OUDINOT, Charles Nicolas (1767-1847), duke of Reggio, one of the most distinguished of Napoleon’s marshals, came of a good bourgeois family in Lorraine, and was born at Bar-le-duc on April 25, 1767. From his youth he had a passion for a military career, and served in the regiment of Médoc from 1784 to 1787, when he retired with the rank of sergeant, and the knowledge that as a bourgeois he could never obtain a commission. The Revolution changed his fortunes, and in 1792, on the outbreak of war, he was elected lieutenant-colonel of the 3d battalion of the volunteers of the Meuse. His gallant defence of the little fort of Bitche in the Vosges in 1792 drew attention to him; he was transferred to the regular army in November 1793, and after serving in all the numerous actions on the Belgian frontier he was promoted general of brigade in June 1794 for his conduct at the battle of Kaiserslautern. He continued to serve with the greatest distinction on the German frontier under Hoche, Pichegru, and Moreau, and was repeatedly wounded and once (in 1795) made prisoner. He was Masséna’s right hand all through the great Swiss campaign of 1799—first as a general of division, to which grade he was promoted in April, and then as chief of the staff—and was instrumental in winning the battle of Zurich. He was present under Masséna at the defence of Genoa, and so distinguished himself at the combat of Monzambano that Napoleon presented him with a sword of honour. On the declaration of the empire he was given the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, but was not included in the first creation of marshals. In the same year he received the command of ten battalions of the army of the reserve, which he formed into the famous division of the “grenadiers Oudinot,” and with which ...