In April 1794, he reluctantly accepted command of a division that had been cut to pieces at Villers-en-Cauchies and Troisvilles, and this at a time when failed generals often were sent to the guillotine.

While serving in this unit which became the 12th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment, he was promoted to brigadier on 10 September 1779 and quartermaster (fourrier) on 10 November the same year.

[3] On 15 August 1792, the 12th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment was reviewed at Sedan by Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, who fled to the Austrians a few days later after being accused of treason.

[7] In the crisis, the new French army commander Charles François Dumouriez sent Arthur Dillon with an advance guard including the 12th Chasseurs on a false attack toward Stenay.

Dumouriez marched the main army south from Sedan, reaching Grandpré on 3 September while Dillon raced ahead to occupy Les Islettes.

[8] On 12 September Brunswick broke through Dumouriez's defenses at La Croix-aux-Bois by beating Jean-Pierre François de Chazot's division.

[11] Two squadrons of the regiment served in Beurnonville's Advance Guard under Auguste Marie Henri Picot de Dampierre at the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November 1792.

[12] The 12th Chasseurs fought at the Battle of Aldenhoven on 1 March 1793[13] from which Henri Christian Michel de Stengel brought off the army pay chest with one squadron from the regiment.

[17] In the foggy early morning hours of 19 April, he led three mounted regiments against the village of Abscon, wiping out a 70-man Coalition cavalry outpost.

[19] On 23 April, 15,000 infantry and 4,500 cavalry from Cambrai and Bouchain moved in four columns to attack Wurmb's force which covered the Siege of Landrecies.

[21] After some cavalry maneuvers, the four Coalition squadrons under Rudolf Ritter von Otto and Daniel Mécsery charged Bonneau's horsemen, routing them.

[22] Following the instructions of Army of the North commander Jean-Charles Pichegru, 30,000 French troops and 80 guns under René-Bernard Chapuy set out from Cambrai late in the night of 25 April to break the Siege of Landrecies.

After driving the Coalition outposts back to a line of manned redoubts, Chapuy deployed his troops facing southeast toward Troisvilles with his left flank at Audencourt.

[23] When the fog lifted, Otto and Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany noticed that the French left flank was in air and planned to attack it.

The Duke of York sent Otto with six squadrons of Austrian cuirassiers and two small brigades of British heavy cavalry around the unprotected French flank.

In the Battle of Troisvilles on 26 April the French lost 5,000 killed and wounded, 350 captured including Chapuy, 32 artillery pieces and 44 caissons.

York turned the French right flank at Camphin-en-Pévèle with three heavy cavalry brigades under David Dundas, Sir Robert Laurie and Richard Vyse.

[30] In the Battle of Tourcoing on 18 May 1794, 82,000 French troops temporarily led by Joseph Souham defeated 74,000 Coalition soldiers under Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

[31] With the divisions of Souham and Jean Victor Marie Moreau forming a salient at Menen (Menin) and Kortrijk (Courtrai), Karl Mack von Leiberich drew up a plan by which six Coalition columns would encircle them.

Kinsky pushed back Bonnaud's troops in his front but fell far behind schedule while Charles suffered an epileptic seizure, halting his progress.

By the afternoon of the 18th, Otto's men were forced back while York's troops barely cut their way out of the trap with a loss of 32 artillery pieces.

[37] Bonnaud and Jacques MacDonald were credited with the capture of the Dutch fleet at Den Helder on the 23rd, but in fact the feat was accomplished by a relatively junior officer, Louis Joseph Lahure.

[39] On 1 September he was sent with 6,000 men from the Cherbourg army to assist Lazare Hoche in defending Nantes and battling the rebel leader François de Charette.

After Kléber defeated the Austrians in the Battle of Altenkirchen on 4 June, Jourdan sent three infantry divisions plus Bonnaud's cavalry to the east bank of the Rhine at Neuwied.

After capturing Frankfurt on 16 July, Jourdan left 28,545 soldiers under François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers to blockade Mainz and Ehrenbreitstein Fortresses and moved east.

[48] The action began at 7:00 am when the left flank French division under Paul Grenier moved forward only to be attacked by a mass of Austrian cavalry.

Meaning to make his main thrust near Limburg an der Lahn to the west, Charles convinced Jourdan to shift his weight to the east.

[53] That morning Paul Kray attacked Grenier's left flank at Giessen, and though the Austrians were repulsed, Jourdan sent Bonnaud's cavalry, some infantry and artillery to help.