He became a cavalry officer during the French Revolutionary Wars, fighting with the 2nd Hussar Regiment in numerous actions including Jemappes, Fleurus, and Neuwied.

After being posted to Spain to fight in the Peninsular War, he suffered defeats at the hands of the Spanish forces in Catalonia at Bruch Pass and Manresa.

In September 1810 he was captured at La Bisbal and spent the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars in British custody.

Schwarz was born in Hernwiess, in the Margraviate of Baden on 8 January 1762, the son of a baron of the Holy Roman Empire and entered French military service in 1776.

[1] Three squadrons of the 2nd Hussars participated in the Battle of Valmy on 20 September 1792 as part of the Flankers of the Left contingent.

[5] On 26 June 1794, two squadrons of the 2nd Hussars fought at the Battle of Fleurus in a cavalry brigade led by Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul.

[4] As part of the French intervention in the Irish Rebellion of 1798, Schwarz sailed there with a contingent of troops but was captured on 12 October 1798 at the Battle of Tory Island.

[9] After the armistice lapsed, the 596-strong 5th Hussars fought at the Battle of Hohenlinden on 3 December 1800 as part of Richepanse's division.

General of Brigade Jean-Baptiste Drouet, leading the trailing half, sent the 5th Hussars supported by some infantry to push back the Austrians.

7, and at Lambach on the 19th where 5,000 French overran Daniel Meczery's 3,000-strong force and captured 1,450 men of the Manfredini Infantry Regiment Nr.

[15] Lannes formed his infantry divisions with Marie-François Auguste de Caffarelli du Falga on the right and Louis Gabriel Suchet on the left.

When the ten-squadron Prince Constantine Uhlan Regiment attacked from the right, Kellermann ordered the division to change front.

[17] Charging forward, Kellermann's troopers overran some Russian cannons but they had to fall back when three more cavalry regiments appeared.

[19] The hussar brigade helped rout a Prussian flank guard at Zehdenick on 26 October 1806 and fought at the Battle of Prenzlau on the 28th.

Romberg refused, but Schwarz returned an hour later with an ultimatum announcing that a bombardment would precede an attack by 50,000 troops if Stettin was not surrendered by 8:00 AM.

[9] In 1808 Schwarz was appointed to lead a cavalry brigade in the 12,714-man Corps of Observation of the Eastern Pyrenees under the overall command of Guillaume Philibert Duhesme.

[23] On 29 February 1808, on the pretext of having a military review of his division, Giuseppe Lechi rushed his troops into the fortress of Barcelona and hustled the bewildered Spanish garrison out.

The Battle of the Bruch began when Schwarz sent forward a battalion and rather easily drove the Catalan militia out of the woods.

Schwarz sent out a line of skirmishers but did not press the attack, fearing that a larger force including Spanish regulars was nearby.

The square was shielded by skirmishers, but as soon as they saw their enemies fall back, the Catalans eagerly pressed forward and began sniping at them.

On the other side of Esparraguera the officers were unable to reform the square and the Swiss, Italians, and Neapolitans poured into the town of Martorell that evening in a disorderly mob.

Meanwhile, one and a half battalions were dropped off at Vilafranca del Penedes while a brigade of Rouyer's division under Schwarz occupied Manresa as a flank guard.

[28] The first blow fell at daybreak on 30 March when Caro seized Vilafranca and captured the 800 Imperial troops posted there.

On 2 April, Caro was wounded and replaced by Luis González Torres de Navarra, Marquess of Campoverde.

[29] On 5 April in the Battle of Manresa, Campoverde mounted a full-scale attack and flushed Schwarz's troops out of the town with losses of 30 officers and 800 rank and file.

[29] The last of Schwarz's misadventures came at the Battle of La Bisbal on 14 September 1810 when his brigade was snared by a well-executed Anglo-Spanish operation.

[31] O'Donnell realized that MacDonald was too strong to overcome so he decided to operate against the unsuspecting Imperial forces in the north.

[30] The British naval expedition struck first on 10 September when they rowed ashore and captured 50 men and a coastal artillery emplacement at Begur.

[32] Schwarz deployed 800 men to hold La Bisbal d'Empordà and the rest of the brigade to defend Begur, Palamós, Calonge, and Sant Feliu de Guíxols.