Thomas Robert Bugeaud De La Piconnerie, duke of Isly, a French soldier, born at Limoges, Oct. 15, 1784, died in Paris, June 10, 1849. He entered the French army as a private in 1804, became a corporal in 1805, served as sub-lieutenant in the campaign of Prussia and Poland (1806-7), was present in 1810 and 1811 as major at the sieges of Lerida, Tortosa, and Tarragona, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel after the battle of Ordal in Catalonia. After the return from Elba Napoleon sent him to the army of the Alps in command of a regiment, which formed the advance guard of Suchet's corps. On the second return of the Bourbons he retired to a rural estate of his father. At the time of the invasion of Spain by the duke of Angouleme in 1823, he offered his sword to the Bourbons, but the offer being declined, he joined the opposition movement which finally led to the revolution of 1830. He was chosen a member of the chamber of deputies in 1831, and made a general of division by Louis Philippe. Appointed governor of the citadel of Blaye in 1833, he had the duchess of Berry under his charge, and afterward became known by the name of the " ex-jailer of Blaye." He commanded one of the brigades by which the Paris insurrection of April 13-14, 1834, was suppressed, and became obnoxious to the populace.

He was sent in 1836 to Algeria, where he concluded the treaty of the Tafna, and in 1841 became governor general. The battle of Isly (Aug. 14, 1844), in which he vanquished the army of the emperor of Morocco with vastly inferior forces, owed its success to his taking the enemy by surprise, without any previous declaration of war, and when negotiations were on the eve of being concluded. Already raised to the dignity of a marshal of France, July 17, 1843, Bugeaud was now created duke of Isly. Abd-el-Kader having after the marshal's return to France again collected an army, Bugeaud was sent back to Algeria, where he promptly crushed the revolt. In consequence of differences between him and Guizot, occasioned by his expedition into Kabylia, he was superseded by the duke d'Aumale. At the beginning of the revolution of 1848 Louis Philippe, in the night of Feb. 22-23, conferred upon him the supreme command of the whole armed force of Paris. The national guard, incensed by this appointment, broke out with the cry of "Down with Bugeaud!" and declared that they would not obey his orders. Frightened by this demonstration, Louis Philippe withdrew his orders, and spent the 23d in vain negotiations.

On Feb. 24, alone of Louis Philippe's council, Bugeaud still urged war to the knife; but the king considered the sacrifice of the marshal as a means to make his own peace with the national guard, and Bugeaud was dismissed. Two days later he offered his services to the provisional government, but they were not accepted. When Louis Napoleon became president lie conferred the command in chief of the army of the Alps upon Bugeaud, who was also elected by the department of Cha-rente-Inferieure as representative in the national assembly. He is the author of several military publications, and is represented by his disciple Gen. Trochu (in L'Armee frangaise en 1867) as a model general and citizen. In August, 1852, a monument was erected to him in Algiers, and also one in his native town.