MenuGeneral Jacques Laurent Louis Augustin Vial
Born: August 9, 1774
Place of Birth: Antibes, Alpes-Maritimes, France
Died: May 20, 1855
Place of Death: Antibes, France
Pronunciation:
The younger brother of Honoré Vial, Jacques Laurent Louis Augustin Vial first joined the army in October of 1792 as a sous-lieutenant in the 26th Infantry, the same unit his brother was serving with. Sent to Corsica, he served there until February of 1794 when he was wounded by four shots during a combat near Saint-Florent. Taken prisoner during that fight, Vial was sent to Gibraltar and he finally returned to France on Christmas Day of 1795.
Vial next went to the Army of Italy where he became an assistant to his older brother for the Italian campaign of 1796. In August of 1797 he was promoted to lieutenant and placed with the 11th Cavalry and then in 1798 he joined the staff of the Army of the Orient. Taking part in the campaign in Egypt, Vial fought at Alexandria where he was wounded by a shot to the right arm. A little more than a month later he was promoted to capitaine and appointed an aide-de-camp to General Lagrange. Vial served on the expedition to Syria and then remained in Egypt, receiving a promotion to chef d'escadron in March of 1801.
Returning to France in late 1801, Vial was placed with the 17th Cavalry, which became the 26th Dragoons in 1803. When the Grande Armée marched to war against the Third Coalition in 1805, he served with the Grande Armée on campaign. The next year he served against Prussia at the Battle of Jena and then in February of 1807 he served at Deppen. Next Vial was promoted to colonel of the 26th Chasseurs à Cheval in April of 1807 and he served in Germany until mid 1808.
In September of 1808 Colonel Vial and his men were sent to Spain and they went on to distinguish themselves at Bilbao and Medellin . Vial was named a Baron of the Empire in December of 1808 and he would spend much of the remainder of his Napoleonic career in Spain. In July of 1813 Vial was promoted to général de brigade and he took command of a brigade of light cavalry in General Pajol's V Cavalry Corps in Saxony. After serving in Saxony for a brief period of time, General Vial was sent to the Army of the Pyrenees to help defend France there. Defending France in 1814, he served at Orthez and Toulouse .
After Napoleon's abdication, the restored Bourbons named Vial a Knight of Saint Louis but also put him on non-activity. When Napoleon returned from exile on Elba in 1815 and resumed power for the Hundred Days, Vial rallied to him and was given command of a brigade of cuirassiers in Delort's division of the Army of the North. Vial served during the campaign that June and after Napoleon's second abdication he was again put on non-activity. He officially retired at the start of 1825 but was also named an honorary lieutenant général in 1826. In August of 1830 Vial returned to service and served briefly as commander of Antibes before taking command of the department of Basses-Alpes. He retired again in 1848.
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Updated June 2026
© Nathan D. Jensen