8,000–14,740 6,000 Date 11 March 1814 Location Mâcon, France | 881–900 683–1,300, 2 guns Result Coalition victory | |
Similar First Battle of Bar‑sur‑Aube, Battle of Hoogstraten, Battle of Saint‑Julien, Battle of Gué‑à‑Tresmes, Siege of Bergen op Zoom | ||
The Battle of Mâcon (11 March 1814) saw a French division under Louis François Félix Musnier attack an Austrian corps led by Frederick Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza. The French enjoyed initial success but their numerical inferiority led to their defeat in this War of the Sixth Coalition clash. The Austrian army commander Prince Frederick of Hesse-Homburg soon pressed south toward Lyon. Mâcon is located 72 kilometres (45 mi) north of Lyon.
As Napoleon dueled with the main Allied armies of Karl Philipp, Prince of Schwarzenberg and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher to the east of Paris, a subsidiary campaign was fought near Lyon to the southeast. In January 1814 the Austrians overran much territory, but in mid-February the reinforced French forces under Marshal Pierre Augereau mounted a counteroffensive. Alarmed at the threat to his supply lines, Schwarzenberg sent heavy reinforcements to Prince Hesse-Homburg. Augereau ordered Musnier to attack Mâcon and found his enemies were much stronger than he had thought.