He was a second lieutenant in 1868, a lieutenant in 1870, a captain in 1874 in French Senegal, and a squadron leader in 1880. He served in the Bureau of The Marine Infantry Troops and was rapporteur of the Technical Committee of the Colonies. He was then lieutenant-colonel in 1884 in Tonkin and colonel in 1887 in the colonial regiment of Brest, then in Senegal. As a young colonel in command of the 2nd Marine Infantry Regiment, he led a mission for the French Sudan Campaign in 1885–1886. He then wrote a book out of it, titled Campagne dans le Haut-Sénégal et dans le Haut-Niger (1885–1886), in 1888.
