Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Baron Gourgaud Gaspard

GOURGAUD, Gaspard, Baron (1783-1852), a French general of artillery, was born at Versailles, 14th September 1783. After studying at the polytechnic school and at the artillery school of Chalons, he joined the artillery in 1802, and, having acquitted himself with distinction in several campaigns, he received in 1807 the cross of honour and the grade of captain. He served in the subsequent Spanish and Austrian campaigns, and in 1811 he was sent to report on the strength of the fortifications of Dantzic, a mission which lie fulfilled so much to the satisfaction of Napoleon that he was named one of the emperor s ordnance officers. During the Russian campaign he was the first to enter the Kremlin at Moscow, where he removed the match from a large quantity of powder the explosion of which would in all pro bability have destroyed the emperor s life. For this service he received the title of baron. He accompanied the em peror in his subsequent campaigns, and in 1814, at the battle of Brienne, was again successful in delivering him f ro:ri imminent peril. After the accession of Louis XVIII. he was named chief of the staff of the first artillery division, bat on the return of Napoleon from Elba he was neverthe less named by him adjutant and general, and took part in the battle of Waterloo. Being one of the three French officers chosen by Napoleon to accompany him to St Helen;), he was employed thera in collecting materials for a history of Napoleon s campaigns, but on account of some misunder standing with Montholon, he left the island, and went to England. He published in 1818 La Campagne de 1815, and he also endeavoured to interest the emperors of Russia and Austria in Napoleon s behalf. Shortly afterwards he was expelled from England as a spy of Napoleon s. Return ing to France in 1821, he published, along with Montholon, in 1823, Mernoires de Napoleon a Sainte-IIelene. His re ply in 1825 to Segur s Histoire de la Grande Armee was the occasion of a duel between the two authors ; and he also, in 1827, became involved in a controversy with Sir Walter Scott regarding some statements made by the latter in his life of Napoleon. After the July revolution of 1830, Gourgaud was appointed to the command of the artillery of Paris and Vincennes ; in 1832 he was named aide-de-camp of the king, and in 1835 lieutenant-general. In 1840 he was one of the commissioners sent to bring the remains of Napoleon to France. On the occurrence of the revolution of February 1848 his name was struck off the list of generals, but after the events of the following June he was chosen colonel of the first legion of the national guard of Paris. In 1849 he was elected representative of the legisla tive assembly for the department of Deux-Sevres. He died 25th July 1852.