Louis Ordonneau

Louis Ordonneau (born July 23, 1770 in Saint-Maurice , † September 29, 1855 in Autouillet ) was a French Général de brigade of the infantry .

Live and act

Ordonneau came from a humble background, his ancestors were farmers from the Poitou-Charente region. He himself worked as a salesman. Enthusiastic about the ideals of the revolution , he reported on July 14, 1789 (→ Storming the Bastille ) in Bordeaux for the National Guard . Due to the restructuring of the guard by the Marquis de La Fayette , Ordonneau was dismissed on September 6, 1791.

He went to Paris and after several jobs Ordonneau entered the army as a grenadier on September 5, 1792 . He was soon able to distinguish himself through bravery in the coalition wars and was promoted to sergent major on November 11, 1793 . His career then led him from Sous-lieutenant (February 7, 1793), to Lieutenant (October 13, 1793) to the aide-de-camp of General Guillaume Philibert Duhesme (December 21, 1794).

Between 1808 and 1813 Ordonneau fought in the Napoleonic Wars on the Iberian Peninsula .

On June 28, 1813 Ordonneau was promoted to Général de brigade. At the beginning of 1814 he was able to return to France with his troops and was transferred to the staff of General Claude-Marie Meunier .

After the Battle of Paris (March 30, 1814) and Napoleon's abdication (→ Abdication ), Ordonneau was appointed military governor of the Île de Ré with effect from August 31, 1815 and remained in office and dignity even during Napoleon's rule of the Hundred Days . On October 29, 1817 he gave up this post and was put up for disposition .

Soon, however, Ordonneau took on various military tasks and on the occasion of the campaign to Spain in April 1823 he returned to active service. He fought under the command of Louis-Antoine d'Artois, duc d'Angoulême . When the Trienio Liberal came to an end after the Battle of Trocadero (August 31, 1823) and King Ferdinand VII was able to return to the throne, Ordonneau returned to France.

In 1829 Ordonneau was given temporary retirement. King Karl X and his successor, King Louis-Philippe I would have liked to see him on the political stage, but he was not available for any office.

In 1835 Ordonneau was officially released into retirement. He settled in Autouillet and died there on September 29, 1855.

Honors

• June 18, 1802 Saber of Honor (personally presented by Napoleon Bonaparte)
• June 1803 Chevalier of the Legion of Honor
• June 1804 Officer of the Legion of Honor
• 29 July 1814 Chevalier des Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis
• January 1815 Baron de l'Émpire
• February 14, 1816 Commander of the Legion of Honor
• May 1, 1821 Grand Officier of the Legion of Honor
• November 22, 1823 Order of Ferdinand
• October 29, 1826 Commandeur des Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis
• His name can be found on the western pillar (37th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris)

literature

• Philip J. Haythornthwaite : Who Was Who in Napoleonic Wars . Arms & Armor, London 1998, ISBN 1-85409-391-6 .
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébritès militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 vol.)
• Stephen Pope: The Cassell Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars . Cassell, London 1999, ISBN 0-304-35229-2 .
• Georges Six: Dictionnaire biography des généraux & amiraux français de la révolution et de l'émpire. 1792-1814 . Saffroy, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-901541-06-2 (reprint of the Paris 1934 edition)
• Digby Smith : The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book . Greenhill, London 1998, ISBN 1-85367-276-9 .