He joined the Quercy Infantry Regiment on 25 July 1784 and was appointed maréchal de logis on 16 September the same year.

In desperation, the representatives on mission selected Jean Pascal Carlenc, a good cavalry officer but incompetent as commander-in-chief.

To add more trouble, on 10 October the army's chief of staff Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke was dismissed for suspected sympathy with aristocrats.

[5] In the midst of this chaos, the 43,185-strong Coalition army under Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser attacked on 13 October 1793.

Carlec refused to order a counterattack unless authorized to do so by the political representatives, so the army fell back almost to Strasbourg.

[9] Water-logged roads kept Hoche's main body out of action on the 28th, but Dubois joined one of Jean-Jacques Ambert's brigades in a morning assault on 29 November.

After suffering many casualties, the French crossed the Otterbach stream and advanced against the main Prussian position.

In this engagement, the Army of the Moselle turned Wurmser's right flank and forced him to retreat from his defenses at Haguenau and along the river Moder.

[2] He arrived at Guise to take command of the cavalry brigades from the divisions of Antoine Balland and Jacques Gilles Henri Goguet.

The 2,315 troopers were divided into brigades under Hautpoul and Guillaume Soland, each with a horse artillery battery attached.

[12] On 12 June 1794, Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's army crossed the Sambre River and the Austrian-held fortress of Charleroi was placed under siege.

The cavalry of Dubois accompanied the infantry divisions of Jean Étienne Championnet and Antoine Morlot and took post at Ransart.

As the 3rd Column under Peter Vitus von Quosdanovich deployed in front of Morlot's division, Jourdan ordered the cavalry to attack.

[19] Undeterred, Jourdan spent one day reorganizing his defeated army and then advanced across the Sambre on 18 June, reinvesting Charleroi.

The Prince of Orange's troops took position at Rouveroy to the west of Charleroi while Johann Peter Beaulieu's division blocked the road to the north at Quatre Bras.

[22] Dubois' cavalry was positioned near Ransart behind the center together with Jacques Maurice Hatry's infantry division.

Jourdan directed Dubois' cavalry to charge the enemy; the horsemen were repulsed, but Championnet's foot soldiers attacked next and regained their former positions.

[26] The Revolt of 1 Prairial Year III broke out on 20 May 1795 when a crowd of armed people, burst into the National Convention and assassinated a deputy.

Chafing at this inactive role, he asked for a transfer to the Army of Italy to replace the slain Amédée Emmanuel François Laharpe; the request was granted.