Louis Jean Nicolas Abbé (1764-1834)

Louis Jean Nicolas Abbé was born on 28 August 1764 at Trépail (Marne) and entered military service on 14 April 1784 in the Régiment de Barrois. By 29 April 1792 he had reached the rank of sergent-major. In 1792 he served with the armée des Alpes. Transferred to the armée d’Italie, he took part in operations in 1793 and was promoted sous-lieutenant in September 1793. During this early Italian service he was engaged at the affair of Limone, where he was wounded.

Promoted lieutenant in Year IV of the Revolutionary calendar, Abbé was again employed in northern Italy and distinguished himself in a sequence of actions in 1796: the passage of the Mincio on 20 Thermidor, the capture of Governolo, and the combat of Castellaro, where he was wounded a second time. On 5 December 1798 he conducted a surprise seizure of Novara in Piedmont by a coup de main he proposed and executed with a small party of grenadiers concealed in carriages; once inside the gate, he rushed the guard, seized weapons, and took prisoners, enabling General Victor’s following force to occupy the town and compel the garrison to lay down arms. In the aftermath of the Novara operation, the Directoire exécutif appointed him captain in the 8e dragons on 23 December 1798. Sent to Paris with captured flags, he was appointed chef d’escadron and received honor weapons.

Abbé became aide-de-camp to General Charles Victor Emmanuel Leclerc and accompanied him with the armée du Rhin in Year VII and with the armée du Midi in Year IX. He then followed Leclerc on the Saint-Domingue expedition, where he carried out functions as chef de brigade. Returned to France, he was confirmed in that grade and given command in Corsica of the 23e demi-brigade d’infanterie légère. He was admitted to the Légion d’honneur (as later sources record, first as légionnaire and then advanced in grade), and he served with formations in Italy in the campaigns from Year XIV through 1809.

In the Italian and southern Italian operations of the mid-1800s he commanded the 23e léger (later described as the 23e Régiment d’infanterie légère) and is recorded in multiple sources as present in a series of engagements. In 1805 he led his regiment at Caldiero. In 1806 he was in the Kingdom of Naples campaign and fought at Campo Tenese, and then in Calabria he fought at Maida and at Amantea. On 4 July 1806, at Sainte-Euphémie in Calabria, he supported and covered the French retirement, an action credited in later biographical compilations as the basis for his advancement; he was promoted général de Brigade on 1 March 1807. Still in southern Italy, on 28 May 1807 he participated in the battle of Mileto, where French forces under Reynier defeated Anglo-Sicilian troops, and he is also credited with taking part in the capture of the fort of Scylla. His advancement within the Légion d’honneur continued, and he received the grade of commandant in October 1808.

In 1809 Abbé, commanding a brigade, served in the northern Italian and Danube theatre operations against Austria. He fought at Sacile (16 April 1809) and during the actions at Caldiero (27–30 April 1809). He was engaged at the battle of the Piave (8 May 1809) and at Tarvis (16–17 May 1809). The same year he was present at Raab (14 June 1809) and then at Wagram (5–6 July 1809), bringing his brigade onto the battlefield during the climactic fighting. In this period he was also associated in French biographical tradition with forcing a bridge passage in the Tarvis area. He was created baron de l’Empire by decree of 30 October 1810.

Transferred in 1810 to the Iberian theatre, Abbé served in the IIIe corps under Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet and was employed in operations in Catalonia and Aragon. He cooperated in the siege and capture of Lérida (May 1810). On 8 July 1810, at the head of about 1,800 men, he defeated a larger Spanish force under Enrique José O’Donnell. Later in 1810 he took part in the siege of Tortosa (December 1810), which ended with the fortress’s capitulation to Suchet. In 1811 he supported Suchet in the siege of Tarragona (May–June 1811). In late July 1811 he was responsible for the storming of the Montserrat massif and the monastery complex situated there, an operation treated in later summaries as a distinct assault. On 31 July 1811 he was promoted général de division.

After his promotion Abbé served in Navarre under Honoré-Charles Reille, with responsibilities connected to holding communications and combating insurgent forces. In the Roncal valley he defeated Francisco Espoz y Mina on 22 August 1812, and further encounters with Mina’s forces are recorded in general terms for the following months while Abbé remained assigned in Navarre.

Following the French defeat at Vitoria (21 June 1813) and the subsequent retreat from Spain, Abbé returned into France and entered Soult’s army in the western Pyrenees. He commanded the 3rd division under Marshal Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult during the frontier fighting and the defensive battles in the southwest. In 1813 he was present for the combat on the Bidassoa (7 October 1813). He then fought in the battle of Nivelle (10 November 1813). In December 1813 he was engaged in the battle of the Nive (9–13 December 1813), including fighting around Saint-Pierre-d’Irube in the Bayonne area.

During the winter and spring of 1813–1814, Abbé’s division was involved in the defense of Bayonne while the place was blockaded by Allied forces. He served under the garrison commander Pierre Thouvenot. On Thouvenot’s orders, Abbé participated in and commanded a major component of the sortie from Bayonne on 14 April 1814, the Battle of Bayonne, in which French forces struck the besieging lines in a large night and dawn attack that produced heavy casualties on both sides.

After the first Bourbon restoration, Abbé adhered to the new government and was made chevalier of the ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis on 19 July 1814. On 15 January 1815 he received command of the 2e subdivision of the 8e division militaire at Toulon. When Napoleon returned from Elba, Abbé learned of the landing on 2 March 1815 and took measures at Toulon to maintain order, communicating with higher authority at Marseille; in early April he was briefly arrested at Cannes and then released. On 23 April 1815 he was ordered to Belfort to take command of the 18e division militaire under General Claude Jacques Lecourbe.

In the closing operations on the eastern frontier in 1815, Abbé commanded troops against Austrian forces. He fought the Austrians near Dannemarie on 27 June 1815 and then withdrew toward Belfort, continuing to contest positions on the approaches. He fought again on 29 June 1815 at Foussemagne. After the second restoration he was placed out of activity and retired from active service, with retirement dated in administrative summaries to 1816.

Abbé later held posts in the early 1830s; he commanded the garde nationale at Châlons in 1830 but relinquished it due to infirmities, was placed in the cadre de réserve of the état-major général in 1831, and was again retired in 1832. He died at Châlons-sur-Marne on 9 April 1834. His surname ABBE is among the names engraved on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Sources

• Wikipedia (English): Louis Jean Nicolas Abbé
• Wikipedia (French): Louis Jean Nicolas Abbé
• Wikipedia (German): Louis Jean Nicolas Abbé
• FrenchEmpire.net: Jean Nicolas Louis Abbé (1764-1834)
• Wikipedia (English): Battle of Bayonne
• Wikipedia (French): 23e Régiment d'infanterie légère
• Wikipedia (French): Armorial des barons militaires de l'Empire (A-B)