Desgraviers was born on 1 March 1769 in Chartres, in the province of Orléanais, the son of a prosecutor. In December 1785, at the age of 16, he enlisted in the Angoulême Infantry Regiment, which later became the 34th Infantry Regiment of the French Army. While on furlough in Paris, Marceau participated in the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789.[1] After that event he took his discharge from the regular army and returned to Chartres, but the opposition of his family soon compelled him to seek new military employment.[2]
In July 1792, Marceau was appointed captain of the Revolutionary Army's 2nd Battalion of Volunteers of Eure-et-Loir.[1] He took part in the defence of Verdun later in the year, and it was his troop that was ordered to bear the proposals of capitulation to the Prussian camp. The defenders' lack of morale provoked the anger of the revolutionary authorities, and Marceau was fortunate to find re-employment as a captain in the regular service. However, early in 1793, he along with other officers under suspicion was arrested and imprisoned for a period.[3]
Vendée
On his release, Marceau hurried to take part in the defence of Saumur against the Vendéean Royalists, distinguishing himself at the Battle of Saumur on 10 June 1793 by rescuing the representative Pierre Bourbotte from the hands of the insurgents. The National Convention voted him the thanks of the country and he received rapid promotion. His conduct at the Battle of Chantonnay on 5 September 1793 won him the provisional rank of general of brigade. On 17 October, he bore a great part in the victory at the Battle of Cholet, and on began his friendship with Jean Baptiste Kléber while on the field of battle.[3]
Kléber was made a general of division, and Marceau confirmed as general of brigade. Marceau in turn became a général de division on 10 November; then succeeded to the commander-in-chiefad interim. With Kléber, he crushed the Vendean rebels at the Battle of Le Mans on 12–13 December and at the Battle of Savenay on 23 December 1793.
In the wake of Le Mans, Marceau had rescued and protected a young Royalist lady, Angélique des Mesliers, with whom it has been supposed Marceau fell in love – however, even his help could not save her from the guillotine.[3]
He and Kléber themselves were saved from arrest and execution only by the intervention of Bourbotte. Around this time Marceau became engaged to Agathe Leprêtre de Châteaugiron, but the marriage was prevented by his constant military employment, his broken health and the opposition of both Auguste-Félicité Le Prestre de Châteaugiron and Marceau's devoted half-sister Emira, wife of the Republican politician Antoine Joseph Sergent.[3]
Battles of 1795–96
After spending the winter of 1793–94 in Paris, Marceau accepted a command in the army under Jean-Baptiste Jourdan alongside Kléber and took part in the various battles near Charleroi. During the battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794 he had a horse shot from under him. He distinguished himself at Jülich, at Aldenhoven and at Koblenz, where he stormed the enemy lines on 23 October.[3]
He became a close companion of Jean Baptiste Bernadotte and they shared many victories, often working together as an effective duo. At Neuwied he held Kléber and Bernadotte's rear, going so far as to threaten to "shoot himself from mortification" if his men were to fail to hold. It was effective, and the retreat was successful.[4]
Death
Tomb of Desgraviers-Marceau in KoblenzTomb of Desgraviers-Marceau in the Panthéon, Paris
After Jourdan and Jean Victor Marie Moreau's Rhine Campaign of 1796 ended in defeat, Marceau's men covered Jourdan's retreat over the Rhine. Marceau fought in the desperate Battle of Limburg on the Lahn River (16–19 September 1796). While conducting a successful rear guard action near Altenkirchen on 19 September, he received a mortal wound. He died two days later in the early morning, aged only twenty-seven.[3]
The Austrians competed with Marceau's own countrymen to honour the dead general. His body was burned and the ashes placed under a pyramid in Koblenz designed by Kléber. They were transferred to the Panthéon in 1889.[3]
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