Charles de La Bédoyère, a former aide-de-camp to Lannes, was the first officer to bring his regiment over to Napoleon on his return from Elba, near Grenoble, in March 1815. The court martial sentenced him to death and he was shot on 19 August, at twenty-nine. His grave became the meeting place of the old soldiers of the Empire. A marble bas-relief there shows the rallying that got him shot.
The story
A marble bas-relief shows the scene that cost Charles Huchet de La Bédoyère his life: near Grenoble, in March 1815, he brought his regiment over to Napoleon, back from the island of Elba — the first officer to do it. Few monuments depict in this way the act that killed the man they shelter.
Born in Paris on 17 April 1786 into an old Breton family of magistrates, Charles Huchet de La Bédoyère had been aide-de-camp to Marshal Lannes, then to Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, and had distinguished himself by his courage at the storming of Ratisbon. Condemned to death by court martial after the Hundred Days, he was shot on 19 August 1815, at twenty-nine.
Under the Restoration and the July Monarchy, his grave became the meeting place of the old soldiers of the Revolution and the Empire: they came to salute the first officer who had reopened the Emperor's road.
The visible inscription, even so, is that of his son Georges César, deputy for the Seine-Inférieure and chamberlain to Napoleon III, born on 2 October 1814 — ten months before his father's execution — and dead in 1867. The father has the cemetery alley and the carved image; the son has the text.
The grave
A family grave whose visible inscription belongs to the son: “Ici repose César Raphaël Georges HUCHET, comte de La BÉDOYÈRE, sénateur, né le 2 octobre 1814, décédé le 9 août 1867.” — here lies César Raphaël Georges Huchet, Count de La Bédoyère, senator, born 2 October 1814, died 9 August 1867. He was born ten months before his father's execution. The monument nonetheless bears a marble bas-relief depicting Charles's rallying to Napoleon, near Grenoble — the act that cost him his life. And the cemetery path bears his name: chemin de La Bédoyère. The father has the path and the image, the son has the text.
On site, do not miss
Two things: the marble bas-relief depicting the rallying to Napoleon, and the inscription — that of his son César, a senator. The path that runs along the grave bears the father's name.
Visitors' questions
Where is La Bédoyère's grave?
In Division 16, on the chemin de La Bédoyère — the path carries his name. The visible inscription, though, is that of his son César, a senator, who died in 1867: the father, shot at twenty-nine, is not named on it.
Patrice ChéreauWhat did he do during the Hundred Days?
He was the first officer to bring his regiment over to Napoleon, near Grenoble, on the Emperor's return from Elba. A marble bas-relief on his grave shows the scene — a rare case of a monument depicting the very act that cost the dead man his life.
Marshal DavoutWhy was he shot?
For that rallying: condemned to death by court martial, he was shot on 19 August 1815, at twenty-nine. Marshal Ney would be executed a few months later for much the same reason. His grave would become a meeting place.
Marshal NeyWas his grave a meeting place?
It was: under the Restoration and the July Monarchy it became the gathering point for every old soldier of the Revolution and the Empire. They came to salute the first officer who had reopened the road for the Emperor.
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