GOURGAND, gooigiie, Gaspard, BARON DE, French general : b. Versailles, 14 Sept. 1783; d. 25 July 1852. Entering the army as lieutenant of artillery in 1802, he distinguished himself in several important battles, and in the battle of Brienne saved Napoleon's life from the Cos sacks. He subsequently became Napoleon's adjutant, and as his confidential secretary ac companied him to Saint Helena, but for vari ous political reasons left him in 1818. He was subsequently aide-de-camp to Louis Philippe and became a member of the House of Peers in 1841. In the previous year he was made one of the commission appointed to bring the re mains of Napoleon from Saint Helena to France. He was passionately devoted to Na poleon and unreasonably jealous of those who attended upon the emperor in his exile. He assisted Napoleon in writing his and was the author of campagne de 1815) ; (Mernoires pour servir a l'histoire de France sous Napoleon' (1822-23) ; de la vie de Napoleon par Sir Walter Scott' (1827) ; and a remarkable journal kept during his stay at Saint Helena, but which remained in MSS.
till 1898. An English translation of selections from the journal by Mrs. Elizabeth Latimer (q.v.) appeared in 1903. The work is exceed ingly prolix, but of great value, since it records with the minuteness of Pepys, or the precision of Boswell, the incidents of daily life and the conversations of the fallen emperor. In no other work can the personal side of Napoleon be so well studied as in Gourgand's journal. An entire chapter is given to the emperor's criticisms on his own action at Waterloo, and of equal interest are his judgments concerning other great commanders from Caesar's times to his own. His opinions regarding English char acter are essentially French in their character and amusing from their entire misconception of it. But in this journal we are shown Napoleon's conversation on almost every conceivable sub ject, insignificant or important, and always with the frankest egotism.