Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - Montauban an haife shi a Paris. A matsayinsa na jami'in sojan doki ya ga ayyuka da yawa a Aljeriya, amma har yanzu shi ne kawai colonel lokacin da a 1847 ya yi nasarar kama Abdel Kadir. Tsakanin Janairu 1855 da Nuwamba 1857, Montauban ya jagoranci rundunar Oran a yammacin Aljeriya. A shekara ta 1855 an tura shi ya yi yaƙi a Crimea. An nada shi a shekara ta 1858 zuwa wani kwamandan a gida, kuma a karshen shekara ta 1859 an zaba shi ya jagoranci sojojin Faransa a cikin aikin Anglo-Faransa zuwa kasar Sin
Ka yi haƙuri. Halinsa na ayyukan bai tsere wa zargi ba, amma a cikin 1862 ya karɓi daga Napoleon III, taken comte de Palikao (daga Yaƙin Palikao); an riga an sanya shi sanata. Zargin cewa ya sami wadata mai yawa ta hanyar sace tsohon fadar bazara a Peking da alama ba shi da tushe.