François Watrin

François Watrin (born January 29, 1772 in Beauvais , † November 22, 1802 in Port-au-Prince ) was a French Général de division of the cavalry .

Life

Enthusiastic about the ideals of the revolution , Watrin joined the army and became a supporter of Napoleon from an early age .

He took part in the Revolutionary Wars and was able to distinguish himself several times through bravery. In 1793 he joined the Armée du Nord with the rank of captain and fought under the leadership of Marshal Jean-Baptiste Jourdan at Fleurus (June 26, 1794).

Together with Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse he took part in the Irish expedition (December 1796). Under the command of General Lazare Hoche , a French expeditionary army (15,000 men) was supposed to support the Society of United Irishmen in their struggle for independence.

When an invading army was set up under the leadership of General Charles Victoire Emmanuel Leclercs to fight the rebels around Toussaint Louverture in Saint-Domingue ( Hispaniola ) (→ Haitian Revolution ), Watrin also volunteered. In 1799 he returned to France and joined the Armée d'Italie ; u. a. He fought in front of Montebello (June 9, 1800) and Marengo (June 14, 1800).

At Napoleon's request, Watrin returned to Saint-Domingue in 1802. Shortly after his arrival in Port-au-Prince, he fell ill and died there on November 22, 1802.

Honors

• His name can be found on the north pillar (6th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle ( Paris ).

literature

• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 vols.).
• Stephen Pope: The Cassell dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars . Cassell, London 1999, ISBN 0-304-35229-2 .
• Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographique des généraux & amiraux français de la Révolution et l'Émpire. 1792-1814 . Saffroy, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-901541-06-2 (reprint of the Paris 1934 edition).
• Jean Tulard (Ed.): Dictionnaire Napoléon . Fayard, Paris 1995, ISBN 2-213-02286-0 .