MenuGeneral Louis François Élie Pelletier Montmarie
Born: March 12, 1771
Place of Birth: Boury-en-Vexin, Oise, France
Died: February 17, 1854
Place of Death: Pontault-Combault, France
Arc de Triomphe: MONTMARIE, L. on the west pillar
Pronunciation:
The son of a farm manager, Louis François Élie Pelletier Montmarie joined the 81st Infantry as a sous-lieutenant in September of 1791. The following May he was promoted to lieutenant and that year he also began serving with the Army of the North. In April of 1793 Montmarie joined the 13th Dragoons. Two years later in 1795 he was promoted to capitaine and he began serving with the Army of the Rhine and Moselle. That June Montmarie was appointed an aide-de-camp to General Duverger and in November he was wounded at the Battle of the Pfrimm. His next major transition came in 1800 when he joined the Army of the Rhine.
After the years of relative peace, in 1805 Montmarie served with the Grande Armée against the Third Coalition. That September he was promoted to chef de bataillon and in November he was named an aide-de-camp to Marshal Lefebvre. Montmarie continued to serve throughout the campaigns of 1806 and 1807. In March of 1807 he was promoted to colonel and he took part in the Siege of Danzig , fighting at the action of Frische Nehrung.
In 1808 Montmarie followed Marshal Lefebvre to Spain and in 1809 he joined the army formed to fight off Austrian aggression. Taking part in the Danube campaign, he served at Abensberg and Eckmühl in April and then in May he was promoted to général de brigade and wounded by a shot while fighting in the Tyrol. At the end of October Montmarie was called back to Spain where in December he took command of a brigade of Reynier's division and then in January of 1810 he took command of a brigade in Loison's division. Serving with III Corps, he was named a Baron of the Empire in April. In July of 1810 Montmarie was serving under Suchet when he won at Morella and then provisioned the fort. Next in August he joined Musnier's division and in November he served at Vinaros. In 1811 Montmarie served at the Siege of Tarragona and he served with Habert's division. That October he fought at the Battle of Saguntum where he was wounded by five shots and then he went to fight at the Siege of Valencia where he successfully seized the San Vicente faubourg.
In 1814 as the French fell back from the Coalition forces, Montmarie was given command of Vitry-le-François. He evacuated his troops from there in February and afterwards he was placed with Charpentier's division in the Young Guard. In March Montmarie served at Laon and then a few days later he was placed with the 1st Division of the Old Guard. After Napoleon's abdication and the Bourbon Restoration, Montmarie was named a Knight of Saint Louis and a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. When Napoleon returned from exile in 1815 for the Hundred Days, Montmarie followed the Duke of Berry and King Louis XVIII into temporary exile.
Bibliography
- Divry, Arnauld. Les Noms Gravés sur l'Arc de Triomphe. Paris: L'Harmattan, 2017.
- Six, Georges. Dictionnaire Biographique des Généraux & Amiraux Français de la Révolution et de l'Empire (1792-1814). 2 vols. Paris: Gaston Saffroy, 2003.
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Updated July 2020
© Nathan D. Jensen