LEIKEUF, EDMOND, b. at Paris in 1809; educated in the polytechnic school of Paris; a graduate of the artillery school of Metz, and soon after capt. in the army of Africa. In 1854 he was chief of artillery in the Crimea, was made gen. of brigade, and was then charged with the French part of the siege works at Sebastopol. In 1856 he was attached to the Russian embassy; in 1858 made gen. of division; in 1859 commander-in-chief of artillery. At this time lie made the experiments with rifled cannon which contributed to the victory of Solferino. In 1864 lie was president of the artillery commission. In 1866 lie was sent commissioner to Venice to receive from Austria the cession of 1 enetia to Italy; in 1868 commander of the camp at Chalons; and in 1869 head of the 6th army corps at Toulouse. In Aug. of the same year lie became minister of war; resigned with. his colleagues Dec. 27; in Jan., 1870, was made marshal of France. In April of that year he was called before a committee of the French legislative assembly to state time con dition of the French army, when he said " We are ready: so ready that the war may last two years without our having need to buy so much as a gaiter button." When the
war with Prussia opened in July, Lebceuf was made maj.gen. of the army of the Rhine: The reverses of the French army at the beginning of the war caused a reaction of public opinion against him, and he was charged with incapacity, deprived of his command as maj.gen., and placed under gen. Bazaine. On Aug. 14 he was put in command of the 3d corps, plunged it into sanguinary battles with more desperation than skill, and was, with his corps, a part of the force obliged to surrender after the capitulation of Bazaine. Summoned, in 1871, before the committee to investigate the conduct of the war, ha reiterated his belief in the proper condition of the army in the beginning, and gave the most damaging testimony us to the conduct of Bazaine.