Jean-Pierre Lacombe-Saint-Michel

Divisional-General Jean-Pierre Lacombe-Saint-Michel (5 March 1751 27 January 1812) was a French Army officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He appeared as a character in Les Géorgiques by the novelist Claude Simon, his direct descendant. During the French Revolution, Lacombe-Saint-Michel protected the father of Honoré de Balzac.

French Revolution

Starting as an artillery cadet in 1765, Jean-Pierre Lacombe-Saint-Michel became a second lieutenant in the Toul regiment in 1767, gunnery captain in 1779, and mortar captain in 1786. Pierre Choderlos de Laclos was his captain-major at this time. In 1789, he took part in the storming of the Bastille, but as marshal de Broglie did not have confidence in him he was sent back to Tarn, where he was elected to an administrative post. Wounded in the battle, Lacombe-Saint-Michel was promoted to brigadier general on 17 November. He was part of the Army of the North when Maximilien Robespierre fell from power. On 31 July 1793, Lacombe-Saint-Michel wrote to the Committee of Public Safety: "By attacking the treacherous coalition that I will search out Robespierre’s accomplices."

Consulate and Empire

From 1800 to 1805 Napoleon placed him in charge of artillery for the Army of Italy. He was made Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour on 27 July 1808. He saw further action in Hannover and Catalonia, where he commanded the 10th division before being appointed governor of Barcelona in 1810. During his brief term of office he established a Commission for the Arts and Sciences to assemble a library of all the collections from religious houses that had been suppressed. In August 1810 poor health ended his career, after seventeen campaigns, and he was replaced as governor by David-Maurice-Joseph Mathieu de La Redorte.