Eloi Charlemagne Taupin

Eloi Charlemagne Taupin (17 August 1767–10 April 1814) became a French soldier before the French Revolution and was killed in 1814 leading his division in battle against the British in southern France. After fighting in the French Revolutionary Wars, he was promoted to command an infantry regiment at the beginning of the First French Empire. He led the unit during the War of the Third Coalition in 1805. The following year he fought in the War of the Fourth Coalition. In 1809 he led a brigade during the War of the Fifth Coalition but only fought in a minor engagement.

He transferred to Spain where he fought in the Peninsular War including the battles of Bussaco, Salamanca, and Vitoria. He was appointed to command an infantry division in Marshal Nicolas Soult's army in July 1813. He led his troops in the battles of the Pyrenees, San Marcial, the Bidassoa, Nivelle, the Nive, Orthez, and Toulouse, and was fatally wounded in the last action. Ironically, his death came a few days after Napoleon abdicated his throne.

Revolution
Born in Barbery, Oise in 17 August 1767, Taupin enlisted in the Regiment de Roi (King's Regiment) in 1787.

According to a list of transactions that were recorded by the Count of Clermont, Taupin was a warden of the Forest of Pomeraie. As a deputy from Barbery he participated in the Estates-General of 1789. In 1791, he joined the 1st battalion of National Volunteers of the Oise as a sous lieutenant and was soon elected captain. From 1792 to 1795, he soldiered with the Army of the North, during which time he earned promotion to chef de battalion in the 28th Line Infantry Demi-Brigade. From 1795 to 1797, he served in the Army of the Interior. Beginning in 1798, he was assigned to the Army of Helvetia in Switzerland.

In the 1800 campaign, Taupin fought under the command of Jean Lannes. He fought at the Battle of Montebello in June 1800 and at the Battle of Marengo where Taupin was badly wounded. Letter to Bonaparte : "Après le passage du Pô et la bataille de Montebello les généraux Lasnes (Orthographe d'époque respectée) et Watrin vous rendirent compte de la conduite distinguée de la 28me 1/2 brigade de ligne à ces deux affaires et de la mienne en particulier. Les mêmes généraux rendirent compte au général Berthier d'une manière très favorable de ma conduite depuis l'ouverture de la campagne et à la bataille de Marengo, où j'ai eu deux chevaux tués sous moi, et où j'ai été blessé d'un éclat d'obus". For his bravery in this action, he received a sabre d'honneur in 1802. He served first at Boulogne-sur-Mer in the force gathered for Napoleon's invasion of the United Kingdom and later in the army of the Batavian Republic (the Netherlands) under the orders of Dominique Vandamme. In December 1803, he was appointed major in the 11th Line Infantry Regiment.

Empire
Taupin became an officer of the Légion d'Honneur in 1804. On 1 February 1805, he was named colonel of the 103rd Line Infantry Regiment. in Honoré Theodore Maxime Gazan's division of the V Corps. In this capacity, he led his regiment in all the major campaigns from 1805 to 1807. When his regiment was attacked by an overwhelmingly superior force of Russians and Austrians in the Battle of Dürenstein it was able to cut its way out of the trap, though it suffered heavy losses. At the Battle of Austerlitz, Taupin's actions brought him to the attention of Napoleon. Taupin became a commander of the Légion d'Honneur on 25 December 1805.

The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions of Taupin's 103rd Regiment served in Gazan's 2nd Division of Lannes' V Corps at the Battle of Jena on 14 October 1806. In December, the 103rd Line fought in the Battle of Pułtusk. The corps missed the bloody Battle of Eylau because it and Nicolas Léonard Beker's dragoon division were covering Warsaw. The corps was under the command of Anne Jean Marie René Savary when it fought in the Battle of Ostrołęka on 15 February. The 103rd Line participated in this engagement in which Ivan Essen's Russian corps was defeated.

Taupin was promoted to general of brigade on 21 February 1807 and raised to the peerage as a Baron of the Empire on 2 July 1808. The War of the Fifth Coalition found him in command of a brigade in Marshal François Christophe de Kellermann's Reserve Corps, a rear-echelon formation based at Frankfurt. His command included the 4th Battalions of the 36th, 50th, and 75th Line Infantry Regiments, a total of 2,397 soldiers. The brigade formed part of Olivier Macoux Rivaud de la Raffiniere's division, along with the brigades of Alexandre Theodore Victor Lameth and Jean André Villeteaux. On 8 July 1809, the brigades of Taupin and Lameth with some attached units were defeated by Michael von Kienmayer's Austrians. The 5,600-man French force was led by Jean-Andoche Junot.

In 1810, he returned to Spain and commanded a brigade in Bertrand Clausel's division of Junot's VII Corps at the Battle of Bussaco and in Marshal André Masséna's invasion of Portugal.

Taupin served at the Battle of Salamanca in July 1812. In January 1813, he was promoted to general of division. He took command of the 4th Division in Honoré Reille's Army of Portugal in March. He fought at the Battle of Vitoria in June. After Marshal Nicolas Soult reorganized the army in July, Taupin assumed command of the 8th Division. He led his division in the battles of the Pyrenees, San Marcial, the Bidassoa, the Nivelle and the Nive.

In January 1814, Taupin was named to lead the 4th Division in Soult's newly reorganized army. At the Battle of Orthez in February, his troops repelled a British attack on Soult's right flank and recovered the church of Saint-Boes in a counterattack. At the Battle of Toulouse on April 10, his division defended the Heights of Calvinet (Mont Rave) against the main Anglo-Allied thrust. During the fighting Taupin was mortally wounded and died at 11:00 am. He was buried in the Cathedral of Saint-Etienne. On April 12, the official couriers arrived from Paris with news that Napoleon had abdicated and the war was over. The name TAUPIN appears on the 37th column of the Arc de Triomphe.