussians then crashed into the remaining divisions of V and Xl Corps on the plateau or debauching from the river. Macdonald lost 10,000 men killed and wounded and a further 15,000 taken prisoner. The defeat alongside that at Kulm and at Gross Beeren had a major impact on the outcome of the campaign. Macdonald took full responsibility for the disaster, he only apportioned some blame to his cavalry commanders years later on the publication of his memoirs. It went a long way to explain how Exelmans so soon after the reverse managed to become comte de l'Empire on 28 September 1813. Exelmans fought at Leipzig where he took part In the confused cavalry struggle at Liebertwolkowitz on 14th October. In the three day battle, he engaged the enemy before Wachau on 16th October. Here his horse nearly effected a break through that caused the Czar and his staff to scurry for safety. During the retreat to the Rhine his cavalry was with the army's advance guard and performed valuable service in the vicinity of Hanau as the Bavarians tried to bar their route. When the Allies crossed the lower Rhine in January he was with Macdonald's forces as they fell back through Belgium into Champagne. In February 1814 he was at the defence of Chalons-sur-Marne and Vitryle-Francois as York's Prussians pushed Macdonald down the Marne towards La Ferte. The Defence of France Summoned by Napoleon on 15th February, he assumed command of the 3rd Guard Cavalry Division after the unfair dismissal of Guyot, who had lost some guns to a band of Cossacks. For the remainder of the campaign he was very active. At Vertus on 28th February he scattered Tettenborn's Cossacks. He seized the stone bridge over the Aisne at Berry-au-Bac on 6th March, which threatened Blucher's communications and enabled Napoleon to win the costly battle at Craonne the next day. Guyot reinstated, Exelmans moved to the 2nd Guard Cavalry Division and took part in the recapture of Rheims on 12-13th March. After a brief rest he headed south, joined Napoleon's offensive against Schwarzenberg and seized the crossings over the Seine at Mery-sur-Seine on 18th March and at Plancy the next day. At Arcis-sur-Aube on 20th March his cavalry was severely mauled after Sebastiani, now commander of the Guard cavalry, ordered his and Colbert's divisions to cross the river. Totally outnumbered Colbert forming the first line was driven back and in turn carried away Exelmans' dragoons. They fell back across the bridge into Arcis with Cossacks in pursuit. Only the personal intervention of Napoleon himself, who at one time had to seek refuge in a square, restored order that enabled the army to conduct an orderly retreat. He was with Napoleon's Army as it moved east to fall on Schwarzenberg's communications and relieve the beleaguered garrisons in Lorraine. The Allies in turn broke their shackles of indecision, ignored threats to their rear and advanced directly on Paris. Exelmans joined the dash west to save the capital. After the fall of Paris the Army retired to Fontainbleu where he was when Napoleon abdicated on 6th April 1814. The Restoration He accepted service under the Bourbons and on 12th June 1814 became a Cavalry Inspector General with the 1st Military Division based in Paris. On 19th July he took the title chevalier de Saint Louis. He soon showed contempt for the monarchy when he refused to swear an oath of allegiance, which resulted in him being placed under police surveillance. His suspension and banishment from Paris soon followed on 10th December due to him corresponding with Murat in Naples. He ignored the order, was arrested ten days later and brought before a court martial presided over by Drouet D'Erlon at Lille on 15th January 1815. Here the Bourbon plans went wrong. The establishrnent hoped a trial outside Paris would not attract attention, but D'Erlon was a secret Bonapartist. A host of charges were brought against him, including being in correspondence with the enemy (Murat) and espionage. He conducted a brilliant defence. The press took up the story, which included the plight of his pregnant wife. The wife of a war hero, whose husband had been snatched in the middle of the night from her arms by the police caught the public imagination. He was acquitted on 25th January 1815. The verdict rocked the military establishment. It questioned the loyalty ot the Army and the further need to purge it Bonapartist officers. When news of Napoleon's landing reached Paris, Exelmans kept a low profile. He did not wish to draw attention to himself after a premature conspiracy hatched by Lefebvre Desnoetles, D'Erlon and the Lallemand brothers had failed. He bided his time, then on 1 March with Paris in confusion he struck, rallied bands of half-pay officers, who encouraged Royal troops in the city to desert. The next day he seized the artillery depot under the command of the Duc de Berry and established himself in the Tuileries till the arrival of Napoleon that evening. He was immediately dispatched to pursue Louis XVIII to the Belgian border, with unofficial orders from Napoleon to ensure that no harm came to him or that he was captured. The Waterloo Campaign On 31st March 1815 he assumed command ot the 1st Cavalry Division of II Observation Corps. He became Peer of France on 2nd June 1815. The allocation of commanders nearly complete he took command of 1 Cavalry Corps of the Army of the North comprising the two fine dragoon divisions under Strolz and Chastel. By 14th June his preparations complete he concentrated his force near the Belgian border at Walcourt. The next day he crossed before dawn and headed for Charleroi to seize the crossing over the Sambre. He failed to achieve his objective due to confusion caused by Vandamme's infantry starting their march late. Delayed, he was unable to catch up with Chastel, who tried to storm the bridge at Charleroi on his own. He crossed the river in the aftemoon after the Marines of the Guard cleared the way. Involved in the pursuit of the Prussians as they fell back towards Fleurus he was halted by barricades across the road at Gilly. After further delays caused by Vandamme and Grouchy, he worked his way around the Prussian left flank through the Bois de Soleilment to Lambusart. By evening he bivouacked astride the Fleurus road between Lambusart and Wangenies. During the Battle of Ligny the next day he operated) under Grouchy as part of the Cavalry Reserve. Posted on the French right flank opposite Boignee, his divisions performed well tying down Thielmann's Prussian l Corps. His use of skilful feints and counter feints prevented these formations from coming to the aid of Blucher's hard pressed centre. At the end of the day he harried the Prussian retreat, but with lack of clear orders and the gathering dusk didn't exploit the situation fully. Directed to seek out the enemy the next morning, he located Thielmann's Corps at 9.00 am at Gembleux retiring north along the Wavre Road. He never attempted to engage or harry the enemy, in spite of both Pajol's and Teste's divisions being nearby to lend support. Neither did he bother to notify Grouchy immediately of their presence. He completely missed the significance of such a move, that indicated a real danger of the Allied Armies effecting a link up before Brussels. Thielmann around 2.00 pm cleverly masked his force with cavalry, slipped away and contact was lost for twenty four hours. Had Exelmans engaged Thielmann with some vigour, Grouchy's forces would have been drawn to the action like iron filings to a magnet. The Prussians caught a day earlier, there is little likelihood they would have been able to intervene at Waterbo, after extricating III Corps caught in a deadly struggle between Gembleux and Wavre. On 18th June all that Exelmans did was engage a Prussian detachment in the morning that was retiring on Wavre from Mont Saint Guibert. He was also present with Gerard and Grouchy when the opening cannonade at Waterloo was heard in the distance. In the altercation that followed, it is believed he offered to shoot Grouchy rather than let the march on Wavre continue. Gerard calmed him down. In the aftemoon he tried without much success to turn the Thielmann's left flank along the Dyle at Wavre. He later added to Grouchy's concern by pointing to the masses of Prussians moving west in the direction of Napoleon and Waterbo. He remained in reserve during Grouchy's renewed assault on Wavre on 19th June. When news of Waterloo reached Grouchy around 11.00 am with that of the escape route via Charlerol about to fall into Prussian hands, Exelmans was ordered to secure the crossing over the Sambre at Namur. With amazing speed his cavalry reached Namur at 4.00 pm, having covered the twenty five miles to secure the crossing in little over four hours. He covered Grouchy's force as it fell back to Givet, then the rest of the Army as it fell back by stages from Laon to Paris. On 1st July he defeated Blucher's cavalry at Velizy and Roquencourt as they tried to approach Paris from the south. After the Armistice he retired with the Army to the Loire. He stayed at Clermont till relieved of his command on 24th July 1815. Exiled from France on 9th December after he publicly denounced the execution of Ney, he lived in Brussels, Liege and the Duchy of Nassau until allowed to return in January 1819. Recalled on 1st September 1819 he remained unattached till 7th May 1828 when he was appointed Inspector General of Cavalry in the 9th, 10th, 12th and 21st Military Divisions. The Second Republic Never reconciled to the Bourbons he actively conspired against them. On the outbreak of the July Revolution he secured the defection of the Paris garrison, and with Pajol on 3rd August 1830 led them against the Royalist forces regrouping at Rambouillet. On 21st August 1830 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour by Louis Philippe and then made a Peer of France for the second time on 19th November 1831. On 3rd November 1840 he received a life appointment to the Army General Staff. With the establishment of the Second Republic and the resurgence of Bonapartism, he was showered with awards and assumed the role of an Old Soldier and Elder Statesman, similar to that of Soult. He became a Grand Counsellor of the Legion of Honour on 15th August 1849, Marshal of France on 10th March 1851 and was called to the Senate on 26th January 1852 where he sat as a Conservative. Active till the end, he died at Sevres (Seine-et-Oise) on 22nd July 1852 as a result of a fall from a horse. Exelmans possessed a reckless arrogance that contributed to the brilliant successes of his career, notably at Wertingen and Krasnoe. In charge of a corps for the first time during the Waterloo Campaign his confidence deserted him and he was clearly out of his depth. His failure to notify Grouchy promptly of the direction of the Prussian retreat was lamentable. The fact he was given a Marshal's Baton was as incomprehensible as the one awarded to Jerome Bonaparte. Jerome however was broke and needed the pension the award carried. Exelmans was a wealthy man, which went further to prove that the rank had been debased. Brave and loyal he undoubtedly was, but his overestimated talents proved costly in Napoleon's last campaign. Waterloo Campaign Order of Battle II Cavalry Corps, Army of the North Commander General de Division Count Exelmans 15.06.1815 Officers / Men 9th Cavalry Division - Baron Strolz 15 squadrons (4 regiments): 141 / 1551 1 company of artillery (6 guns): 6 / 145 Total: 147 / 1696 10th Cavalry Division - Baron Chastel 12 squadrons (4 regiments): 138 / 1266 1 company of artillery (6 guns) 4 / 141 Total: 142/ 1407 Corps Strength: 289 / 3103 *Corps Strength 25.06.1815: 288 / 3037 *The Waterloo retums for II Cavalry Corps are incomplete. Details for individual regiments within the Corps are unavailable. An estimate of casualties suffered in Belgium would be approximately 400 officers and men, which indicates that several 4th squadrons joined their regiments during the retreat before the compilation of returns at Laon between 23rd and 25th June 1815. NOTE: This article about the life of Exelmans is an extract from Volume 2: Delort-Flahaut, The Generals of the 1815 Campaign by Tony Linck. Reproduction is by kind permission of Castle Books and Publishers, 6 Bank St., Castletown, Isle of Man. Volumes 1 and 2 are available direct for £ 7.95 plus £ 1.05 postage and packing. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #7 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com