Berthier: Jean-Baptiste Milhaud

Command Ratings

Division

4"G(7)+1

Points: 15

Cavalry or Temp Corps

6"G(6)+1

Points: 22

Corps

9"G(6)+1

Points: 28

Small Army

10"G(6)+1

Points: 40

Wing

11"G(6)+1

Points: 43

Medium Army

13"G(6)+1

Points: 49

Large Army

19"G(6)+1

Points: 67

Supreme HQ

27"G(6)+1

Points: 91

Commands

Commands the First Dragoon Division of Cavalry Reserve at Eylau (1807, age 41)
Commands the Second Dragoon Division of French Army at Talavera (1809, age 43)
Commands the Cavalry Division Milhaud of French Army at Ocaña (1809, age 43)
Commands the IV Cavalry Corps of Armée du Nord at Waterloo (1815, age 49)

Jean-Baptiste (also Édouard) Milhaud was a French officer of cavalry who rose to the rank of général de division during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, and who also served as a deputy to the National Convention. He was born at Arpajon-sur-Cère (Cantal) in 1766 and died at Aurillac on 8 January 1833.

Milhaud entered service before the Revolution and held early commissions in the late 1780s and early 1790s. In September 1792 he was elected deputy for the Cantal to the National Convention (mandate 1792–1795). During the Revolution he was repeatedly employed as a représentant en mission attached to armies in the field, and he voted for the execution of Louis XVI.

After the Convention he returned to regular military employment and served under the Directory and Consulate, including in Italy. He supported the change of regime of 18 Brumaire and continued in active cavalry service under the Consulate, receiving promotion to général de brigade in 1800.

Under the Empire Milhaud held successive cavalry commands and was promoted général de division during the 1806–1807 campaigning. He served in the Peninsular War as commander of a cavalry division and is associated with Major operations in Spain, including the 1809 campaign that culminated in the Spanish defeat at Ocaña. In the later imperial wars he served in the 1812, 1813, and 1814 campaigns, and in 1814 he was employed as an inspector-general of cavalry.

During the Cent-Jours he rallied to Napoleon and in 1815 commanded the IV Cavalry Corps, composed largely of cuirassier divisions, in the campaign in Belgium. His corps was engaged at Ligny and at Waterloo during the general cavalry assaults against the Allied centre.

After the Second Restoration Milhaud, as a former régicide, was banished from France and lived in exile until political change permitted his return. Under the July Monarchy he was restored to the army lists and retired from active service in 1831. He held the title comte de l’Empire and advanced within the Légion d’honneur. His name appears among those inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe.

Sources

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Milhaud (Charles Verhulst, 1808)

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Milhaud as a Convention deputy in uniform, painting dated 1793

Arc de Triomphe inscription panel including the name “MILHAUD”

X rank 1/5/00; X 05-06 – W, Austerlitz; XX rank 12/30/06; XX 07 Eylau; XX 08-12 Spain – Talavera, Almonacid, Ocana, W; XX & XXX (Temp.) 13-14 Dresden, Zietz, Leipzig, Hanau, W, Fere-Champenoise; XXX 15 Waterloo. (1766-1833)

Pictures

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