Joseph Jean-Baptiste Albert (1771-1822)

Joseph Jean-Baptiste Albert (born 28 August 1771 at Guillestre, Hautes-Alpes; died 7 September 1822 at Offenbach-sur-le-Main), created baron de l’Empire, was a French infantry officer of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars who rose from volunteer service to général de division after long employment in field commands that ranged from brigade leadership in the 1807 Polish campaign to divisional command in the 1813 German campaign, and finally to senior employment on the Rhine in 1815. In several sources his Revolutionary-era name appears as Albert-Court, reflecting the convention—especially common among volunteer units—of adopting or appending an additional family identifier in early service.

Albert entered the army on 1 December 1791 as a volunteer in the 1st Battalion of Volunteers of the Hautes-Alpes. On 14 December 1791 he was elected Lieutenant of the 7th company by his comrades. He served first with forces operating in the Alpine and Pyrenean theatres; French and German biographical summaries agree that he distinguished himself in the Pyrenean operations against Spain, receiving formal marks of recognition including weapons of honor (a sabre and pistols). In the aftermath of these campaigns, he was selected to present captured enemy flags to the Directory, a task typically entrusted to officers noted for conduct under fire and for reliability.

By the late 1790s Albert had moved into staff and aide-de-camp employment. He entered the staff of the camp at Brest in 1799 and became aide-de-camp to General Pierre Augereau, a relationship that shaped his imperial-war service. His record then shows repeated movement with Augereau’s command sphere: in 1800–1801 he served with the French–Dutch army, and by the end of 1801 he had been promoted to chef de brigade. During the peace interval he served at the camp of Bayonne, and in 1804 he became deputy chief of staff of the camp of Brest. By 1805 he was Augereau’s premier aide-de-camp and accompanied him into the Grande Armée.

In the 1805–1806 campaigns Albert served in the corps commanded by Augereau—VII Corps in the later standardized numbering—during the operations that led to Austerlitz (2 December 1805) and Jena (14 October 1806). While the surviving summaries do not consistently attach a particular regimental or brigade command to him for the 1805 battles, they place him with Augereau’s headquarters and corps staff. In December 1806, during the winter fighting in Poland, he is credited with conspicuous conduct at Golymin (26 December 1806), where French formations fought severe rearguard and meeting engagements in difficult ground and weather.

Albert’s first general officer promotion came in the Polish campaign. He was promoted général de brigade on 12 January 1807. In the operations around Eylau he commanded an infantry brigade within Augereau’s VII Corps; an order-of-battle listing for Eylau places “général Joseph Jean-Baptiste Albert” commanding the 1st brigade of Desjardins’s division, composed of the 16th régiment d’infanterie légère (three battalions) and the 14th régiment d’infanterie de ligne (three battalions). At Eylau (7–8 February 1807) French narratives describe the VII Corps attack as one of the most punishing episodes of the battle, and Albert’s brigade command there fixed his reputation as a fighting infantry leader under extreme losses and confusion.

After Eylau he was employed under Marshal Lefebvre and, later, under Marshal Oudinot in the operations around the siege of Danzig (March–May 1807). In June 1807 he commanded a provisional grenadier brigade in Oudinot’s elite infantry division at Friedland (14 June 1807). The French order of battle for Friedland’s Reserve Corps lists him as général de brigade Albert, commanding the 4th brigade of Oudinot’s “Division d’Elite,” with the 7th and 8th Provisional Grenadier Regiments (each two battalions). This employment placed him among the senior brigade commanders in one of the most heavily used assault groupings of the battle, where the Reserve Corps fought in close coordination with Lannes’s forward corps to fix the Russian army and exploit the late-day concentration.

In 1809 Albert returned to field command on the Danube. A compiled imperial-career account places him in April 1809 commanding a brigade in Tharreau’s division, and lists his presence at Abensberg (20 April 1809) and Eckmühl (22 April 1809), followed by Aspern–Essling (21–22 May 1809) and Wagram (5–6 July 1809). The French Wikipedia biography likewise links him specifically with Essling and Wagram, and records the sequence of decorations that followed the 1809 campaign: on 31 May 1809 he received the grade of commandeur of the Légion d’honneur; on 24 August 1809 he received the Order of the Iron Crown; and he was created baron de l’Empire on 14 April 1810. These dates are repeated across multiple biographical summaries.

During the years 1810–1811 Albert served in territorial and military-division employments. In February 1812 he was elected to the Corps législatif by the arrondissement of Embrun but did not take his seat, and he returned to active field employment for the invasion of Russia. For the 1812 campaign he commanded the 1st brigade of Legrand’s 6th Division in Marshal Oudinot’s II Corps; a published corps organization list for II Corps in 1812 identifies “Joseph Jean-Baptiste Albert Brigade” within Legrand’s division, specifically associated with the 26th Light Infantry Regiment (four battalions). In the same campaign narrative, he is credited with notable conduct at Jakubowo (31 July 1812) and at the Berezina crossings (26–29 November 1812), where French accounts describe his brigade as among the first to pass a bridge and then to push back enemy pressure to widen the bridgehead.

Albert’s promotion to général de division is dated in the French Wikipedia biography to 21 November 1812, “on the battlefield,” during the retreat phase shortly before the Berezina. FrenchEmpire.net likewise states he was promoted five days before the Battle of the Berezina and that he was wounded during the crossing battle by a ball to the head. This promotion shifted him from brigade employment to divisional command just as the Grande Armée’s remnants were being reorganized and redistributed in the winter of 1812–1813.

In the 1813 German campaign Albert commanded a full infantry division. FrenchEmpire.net assigns him the 10th Division of Marshal Ney’s III Corps, and lists his participation at Bautzen (20–21 May 1813), followed by fighting at Haynau (Haynau/Chojnów) and Bunzlau (Bolesławiec). The French Wikipedia biography similarly connects him with Lützen, Bautzen, Katzbach, and Leipzig, and emphasizes a prolonged action on 19 August 1813 between Haynau and Bunzlau, where he resisted superior forces for several hours before retiring in good order. On 10 August 1813 he received the grade of Grand Officer of the Légion d’honneur, again a date repeated by French and German summaries.

After Leipzig (16–19 October 1813), FrenchEmpire.net states that Albert joined V Corps, then in December 1813 entered Marshal Macdonald’s XI Corps. In the 1814 defence of France he is cited at Châlons-sur-Marne (4 February 1814) and at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre (9 February 1814), actions on the Marne line during the rapid sequence of engagements that followed the allied advance and Napoleon’s counter-marches. With the First Restoration he was given command of the 19th military division at Lyon and was made a knight of the Order of Saint Louis.

In January 1815 he became aide-de-camp to the Duke of Orléans (Louis-Philippe). During the Hundred Days he escorted the duke to Lille and returned to Paris after the prince relinquished command. Napoleon then assigned Albert to the Army of the Rhine. FrenchEmpire.net states that he received command of the 16th Infantry Division and fought at the combats of Surbourg and Lampertheim in late June 1815, then participated in the defence of Strasbourg in July 1815. A separate compiled Russian-language biographical note provides the same sequence with explicit dates—25 June 1815 at Surbourg and 28 June 1815 at Lampertheim—within the V Corps of observation under General Jean Rapp, renamed Armée du Rhin on 16 April 1815. After the Second Restoration he returned to service as aide-de-camp to the Duke of Orléans, was placed within the organizational framework of the army general staff in October 1818, and died at Offenbach-sur-le-Main on 7 September 1822. His surname “ALBERT” is recorded among the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, listed on the east pillar (11th column) in several catalogues.

Sources

• Wikipedia (French): Joseph Jean-Baptiste Albert
• Wikipedia (English): Joseph Jean-Baptiste Albert
• FrenchEmpire.net: General Joseph Jean Baptiste Albert
• Wikipedia (English): Battle of Friedland order of battle
• 2nd Army Corps (France) (Wikipedia): Russian campaign (1812) organization excerpt
• Nomi incisi sotto l'Arco di Trionfo di Parigi (Wikipedia, Italian): Joseph Jean-Baptiste Albert entry
• fr-academic.com: Ordre de bataille lors de la bataille d’Eylau (VIIe corps, brigade Albert)
• Wikimedia Commons: Category: Joseph Jean-Baptiste Albert