Tainted by his association with Charles Pichegru, he was cleared by a courts-martial in 1797, and served subsequently in the Army of the Danube and in the Grande Armée until his retirement from military service in 1811.

[1] At the Battle of Fleurus he was part of Jean Baptiste Kléber's Army of the North (under temporary leadership of Joseph Souham).

[2] His division sustained a heavy initial attack by the Prince of Orange; its awkward situation, at right angles to the stream, forced him to initially withdraw toward Courcelles in disorder; a counterattack by Charles Daurier's detached brigade of 6,000 reinforced his own 8,000 men, and the French flank held through the battle, preventing the Coalition force from encircling the French.

[5] Upon exchange, he returned to France in April 1796 and learned that his conduct in the defense and surrender of Mannheim had been slandered.

Gouvion Saint-Cyr defended him, and in his letters (Conjuration), Ernest Daudet also supported him: "he [Montaigu] might be a very good soldier without being fit for the arduous duties of commander of a besieged town.