Bugeaud de la Piconnerie, Thomas Robert, duc d’Isly, marshal of 
France, born at Limoges, in Oct. 1784, died in Paris, June 10, 
1849. He entered the French army as a private soldier in 1804, 
became a corporal during the campaign of 1805, served as 
sub-lieutenant in the campaign of Prussia and Poland (1806-’7), 
was present in 1811, as major, at the sieges of Lerida, Tortosa, 
and ‘Tarragona, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant- 
colonel after the battle of Ordal, in Catalonia. After the first 
return of the Bourbons Col. Bugeaud celebrated the white lily* in 
some doggerel rhymes; but these poetical effusions being passed 
by rather contemptuously, he again embraced, during the 
Hundred Days,” the party of Napoleon, who sent him to the 
army of the Alps, at the head of the 14th regiment of the line. On 
the 2d return of the Bourbons he retired to Excideuil, to the 
estate of his father. At the time of the invasion of Spain by the 
duke of Angouléme?” he offered his sword to the Bourbons, but 
the offer being declined, he turned liberal, and joined the 
movement which finally led to the revolution of 1830. 

He was chosen as a member of the chamber of deputies in 1831, 
and made a major-general by Louis Philippe. Appointed governor 
of the citadel of Blaye in 1833, he had the duchess of Berry under 
his charge, but earned no honor from the manner in which he 
discharged his mission, and became afterward known by the name 
of the ‘ex-gaoler of Blaye.” During the debates of the chamber of 
deputies on Jan. 25,” 1834, M. Larabit complaining of Soult’s 

military dictatorship, and Bugeaud interrupting him with the 
words, “Obedience is the soldier’s first duty,” another deputy, M. 
Dulong, pungently asked, “What, if ordered to become a gaoler?”’ 
This incident led to a duel between Bugeaud and Dulong, in 
which the latter was shot.” The consequent exasperation of the 
Parisians was still heightened by his co-operation in suppressing 
the Paris insurrection of April 13 and 14, 1834.%” The forces 
destined to suppress that insurrection were divided into 3 
brigades, one of which Bugeaud commanded. In the rue Transno- 
nain a handful of enthusiasts who still held a barricade on the 
morning of the 14th, when the serious part of the affair was over, 
were cruelly slaughtered by an overwhelming force. Although this 
spot lay without the circumscription made over to Bugeaud’s 
brigade, and he, therefore, had not participated in the massacre, 
the hatred of the people nailed his name to the deed, and despite 
all declarations to the contrary, persisted in stigmatizing him as the 
“man of the rue Transnonain.” 

Sent, June 6, 1836, to Algeria, Gen. Bugeaud became invested 
with a commanding position in the province of Oran, almost 
independent of the governor-general. Ordered to fight Abd-el- 
Kader, and to subdue him by the display of an imposing army, he 
concluded the treaty of the Tafna,?* allowing the opportunity for 
military operations to slip away, and placing his army in a critical 
state before it had begun to act. Bugeaud fought several battles 
previous to this treaty. A secret article, not reduced to writing, 
stipulated that 30,000 boojoos (about $12,000) should be paid to 
Gen. Bugeaud. Called back to France, he was promoted to the 
rank of lieutenant-general and appointed grand officer of the 
legion of honor. When the secret clause of the treaty of the Tafna 
oozed out, Louis Philippe authorized Bugeaud to expend the 
money on certain public roads, thus to increase his popularity 
among his electors and secure his seat in the chamber of deputies. 

At the commencement of 1841 he was named _ governor- 
general of Algeria, and with his administration the policy of 
France in Algeria underwent a complete change. He was the first 
governor-general who had an army adequate to its task placed 
under his command, who exerted an absolute authority over the 
generals second in command, and who kept his post long enough 
to act up to a plan needing years for its execution. The battle of 
Isly (Aug. 14, 1844), in which he vanquished the army of the 
emperor of Morocco* with vastly inferior forces, owed its success 

to his taking the Mussulmans by surprise, without any previous 
declaration of war, and when negotiations were on the eve of 
being concluded.?” Already raised to the dignity of a marshal of 
France, July 17, 1843, Bugeaud was now created duke of Isly. 
Abd-el-Kader having, after his return to France, again collected an 
army, he was sent back to Algeria, where he promptly crushed the 
Arabian revolt. In consequence of differences between him and 
Guizot, occasioned by his expedition into Kabylia, which he had 
undertaken against ministerial orders, he was ‘replaced by the 
duke of Aumale, and, according to Guizot’s expression, “en- 
abled to come and enjoy his glory in France.”?7° 

During the night of Feb. 23-24, 1848, he was, on the secret 
advice of Guizot, ordered into the presence of Louis Philippe, who 
conferred upon him the supreme command of the whole armed 
force—the line as well as the national guard. At noon of the 24th, 
followed by Gens. Rulhiére, Bedeau, Lamoriciére, De Salles, St. 
Arnaud, and others, he proceeded to the general staff at the 
Tuileries, there to be solemnly invested with the supreme 
command by the duke of Nemours. He reminded the officers 
present that he who was about to lead them against the Paris 
revolutionists “chad never been beaten, neither on the battle-field 
nor in insurrections,” and for this time again promised to make 
short work of the “rebel rabble.” Meantime, the news of his 
nomination contributed much to give matters a decisive turn. The 
national guard, still more incensed by his appointment as supreme 
commander, broke out in the cry of “Down with Bugeaud!” 
“Down with the man of the rue Transnonain!” and _ positively 
declared that they would not obey his orders. Frightened by this 
demonstration, Louis Philippe withdrew his orders, and spent the 
24th in vain negotiations. On Feb. 24, alone of Louis Philippe’s 
council, Bugeaud still urged war to the knife; but the king already 
considered the sacrifice of the marshal as a means to make his 
own peace with the national guard. The command was conse- 
quently placed in other hands, and Bugeaud dismissed. Two days 
later he placed, but in vain, his sword at the command of the 
provisional government.” 

When Louis Napoleon became president he conferred the 
command-in-chief of the army of the Alps upon Bugeaud, who 
was also elected by the department of Charente-Inférieure as 
representative in the national assembly. He published several 

literary productions, which treat chiefly of Algeria.* In Aug. 1852, 
a monument was erected to him in Algiers, and also one in his 
native town.