Etienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre Macdonald, duke of Taranto, a marshal of France, born at Sancerre, Nov. 17,1765, died at his chateau near Guise, Sept. 24, 1840. He was descended from a Scottish family, which, following the fortunes of the Stuarts, emigrated to France. Entering the army in 1784, he served in the campaigns of the Low Countries and the Rhine in 1792-'7, and for his participation in the passage of the Waal on the ice, under a heavy lire from the enemy, in 1795, was made a general of division. In 1798 he was appointed governor of the Papal States, and defeated a large Neapolitan army under Gen. Mack at Otricoli. The disasters sustained by the French generals in northern Italy in the beginning of 1799 having rendered the evacuation of Naples indispensable, Mac-donald retreated toward Lucca; and being joined in June by several additional corps, he attacked the combined army of Austrians and Russians under Suvaroff on the banks of the Trebbia .on the 17th of the month. After an obstinate contest of three days, in which each side suffered a loss of 12,000 men, Macdonald, learning that the allies were expecting large reenforcements, retired by a circuitous march to Genoa. Compelled by ill health to return to Paris, he rendered important assistance to Bonaparte on the 18th Brumaire, in return for which he was appointed to command the army of the Grisons. With this force in the winter of 1800-'l he accomplished the celebrated passage of the Spliigen, and was following up the enemy vigorously when the armistice of Treviso put an end to his movements.

From 1802 to 1804 he was minister at the court of Denmark, but between the latter period and 1809 he held no command, Napoleon being incensed with him for participating in the defence of Gen. Moreau. In 1809, however, to fill the chasms which death had made in the ranks of the French generals, he was again intrusted with a command, and rendered efficient services to Eugene Beauharnais in Italy. Transferred to the seat of war in Germany, he took part in the battle of Wagram, and by his heroic attack on the Austrian centre, the most important achievement in his military career, gained his marshal's baton and his title. On the day after the battle Napoleon effected a complete reconciliation with the new marshal, whom he thenceforth learned to trust and esteem. In 1810 - '11 Macdonald served in Spain, but added little to his reputation; in the Russian campaign of 1812 he successfully conducted an independent line of operations toward Riga; and in the campaign of 1813 he fought at Lutzen and Bautzen, was badly beaten by Blucher on the Katzbach, Aug. 26, and at Leipsic performed prodigies of valor, escaping from the catastrophe which overwhelmed the rear guard of the French army after the destruction of the bridge over the Elster, by swimming the river on horseback.

He steadily adhered to the waning fortunes of Napoleon in the campaign of 1814, and participated in the negotiations ending in the emperor's abdication with a fidelity and consideration which the latter duly acknowledged. Having given in his adherence to the Bourbons, he declined all offers of command from Napoleon during the hundred days. He received many distinctions from succeeding sovereigns, but retired from public life during his latter years.