Charles Pichegru

Born

16 February 1761

Died

5 April 1804

The son of a farming family from Arbois in the Jura, Jean-Charles Pichegru received his education from the Minims and became a mathematics répétiteur at the military school of Brienne before entering the artillery. He had risen through the non-commissioned ranks by the beginning of the Revolution. In February 1794 he was appointed commander of the Army of the North and led the French advance into the Dutch Republic during the winter of 1794–95. His army crossed the frozen Waal in January 1795 and occupied the principal Dutch cities, while detachments sent towards Den Helder secured the surrender of Dutch warships immobilised by the ice.

In Paris on 1 April 1795, Pichegru was temporarily placed in command of the forces defending the Convention during the Germinal rising. The crowds that had invaded the Convention were dispersed without major bloodshed, although the episode was followed by arrests and political repression directed against former Montagnards and other opponents of the Thermidorian majority.

By August 1795 Pichegru had entered into secret negotiations with agents acting for the prince de Condé concerning a possible Bourbon restoration. These contacts are well documented. The extent to which his subsequent military conduct on the Rhine was deliberately shaped by his royalist commitments is less certain, although his operations increasingly attracted suspicion and criticism.

Elected by the Jura to the Council of Five Hundred in 1797, Pichegru became one of the leading figures of the parliamentary right and served briefly as president of the Council. He was arrested during the coup of 18 Fructidor [4 September 1797] and deported to Guiana. After escaping in 1798, he eventually settled in Britain and became involved with royalist émigré circles.

Pichegru returned secretly to France in 1804 and participated with Georges Cadoudal and others in a conspiracy against Bonaparte, including attempts to enlist General Moreau. Arrested in February, he was imprisoned in the Temple and found strangled in his cell on 6 April. The authorities declared his death a suicide.

Related peopleGenerals & Army

Jean-Baptiste Annibal Aubert du Bayet

General Pierre Augereau

Michel de Beaupuy All in this faction →

Articles about

General Charles Pichegru

No articles about this figure yet.

Browse all articles →