French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars

Rémi_Joseph_Isidore_Exelmans

Marshal Rémy Joseph Isidore Exelmans, 1st Comte Exelmans (French pronunciation: [ʁemi ʒozɛf izidɔʁ ɛɡzɛlmɑ̃], 13 November 1775 – 22 June 1852) was a distinguished French soldier of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, as well as a political figure of the following period.
His name is inscribed on the southern pillar of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

Antoine-Guillaume_Rampon

Antoine-Guillaume Rampon (16 March 1759 - 2 March 1842) joined the French army as a private soldier and rose in rank to become a general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars. He fought in many battles under Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy and Egypt. In one celebrated battle, he rallied his troops to defend the key Monte Negino redoubt against the Austrians. He saw limited service during the Napoleonic Wars. His surname can be found among the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe.

Michel_Ordener

Michel Ordener (French pronunciation: [miʃɛl ɔʁdənɛːʁ]; 2 September 1755 – 30 August 1811) was a French general of division and a commander in Napoleon's elite Imperial Guard. Of plebeian origins, he was born in L'Hôpital and enlisted as private at the age of 18 years in the Prince Condé's Legion. He was promoted through the ranks; as warrant officer of a regiment of Chasseurs à Cheval, he embraced the French Revolution in 1789. He advanced quickly through the officer ranks during the French Revolutionary Wars.
In 1804, Ordener organized and led the controversial kidnapping of the Duke d'Enghien. In 1805, he commanded a regiment of the Imperial Guard cavalry at several important battles, including the Battle of Austerlitz; although he led an energetic and opportune charge, Napoleon noted that Ordener seemed tired and predicted that the general would last only five or six years more. Ordener participated in one more campaign and then accepted a post in the Senate. Napoleon appointed him as Josephine Bonaparte's equerry, supervising the care and maintenance of her horses. He followed this with the post as governor of the Emperor's household in Compiegne, where Ordener died on 30 August 1811.

Pierre_Hugues_Victoire_Merle

Pierre Hugues Victoire Merle (26 August 1766 – 5 December 1830) was a French general during the First French Empire of Napoleon. He joined the French army as a private in 1781 but after the French Revolution, the pace of promotion quickened. He was appointed a general officer in 1794 for distinguishing himself during the War of the Pyrenees. After leading a brigade at Austerlitz in December 1805, he was promoted again. His division was in the first wave of the 1808 invasion of Spain, which precipitated the Peninsular War. In Spain, he led his division at Medina de Rioseco, Corunna, First and Second Porto, Bussaco, Sabugal, and Fuentes de Oñoro. After being sent home from Spain, Merle was assigned to lead a division in the French invasion of Russia. He led his troops at First and Second Polotsk. He embraced the Bourbon cause in 1814, retired from the army in 1816, and died at Marseilles in 1830. Merle is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe on Column 35.

François-Nicolas-Benoît_Haxo

François Nicolas Benoît, Baron Haxo (24 June 1774 – 25 June 1838) was a French Army general and military engineer during the French Revolution and First Empire. Haxo became famous in the Siege of Antwerp in 1832. He is the nephew of revolution era General Nicolas Haxo of Étival-Clairefontaine and Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in Lorraine, France.

Jean-Joseph_Ange_d'Hautpoul

Jean-Joseph Ange d'Hautpoul (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ ʒozɛf ɑ̃ʒ dopul]; 13 May 1754 – 14 February 1807) was a French cavalry general of the Napoleonic Wars. He came from an old noble family of France whose military tradition extended for several centuries.
Efforts by the French Revolutionary government to remove him from his command failed when his soldiers refused to give him up. A big, loud-voiced man, he led from the front of his troops. Although the failure of his cavalry to deploy at the Battle of Stockach (1799) resulted in a court martial, he was exonerated and went on to serve in the Swiss campaign in 1799, at the Second Battle of Stockach, the Battle of Biberach, and later at Battle of Hohenlinden. He served under Michel Ney and Joachim Murat; he was killed in Murat's massive cavalry charge of the Battle of Eylau in 1807.

Jean-Marie_Dorsenne

Jean-Marie-Pierre-François Doursenne, called Dorsenne, count Lepaige (30 April 1773 – 24 July 1812) was a French military officer of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He eventually became one of the senior commanders in the Imperial Guard.

Jean_Corbineau

Jean-Baptiste Juvénal Corbineau (1 August 1776, Marchiennes – 18 December 1848, Paris) was a French cavalry general of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. His two brothers Claude and Hercule also fought in both these wars and together the three men were known as "les trois Horaces" (the three Horatii).