Joseph Souham (30 April 1760-28 April 1837) was a General de Division of the French Army during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
Biography[]
Joseph Souham was born in Lubersac, France on 30 April 1760, and he was a seasoned veteran of the French Royal Army before joining a volunteer battalion of the French Revolutionary Army in 1792 at the start of the French Revolutionary Wars. He became a General of Division in September 1793 after playing a prominent role in the defense of Dunkirk, and he was the temporary commander of the Armee du Nord at the time of the French victory at the Battle of Tourcoing, which was a major victory. Souham then took part in the successful invasion of the United Provinces, and he spent many years occupying the Netherlands; his career suffered because of his previous associations with the traitors Jean-Charles Pichegru and Jean Victor Marie Moreau. From 1809 to 1812, he fought in the Peninsular War, being wounded during his victory at Vic in 1810 and forcing the Duke of Wellington's army to retreat at Tordesillas in 1812. He later commanded a division at Lutzen and a corps at Leipzig, only to remain loyal to the Bourbons during the Hundred Days. King Louis XVIII of France rewarded Souham for his loyalty during the Bourbon Restoration by giving him high commands, and he retired in 1832. He died in Versailles in 1837.