Beurnonville, Pierre De Ruel
BEURNONVILLE, PIERRE DE RUEL, Marquis de (1752-1821), French general. After service in the colonies, he married a wealthy Creole, and returning to France purchased the post of lieutenant of the Swiss guard of the count of Provence. During the Revolution he was named lieutenant-general, and took an active part in the battles of Valmy and Jemmapes. Minister of war in February 1793, he denounced his old commander, C.F. Dumouriez, to the Convention, and was one of the four deputies sent to watch him. Given over by him to the Austrians on the 3rd of April 1793, Beurnonville was not exchanged until November 1795. He entered the service again, commanded the armies of the Sambre-et-Meuse and of the North, and was appointed inspector of infantry of the army of England in 1798. In 1800 he was sent as ambassador to Berlin, in 1802 to Madrid. Napoleon made him a senator and count of the empire. In 1814 he was a member of the provisional government organized after the abdication of Napoleon, and was created a peer of France. During the Hundred Days he followed Louis XVIII. to Ghent, and after the second restoration was made marquis and marshal of France.
See A. Chaquet, Les Guerres de la Révolution (Paris, 1886).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
