General Jean Ambroise Baston de Lariboisière

Artillery officer who befriended Napoleon before the French Revolution and later commanded the artillery of the Grande Armée

By Nathan D. Jensen

Born: August 18, 1759

Place of Birth: Fougères, Ille-et-Vilaine, France

Died: December 21, 1812

Cause of Death: Illness

Place of Death: Koenigsberg, Prussia

Arc de Triomphe: LARIBOISSIERE on the east pillar

Pronunciation:

Jean Ambroise Baston de Lariboisière was a career artillery soldier who was commissioned as a lieutenant in the artillery regiment of La Fère in 1781. While there, he met a young artillery officer, Napoleon Bonaparte, and befriended him. Once the French Revolution got underway, in 1791 Lariboisière was promoted to capitaine and the following year he served in the Army of Vosges under General Custine. In 1793 he was promoted to chef de bataillon and he became deputy director of the artillery park of Mainz, and after the surrender of Mainz he was taken as a prisoner of war.

Finally released and returned to France, Lariboisière became the deputy director of the artillery at Landau at the end of 1794. In 1795 he became the director of the artillery park of the Army of the Rhine and in 1796 he was promoted to chef de brigade. In 1797 Lariboisière became deputy director of artillery at Caen and then in 1798 and 1799 he went on to serve as director of the artillery park of the Army of Switzerland and then the Army of the Danube. In 1800 he joined the Army of the Rhine and became the director of artillery at Strasbourg.

During the years of peace that followed, Lariboisière was promoted to général de brigade in 1803 and then in 1804 he took command of the artillery school of Strasbourg. In 1805 he commanded the artillery of the camp at Bruges and when the Grande Armée marched to war that year he assumed command of the artillery of Marshal Soult's IV corps. That November Lariboisière became director general of the artillery parks of the Grande Armée and then in December he served at the Battle of Austerlitz. For the campaign against Prussia in 1806, he served at Jena in October and then at Lübeck in November where he was lightly wounded. At the start of 1807 Lariboisière was promoted to général de division and then made commander-in-chief of the artillery of the Imperial Guard. In this position he fought at Eylau and afterwards he was sent to X Corps to command the artillery at the Siege of Danzig . That May he was wounded at Danzig and in June he became a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. For the forthcoming peace negotiations, Lariboisière supervised the construction of the raft used for the negotiations of the Treaty of Tilsit. Later he was rewarded as a Knight of the Order of Saint Henry of Saxony and a Commander of the Military Order of Baden.

In February of 1808 Lariboisière took command of the artillery of the Army of Spain. Later that year he was named a Count of the Empire and he went on to serve at Somosierra and Madrid. The next year Lariboisière was given the Grand Cross of the Iron Crown and recalled to Paris. After a brief stay in Paris, he took command of the artillery park of the Army of Germany for the Danube campaign of 1809. When General Lauriston was absent, Lariboisière took command of the Artillery of the Guard and then in June he replaced Songis as commander-in-chief of the artillery. At the end of the year, he returned to Paris and took command of the artillery of the Imperial Guard.

In 1811 Lariboisière became inspector general of artillery and the following year he was appointed commander-in-chief of the artillery of the Grande Armée. Taking part in the campaign against Russia, he served at Smolensk and Borodino and then later during the retreat he prepared Smolensk for defense. Lariboisière continued to serve despite the harsh conditions and he fought at Krasnoe before finally contracting typhus at Wilna. Exhausted by the retreat, he succumbed to the disease not long thereafter.

Bibliography

External Links:

Monuments to Lariboisière

Updated February 2022