Which French marshal died at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813?

Józef Poniatowski was the marshal who died at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. A Polish prince and military commander, he served Napoleon during the later campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars and commanded Polish troops within the French coalition.

During the Battle of Leipzig, fought from 16 to 19 October 1813, Poniatowski was responsible for covering the French retreat. Napoleon appointed him Marshal of the Empire on 16 October, making him the only foreign-born commander to receive that distinction under Napoleon.

As French forces withdrew, Poniatowski defended the area near Leipzig and the White Elster River. He was wounded while attempting to escape across the water, then drowned on 19 October after the retreating French destroyed a bridge too soon. His death became one of the battle’s most memorable episodes. The common confusion is that Poniatowski was Polish rather than ethnically French, but “Marshal of the Empire” was his official French title, making the stored answer the canonical one.