Bourbaki

Bourbaki, Charles Denis Soter, French general, born at Paris 1816, of a Greek family. He entered the French army as sub-lieutenant of Zouaves in 1836. and went through the different steps to the rank of general-of-division, which he obtained in 1857. He took part in the Crimean war, and distinguished himself at Alma, Inkermann, and the taking of Sebastopol, and was also in the Italian campaign of 1859. He commanded the Imperial Guard at Metz in 1870, and afterwards under the Dictator Gambetta he commanded the army of the Loire. He failed to break through the Prussian line at Belfort, and met with other serious reverses, and his army, after much suffering, was forced to cross the Swiss frontier near Pontarlier. He then attempted suicide, in despair. After commanding an army corps at Lyons for a few years, he retired in 1881.