JOURDAN, JEAN-BAPTISTE, Marshal of the French empire, was born at Limegoe, ou the 2nd of April 1762. His father, a poor country surgeon, being able to afford him but Delimited education, Jourden took service in the French army sent to aid the Americans in the War of Independence, with which he continued to serve from 1778 to 1782. In that year he returned to France with shattered health; and, intending to renounce the career of a soldier, he in 1784 married a young milliner rather older than himself, and opened a haberdasher's shop in his native town. But at the outbreak of the revolution he entered the army again as a volunteer, in December 1791—was raised by his comrades to the rank of major shortly after— was promoted to a brigade on the 27th of May I793—and on the 21st of July following became a general of division. After the battle of Hondschoote, llouchard having been recalled to Paris, Jourdan was made commander-in-chief in his place. Ho was then ordered to attack the Austrian forces before Mnubeuge, and raise the blockade of that place. In this he was assisted by Carnet, who, during the three days that the contest lasted, vied with Jourdan iu charging the imperialists. During this aotiou the adjacent village of 1Vattignies was taken and retaken three times by the French and allied forces; but at length it remained in the hands of the French: the allies retired behind the Sambre, and the blockade of Maubeuge was raised—a result most important to the French republic. After the battle of Wattignios, Carnet and Duquesnoy, the representatives, so extolled the taleote of Jourdan iu their despatches to the Convention, that opinion placed him iu the first line of republican generals, a prestige which lasted many years. Nevertheless, having been ;wal lowed to Paris by the Committee of Public Safety, to give his advice on the future operations of the French armies, he embarrassed the government by the frankness of his opinions; and Barero, having praised his honesty and patriotism, but regretted his want of energy, Pichegru was appointed to succeed him.
Jourdsn returned to his trade at Limoges, but was soon after sum mooed to the army of La Moselle, to replace General Hoch°, whom Saint Just had sent to prison to await his trial. Then for a few months followed that series of successes which forme the basis of Jourdan's reputation as a commander. In May 1791 he defeated the Austrian general Beaulieu, at Arlon ; ho crossed the Meuse at Dinant on the 3rd of June, captured Charleroi on the 25th, and on the 29th won the battle of Flourus—the most important victory obtained by the republic before the campaigns of Napoleon. On the 18th of September he defeated Clairfalt at the combat of Ayvailo ; and on the 2nd of October ho obtained another victory over the Austrians at Juliers, or &Bich, on the Roar. in these achievements he was sup
ported by a number of general., some of whom have since exceeded him in reputation; for Moreau, Bernadotte, Kleber, Moreau, Ney, and Soult, then fought under his command. Within a week after the victory of Julien, the whole of Jourden's army of the Sambre•et-Meuse was encamped ou the left bunk of the Wee, from Cobleutz to Cleves.
Landrecies, Lequesnoy, Cond6, and Valenciennes had been recovered ; besides which, Charleroi, Namur, Juliers, and Maestricht had yielded to the French arms. The fine provinces watered by the Rhino had increased the territories of the republic, and remained under the government of Franco for upwards of tweuty years. In 1795 Jourdan made himself master of the fortress of Luxembourg, crossed the Mine on the 611) of September iu presence of 20,000 Austrians, and compelled the garrison of Diieeeldorf to capitulate.
In 1796 he once more crossed the Rhine, obliged tho Austrian general Wartetaleben to retreat, captured Frankfurt and Wurzburg, and advanced towards Itatiabon ; but here was the turning-point in his fortune. The Archduke Cherlos, adopting the tactics of Napoleon, prepared to ntatek the separate French armies with his united forces ; and, encountering Jourdan at Aalborg, drove him off the field with great lose. On the 3rd of September the archduke engaged him at Wurzburg, and routed his army, after which Jourdan was completely disabled. Early in 1797 he resigned his command, and returned to Paris, where he was elected a member of the Council of Five Hundred, of which he became president on the 23rd of September. Being appointed to command the army of the Danube in 1793, he was defeated by the Archduke Charles at the battle of ()drub, on the 20th of March 1799; and a few days after at Stocked', with so great a loss as obliged him to make a precipitate retreat through the passes of the Black Forest. Ou the 10th of April his command was transferred to Massena. Ho was re-electo 1 a member of the Five Ilundred, from which ho was dismissed after the 18th Brumaire for refusing to join the conspiracy of Bonaparte.
For the next twelve years Marshal Jourdan was employed in no important operation ; but he received his baton on the 10th of May 1804, nt the first creation of the marshals of the empire. At the battle of Vittoria, June 21st, 1813, he rather accompanied than com manded the army of Joseph, king of Spain, which was defeated by Wellington. On the 3rd of April 18/4 he gave in his adheeioo to the provisional government : and in 1815 presided over the court-martial which was to have tried 31arehal Ney, but which declared itself incompetent. In 1818 Louis XVIII. called him to the Chamber of Peers. He died on the 24th of November 1833, and was buried with great pomp in the HOtel des Itivalides.