Claude Lecourbe

Claude-Jacques Lecourbe, lieutenant-colonel of the 7th Jura Battalion, by Esprit-Aimé Libour (1834)

Lecourbe was born in Besançon, Burgundy, on 22 February 1759, the son of Claude Guillaume Lecourbe, a cavalry officer, and Marie Valette.[1] After studying at Poligny and Lons-le-Saunier, in 1777 he enlisted in the Aquitaine Regiment,[1] where he served for eight years. In August 1789, at the start of the French Revolution, Lecourbe became the commander of the National Guard of Ruffey-sur-Seille.[1] Two years later he was appointed captain in the 7th volunteer battalion of Jura, being promoted to chief of battalion in November 1791. As a lieutenant-colonel, Lecourbe took part in the capture of Porrentruy in April 1792,[1] and later served in the armies of the Rhine and of the North, distinguishing himself at the Battle of Fleurus in 1794.

Having been promoted to general of brigade in 1794, in 1799 Lecourbe was made a general of division and given a command in the Army of Helvetia under General André Masséna.[1] He fought against Alexander Suvorov in Switzerland, where his actions at the Battle of Gotthard Pass delayed the Russian advance and contributed to the French victory at Zürich. Lecourbe's friendship with General Jean-Victor Moreau and his vocal defense of Moreau in the process of Georges Cadoudal brought on the enmity of Napoleon Bonaparte, which forced his retirement in 1805. After Napoleon's abdication he was made a count by King Louis XVIII. The count of Artois recalled Lecourbe to active duty in February 1815 and made him inspector-general of the 6th military Division with headquarters in Besançon.

Upon Napoleon's return from exile on Elba, Lecourbe offered him his services and during the Hundred Days he commanded the Army of the Jura (I Corps of Observation), operating in the Jura against Archduke Ferdinand. With an army of only 8,000 he held the city of Belfort for 15 days against the 40,000 Austrian troops of General Colloredo-Mansfeld, only agreeing a ceasefire on 11 July 1815, a feat which earned him a place of honour in French schoolbooks. After Louis's second restoration, Lecourbe retired and on 22 October 1815 he died in Belfort after a long illness.

A statue commemorating him stands in the Place de la Liberté in Lons-le-Saunier, where a street is also named after him. Streets named in his honour can also be found in Paris and in Besançon. In Belfort a statue commemorates him as "The glorious defender of the city".

• Baradel, Y., et al. (1985). Histoire de Belfort. Roanne le Coteau: Horvath 1985. (p. 207ff).
• Clausewitz, Carl von (2020). Napoleon Absent, Coalition Ascendant: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 1. Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-3025-7
• Clausewitz, Carl von (2021). The Coalition Crumbles, Napoleon Returns: The 1799 Campaign in Italy and Switzerland, Volume 2. Trans and ed. Nicholas Murray and Christopher Pringle. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-3034-9
• Mullié, C. (1851). Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850. Paris: Poignavant