COUNT

See also:

• CLAUDE, JEAN (1619-1687)

CLAUDE

See also:

• PIERRE

PIERRE

See also:

• COUNT CLAUDE PIERRE PAJOL (1772—1844)

PAJOL (1772—1844)  , French cavalry general, was born at Besancon . The son of an advocate, he was intended to follow his father's profession, but the events of 1789 turned his mind in another direction . Joining the battalion of Besancon, he took part in the political events of that year, and in 1791 went to the army of the Upper Rhine with a volunteer battalion . He took part in the campaign of 1792 and was one of the stormers at Hochheim (1793) . From Custine's staff he was transferred to that of Kleber, with whom he took part in the Sambre and Rhine Campaigns (1794—96) . After serving with Hoche and Massena in Germany and Switzer-land (1797—99), Pajol took a cavalry command under Moreau for the campaign on the upper Rhine . In the short years of peace Pajol, now colonel, was successively envoy to the Batavian Republic, and delegate at Napoleon's coronation . In 1805, the emperor employed him with the light cavalry . He distinguished himself at Austerlitz, and, after serving for a short time in Italy, he rejoined the grande armee as a general of brigade, in time to take part in the campaign of Friedland . Next year (18o8) he was made a baron of the Empire . In 1809 he served on the Danube, and in the Russian War of 1812 led a division, and afterwards a corps, of cavalry . He survived the retreat, but his health was so broken that he retired to his native town of Besancon for a time .

He was back again in active service, however, in time to be

present at Dresden, at which battle he played a conspicuous part . In 1814 he commanded a corps of all arms in the Seine Valley . On the fall of Napoleon, Pajol gave in his adhesion to the Restoration government, but he rejoined his old master immediately upon his return to France . His (I) corps of cavalry played a prominent part in the campaign of 1815, both at Ligny and in the advance on the Wavre under Grouchy . On receiving the news of Waterloo, Pajol disengaged his command, and by a skilful retreat brought it safe and unbeaten to Paris . There he and his men played an active part in the actions which ended the war . The Bourbons, on their return, dismissed him, though this treatment was not, compared to that meted out to Ney and others, excessively harsh . In 183o he took part in the overthrow of Charles X . He suppressed, sternly and vigorously, emeutes in Paris in 1831 and 1832, 1834 and 1839 . A general, and a peer of France, he was put on the retired list in 1842, and died two years later . His son, Count CHARLES PAUL VICTOR PAJOL (182I-1891), entered the army and had reached the rank of general of division when he was involved in the catastrophe of Metz (187o) . He retired in 1877 .

Besides being a

good soldier, he was a sculptor of some merit, who executed statues of his father and of Napoleon, and he wrote a life of his father and a history of the wars under Louis XV . (Paris 1881—1891) . See Count C . P . V . Pajol: Pajol general en chef (Paris, 1874); Thomas, Les Grands cavaliers du premier empire (Paris, 1892) ; and Choppin, in the Journal des sciences militaires (189o) .