MARCEAU, FRANcOIS SEVERIN DESGRAVIERS (1769-1796), French general, was born at Chartres on March 1, 1769. He studied law, but joined the army in 1785. He joined in the attack on the Bastille (July 14, 1789), and then took his discharge from the regular army. Later he joined the National Guard, and in March 1792 became lieutenant-colonel of a bat talion of the Eure-et-Loire, taking part in the defence of Ver dun in 1792. He was re-employed as captain in the regular service, but in 1793 was imprisoned for some time with other officers as a "suspect." On his release he fought at Saumur against the Vendeen royalists, and rescued Bourbotte (June io, 1793) from the insurgents. Marceau became general of division (Nov. lo), and with Kleber, who became his personal friend, won important victories near Le Mans (Dec. 12-13) and Savenay (Dec. 21), but after their retirement from the war they were only saved from arrest and execution by the intervention of Bourbotte. After spending the winter of in Paris, Mar
ceau took command in the army under Jourdan in which Kleber also served, and distinguished himself in the campaigns of 1794 and 1795. In the campaign of 1796 Marceau's men covered Jourdan's retreat over the Rhine. He fought the desperate ac tions on the Lahn (Sept. 16 and 18), and at Altenkirchen on Sept. 19 received a mortal wound, of which he died on the 21st. His body was burned, and his ashes, which at the time were placed under a pyramid designed by Kleber, were transferred in 1889 to the Pantheon at Paris.