He was most notable as the organiser of the colonnes infernales during the war in the Vendée, which massacred tens of thousands of Vendéens and ravaged the countryside.

Elected mayor of Aviron, he bought several clerical estates (such as that of the Abbaye Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul de Châtillon-lès-Conches [fr].

Before the Revolution, he had not had any real military activity, having entered the guards corps of the comte d’Artois but only been inscribed for supernumerary roles (he was only a reservist).

Before he arrived at his post, the last elements of the Armée catholique et royale were erased by Jean-Baptiste Kléber and François Séverin Marceau at the Battle of Savenay on 23 December.

In the spring of 1794, the government with the approval of Lazare Carnot sent the Infernal columns, under the direction of General Turreau through the Vendée to suppress counter-revolutionary forces.

In 1814, he submitted to Louis XVIII and during the Hundred Days published a Mémoire contre le retour éphémère des hommes à privilèges.