Auguste-Jean-Gabriel de Caulaincourt

Auguste-Jean-Gabriel, comte de Caulaincourt (born 16 September 1777 in Caulaincourt, Aisne -† 7 September 1812 at the battle of Borodino) was a French cavalry commander who rose to the rank of general during the First French Empire. He was the son of French general and senator Gabriel-Louis de Caulaincourt and younger brother of general and diplomat Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt.[1]

Auguste-Jean-Gabriel de Caulaincourt
General Count Auguste de Caulaincourt
Born(1777-09-16)16 September 1777
Caulaincourt, Aisne (France)
Died7 September 1812(1812-09-07) (aged 34)
close to Borodino (Russia)
Allegiance France
RankGeneral of Division
Battles/warsFrench Revolutionary Wars,
Napoleonic Wars
AwardsCount of the Empire
Relationsson of Gabriel-Louis de Caulaincourt
brother of Armand Augustin Louis de Caulaincourt

Revolutionary Wars

Following his older brother's footsteps, Auguste-Jean-Gabriel de Caulaincourt joined the army and, like his brother, became aide-de-camp to general d'Aubert Dubayet, in 1795. He was employed in the Armée du Rhin and subsequently served under general Masséna in the Switzerland campaign. Just after the battle of Zürich Masséna promoted him to the rank of chef d'escadron (squadron commander).[1]

Napoleonic Wars

In 1804 Caulaincourt was appointed aide-de-camp to Louis Bonaparte, with the rank of chef de brigade (colonel) of a dragoon brigade. The next year he fought at the battle of Austerlitz and in 1806 he resumed his duties as aide-de-camp to Louis Bonaparte, who had become King of Holland. Louis also named him Grand Ecuyer ("Master of the Horse"), major-general, and Holland's plenipotentiary in the Kingdom of Naples. In 1808 Caulaincourt rejoined the French Army and was made général de brigade (brigadier general) and a baron of the Empire, just before being sent to fight in Spain. There he took Cuenca (3 July 1808) and fought in several other skirmishes which brought him the rank of général de division (general of division) and the command of all dragoon regiments in Spain. In 1810 he was back in France and was a part of the second Grande Armée that Napoleon I assembled with the purpose of invading Russia. Caulaincourt was killed at the battle of Borodino by a cannonball during the French assault of the great redoubt.

Sources
  1. Fierro, Alfredo; Palluel-Guillard, André; Tulard, Jean - "Histoire et Dictionnaire du Consulat et de l'Empire”, Éditions Robert Laffont, ISBN 2-221-05858-5, p. 600.
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