On 18 June 1815, ordered to pursue the Prussians, he reached Waterloo too late, while Blücher reached it in time. The defeat was laid at his door for two centuries, and he spent thirty years publishing memoirs nobody wanted to read. His inscription says nothing of it: “peer and Marshal of France”.
The story
Emmanuel de Grouchy was born on 23 October 1766, into the nobility. A cavalryman of high reputation, he served in every campaign of the Revolution and the Empire, wounded at Eylau in 1807 and wounded again at Borodino in 1812.
His sister Sophie de Grouchy, Marquise de Condorcet, kept one of the most important philosophical salons of the Revolution and translated Adam Smith's “Theory of Moral Sentiments”.
On 18 June 1815 he commanded the right wing of the army at Waterloo, charged with pursuing the Prussians. He reached the battlefield too late; Blücher reached it in time. The defeat would be laid at his door for two centuries.
Proscribed by the ordinance of 24 July 1815 — the same one that sent Ney to the firing squad — he took exile in Philadelphia. Amnestied in November 1819, he came home in 1820, and Louis-Philippe gave him back his marshal's baton in 1831 — but he spent thirty years publishing memoranda in his own defence that nobody wanted to read.
He died at Saint-Étienne on 29 May 1847 and lies in Division 57 with his wife, who died in 1889. The inscription says nothing of Waterloo: “Peer and Marshal of France”, and not a word more.
The grave
A chapel whose stained-glass window is adorned with a Maltese cross, by an unnamed maker. The inscription is purely statutory: “Emmanuel, Marquis de Grouchy, peer and Marshal of France, born 23 October 1766, died 29 May 1847”. Neither the campaigns, nor the wounds of Eylau and Borodino, nor Waterloo — nor the death sentence, nor the American exile, nor the rehabilitation of 1831. His wife, Joséphine Fanny Hua, Marshal's wife and Marquise de Grouchy, who died in 1889, rests with him: she outlived him by forty-two years.
On site, do not miss
The Maltese cross of the stained glass, and the inscription that says nothing of Waterloo: “Peer and Marshal of France”.
Visitors' questions
Where is Marshal Grouchy's grave?
In Division 57, avenue Latérale Nord, first row, in the eastern part of the cemetery. It is a chapel, whose stained-glass window bears a Maltese cross; his wife, who died in 1889, rests there with him.
Marshal NeyDid he really lose Waterloo?
He commanded the right wing, charged with pursuing the Prussians, and reached the battlefield too late on 18 June 1815. Blücher, for his part, arrived in time. The accusation dogged him for thirty years, and he never stopped defending himself against it.
Marshal MassénaWhat became of him after 1815?
Sentenced to death in his absence, he went into exile in the United States, returned to France in 1820 and was rehabilitated. Louis-Philippe restored his marshal's baton in 1831 — but he spent thirty years publishing memoirs in his own defence.
Marshal AugereauWho was Sophie de Grouchy?
His sister, the Marquise de Condorcet, who kept one of the most important philosophical salons of the Revolution and translated into French Adam Smith's “Theory of Moral Sentiments”, the founding book of moral economy.
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