Pierre-Louis Binet de Marcognet (; 14 November 1765 – 19 December 1854) joined the French army in 1781 as an officer cadet and fought in the American Revolutionary War. During the French Revolutionary Wars he fought in the Army of the Rhine and was wounded at First and Second Wissembourg. After being dismissed from the army for a year and a half for having noble blood, he resumed his military career and was wounded at Biberach and Kehl. Promoted to lead the 108th Line Infantry Demi-Brigade, he was in the thick of the fighting at Hohenlinden in 1800, where he was wounded and captured.
At the start of the Napoleonic Wars, Marcognet was a general officer commanding a brigade in Marshal of France Michel Ney's corps. He led his troops at Günzburg, Elchingen, and Scharnitz in 1805. In the 1806-1807 campaign, he led his brigade at Jena, Magdeburg, Eylau, Guttstadt-Deppen, and Friedland. After Ney's corps transferred to Spain, he fought at Tamames, Alba de Tormes, Ciudad Rodrigo, Almeida, Bussaco, Torres Vedras, Casal Novo, and Fuentes de Onoro.
Marcognet commanded a division in the Italian campaign of 1813-1814, fighting at Caldiero, Boara Pisani, the Mincio, and other actions. In 1815, he led a division at Waterloo where it was broken by cavalry after an initial success. Marcognet is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 7.
Revolution
Marcognet was born on 14 November 1765 in Croix-Chapeau in Saintonge province, which is now the Charente-Maritime department. His parents were Louis-Nicolas, Count of Marcognet and Suzanne-Emilie Pintault, the count's first wife Suzanne-Louise Guicheneux having died on 30 March 1764. His great-grandfather, the Marquis de Montblin (died 1717) had been governor of La Rochelle, Saintonge, and Aunis. Marcognet entered the Bourbonnais Infantry Regiment as a cadet on 13 March 1781 and became a sous lieutenant in July. He served in the American Revolutionary War under Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau from 1781 to 1783. Promoted to lieutenant in 1787 and captain in 1792, he was assigned to the Army of the Rhine at the start of the War of the First Coalition. Marcognet was wounded in the right thigh on 14 September 1793 in fighting along the Lauter River. This was one of the skirmishes that preceded the First Battle of Wissembourg. In November he earned a name for himself in action near Saverne. He was wounded again at the Second Battle of Wissembourg when the French retook the Lines of Wissembourg.
In December 1793, Marcognet was dismissed from the army because he was a nobleman and therefore a suspected enemy of the revolution. Indeed, his paternal uncle Binet de Jasson was equerry to King Louis XVI of France while his aunt Madame de Soran was a maid of honor to Princess Élisabeth. His noble family was torn apart by the French Revolution. Two of his brothers died fighting in the War in the Vendée while a third brother was shot at Neuf-Brisach for carrying a message to Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, an Émigré leader. Readmitted to the army in July 1795 after the Reign of Terror, he resumed the rank of captain.
On 24 August 1795, Marcognet transferred to the 10th Light Infantry Demi-Brigade. With his new unit he fought under Jean Victor Marie Moreau at the Battle of Ettlingen on 9 July 1796 and was promoted to chef de bataillon (major) the following day. He led a provisional battalion at the Battle of Neresheim on 11 August and at Geisenfeld on 1 September. Marcognet was wounded during a French victory at the Battle of Biberach on 2 October. At the Siege of Kehl he was shot in the right arm. Subsequently, Charles Pichegru appointed him to lead a battalion in the 95th Line Infantry Demi-Brigade.