Lamorcière, Louis Christophe Léon Juchault de (1806-1865) A prominent general,
he made his reputation during the Algerian conquest. Veteran of eighteen Algerian campaigns,
he had risen in rank rapidly, making his final move from colonel to general in only nine months.
Earning a reputation for bravery, he served with most of the officers later prominent in the
Second Empire, such as Bosquet, Canrobert and Pelissier who commanded a column under his
command at the battle of Isly. He personally accepted the surrender of Abd-el-Kader in
December of 1847. An admirer of Marshal Bugeaud, he was nevertheless a critic of his
colonization policies. Politically he was an ardent republican but supported the July
Monarchy at its very end before adhering to the Provisional Government in 1848. During
the bloody June Days he served under Cavaignac and subsequently became minister of war.
Openly hostile to Louis Napoléon and the Bonaparte dynasty, he was proscribed in
1851, taking residence in Belgium, along with other officers who lamented the passing
of the Second Republic. This group, including also Cavaignac, Changarnier, Bedeau
and Le Flô, was commonly referred to as the "Belgian Generals."
Lamorcière then took on the task of reorganizing the papal army
for which he recruited a large number of French legitimist officers. On
September 18, 1861 he led his army to a major defeat at the hand of Victor Emmanuel at Castelfidardo.
Brison Gooch
jgc revised this file (http://www.cats.ohiou.edu/~chastain/ip/lamorc.htm) on October 20, 2004.
Please E-mail comments or suggestions to chastain@www.cats.ohiou.edu
© 1997, 2004 James Chastain.