Pierre Dominique Garnier
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FrancePierre Dominique Garnier | |
|---|---|
 Pierre Dominique Garnier by artist Francesco Pascucci | |
| Born | 19 December 1756 Marseille, France |
| Died | 11 May 1827 (aged 70) Nantes, France |
| Allegiance | France |
| Branch | Infantry |
| Rank | General of Division |
| Conflicts |
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| Awards | Légion d'Honneur, 1815 |
Pierre Dominique Garnier ((French pronunciation: [pjɛʁ dɔminik ɡaʁnje]; 19 December 1756 – 11 May 1827) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. He enlisted in the French royal army in 1773 and served in the French West Indies. At the outbreak of the French Revolution he left his career as an architect and joined the National Guard. Continuing in the army, he enjoyed rapid promotion while fighting in several theaters during the War of the First Coalition. As a general of brigade he fought at Toulon and was elevated to the rank of general of division. After fighting at Loano in late 1795, he found himself under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte for the Montenotte Campaign in April 1796. Bonaparte had little use for Garnier, however. Garnier saw action in Italy during the War of the Second Coalition in 1799 and 1800. During the Napoleonic Wars he held reserve or garrison commands and retired from the military in 1816. His surname is one of the 660 names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe.
Garnier was born in Marseille on 19 December 1756.[1] The son of an architect, he enlisted as a foot soldier in the French royal army in 1773 and later served in the French West Indies for eight years.[2] In 1784 he transferred to the Ile-de-France Dragoons and remained until 1788.[1] After briefly pursuing a career as an architect, he joined the Marseille National Guards in 1789. He was involved in the Assault on the Tuileries Palace on 10 August 1792. In this incident, the National Guards attacked the Swiss Guards and, after a sharp battle, massacred most of the survivors. Garnier fought in the Alps, on the Rhine, and in Italy.[3] He earned promotion to general of brigade on 12 September 1793.[4] He was responsible for suppressing the counter-revolution in the County of Nice. He participated in the attack on Mont Faron[1] during the Siege of Toulon in late 1793.[2]
Garnier received promotion to general of division on 20 December 1793[4] and returned to the Army of Italy in April 1794 where he may have fought at the Battle of Saorgio. He transferred to the Army of the Alps, where he served during most of 1795. However, he was back in the Army of Italy in November 1795 when he fought at the Battle of Loano. After a brief stint in the Army of the Alps,[5] he was back in the Army of Italy in the spring of 1796 when Napoleon Bonaparte arrived to assume command. The small divisions of Garnier and Francois Macquard defended the Col de Tende and were not in action during the Montenotte Campaign. After the French success, a messenger arrived from the north ordering Garnier and Macquard to join the rest of the army in Piedmont.[6]
At the time, Garnier's 3,426-man 6th Division (4th Division of the Corps de Bataille) included three battalions of the 20th Line Infantry Demi-Brigade and one battalion of the 7th Provisional Line Infantry Demi-Brigade. His three brigadiers were Jean Davin, Guilin Laurent Bizanet, and Joseph Colomb.[7] On 12 August 1796, Bonaparte wrote a letter to the French Directory, giving an assessment of his generals. His harsh opinion of Garnier, Jean-Baptiste Meynier, and Raphaël de Casabianca stated, "incapable; not fit to command a battalion in a war as active and serious as this one".[8]
