1. Pierre Cambronne joined the Grenadiers as a volunteer in 1792, serving under Charles Francois Dumouriez in Belgium, in the Vendee, took part in the battle of Quiberon, then in the expedition to Ireland under Hoche in 1796.
14 Facts About Pierre Cambronne
1. 2.
Pierre Cambronne then joined the Army of the Alps under Andre Massena, where he was promoted to command of a grenadier company at the Battle of Zurich.
3.
Pierre Cambronne was made a Colonel at the Battle of Jena in 1806, given command of the 3rd Regiment of the Voltigeurs of the Guard in 1810, and was made a Baron the same year.
4.
Pierre Cambronne then fought in Spain, then joined La Grande Armee.
5.
Pierre Cambronne became major of the Imperial Guard in 1814, and accompanied Napoleon into exile to the island of Elba, where he was a military commander.
6.
Pierre Cambronne then returned with Napoleon to France on 1 March 1815 for the Hundred Days, capturing the fortress of Sisteron, and was made a Count by Napoleon when they arrived at Paris.
7.
Pierre Cambronne was seriously wounded at the Battle of Waterloo and was taken prisoner by the British.
8.
Pierre Cambronne subsequently married the nurse who cared for him.
9.
At the battle's conclusion, Pierre Cambronne was commanding the last carre of the Old Guard when General Colville called on him to surrender.
10.
The name Pierre Cambronne was later used as a polite euphemism and sometimes even as a verb, "cambronniser".
11.
Pierre Cambronne always denied both Rougement's account and the one-word response, stating that he could not have said such a thing and remained alive.
12.
In July 1845 the sons of General Michel requested a royal decree stating that the words attributed to General Pierre Cambronne had in fact been said by their father, producing a number of witnesses and published historical works as evidence.
13.
Pierre Cambronne later married Mary Osburn, the Scottish nurse who had cared for him after Waterloo.
14.
Pierre Cambronne retired to his birthplace in 1823, dying there in 1842.