Joachim Jérôme Quiot du Passage (2 February 1775 – 12 January 1849) was a French military leader who served in the
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...
and
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
.
Military career
Early career
Joachim Jérôme Quiot du Passage joined the 3rd Volunteer Battalion of Drôme under
Claude-Victor Perrin in the fall of 1791, when he was just sixteen. Assigned to the
Army of the Alps
The Army of the Alps (''Armée des Alpes'') was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It existed from 1792–1797 and from July to August 1799, and the name was also used on and off until 1939 for France's army on its border with Italy.
1792â ...
, his unit elected him captain in 1793. He first saw battle at the
siege of Toulon
The siege of Toulon (29 August – 19 December 1793) was a military engagement that took place during the Federalist revolts of the French Revolutionary Wars. It was undertaken by Republican forces against Royalist rebels supported by Anglo-S ...
before being transferred to the
Army of the Eastern Pyrenees
The Army of the Eastern Pyrenees (''Armée des Pyrénées Orientales'') was one of the French Revolutionary armies. It fought against the Kingdom of Spain in Roussillon, the Cerdanya and Catalonia during the War of the Pyrenees. This army and th ...
. Quiot du Passage was restationed with the Army of Italy following the 1795
Peace of Basel
The Peace of Basel of 1795 consists of three peace treaties involving France during the French Revolution (represented by François de Barthélemy).
*The first was with Prussia (represented by Karl August von Hardenberg) on 5 April;
*The seco ...
that ended the
War of the Pyrenees
The War of the Pyrenees, also known as War of Roussillon or War of the Convention, was the Pyrenean front of the First Coalition's war against the First French Republic. It pitted Revolutionary France against the kingdoms of Spain and Portuga ...
. He served under
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
during his
1796-1799 campaign in Italy. He was reunited with Perrin, now a general, and served as Perrin’s aide-de-camp. Quiot was wounded at the
Battle of Rivoli
The Battle of Rivoli (14–15 January 1797) was a key victory in the French campaign in Italy against Austria. Napoleon Bonaparte's 23,000 Frenchmen defeated an attack of 28,000 Austrians under General of the Artillery Jozsef Alvinczi, e ...
and later commanded the left wing of Perrin’s division during the
Battle of Marengo
The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Mich ...
, which drove
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
out of Italy.
[Mullié, Charles. ]
Biographie des Célébrités Militaires des Armées de Terre et de Mer de 1789 à 1850
'. Paris: Poignavant et Compagnie, 1852.
Commander in Napoleonic Wars
As
aide-de-camp to Marshal
Jean Lannes
Jean Lannes, 1st Duke of Montebello, Prince of Siewierz (10 April 1769 – 31 May 1809), was a French military commander and a Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was one of Napoleon's ...
in 1805, Quiot participated in the battles of
Ulm
Ulm () is a city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Danube on the border with Bavaria. The city, which has an estimated population of more than 126,000 (2018), forms an urban district of its own (german: link=no, ...
and
Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to:
History
* Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte
Places
* Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz a ...
, before receiving his own command, that of the 100th Regiment of the Line. In 1806, he was wounded at the
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
, the decisive defeat of the
Prussian Army
The Royal Prussian Army (1701–1919, german: Königlich Preußische Armee) served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Brandenburg-Prussia as a European power.
The Prussian Army had its roots in the co ...
. His successful attack on the Prussian left flank earned him the
Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
. When the
War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition fought against Napoleon's French Empire and were defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, s ...
concluded in 1807, he moved to
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
where he served in the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
. He served in the brutal but successful
second siege of Zaragoza in 1808-1809 and was rewarded by being made a
peer of the Empire.
In 1810 Quiot defeated a Spanish division under General
Luis de Lacy
Brigadier-General Luis Roberto de Lacy, 11 January 1775 – 5 July 1817, was a Spanish professional soldier of Irish descent, who served in the Spanish and First_French_Empire, French Imperial armies.
He played a prominent role in the 1808 to ...
, taking 800 prisoners and capturing two regimental flags. During the
siege of Badajoz, he led two sorties that repelled sallies by the Spanish garrison, suffering a head wound due to canister artillery fire. In 1811, after the
Battle of the Gebora
The Battle of the Gebora was a battle of the Peninsular War between Enlightenment Spain, Spanish and First French Empire, French armies. It took place on 19 February 1811, northwest of Badajoz, Spain, where an outnumbered French force routed a ...
, he was made governor of the recently captured Portuguese city of
Campo Maior, whose fortifications were not yet repaired. When Quiot learned that a large enemy force under British General
William Carr Beresford
General William Carr Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford, 1st Marquis of Campo Maior, (; 2 October 1768 – 8 January 1854) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician. A general in the British Army and a Marshal in the Portuguese Army, he foug ...
was approaching, he led a rearguard action, defending against several cavalry charges as his main force retreated to Badajoz. For this feat he received praise from Marshal
Édouard Mortier Édouard is both a French given name and a surname, equivalent to Edward in English. Notable people with the name include:
* Édouard Balladur (born 1929), French politician
* Édouard Boubat (1923–1999), French photographer
* Édouard Colonne (1 ...
, one of the senior French generals in Iberia, and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. He served in the indecisive
Battle of Albuera
The Battle of Albuera (16 May 1811) was a battle during the Peninsular War. A mixed British, Spanish and Portuguese corps engaged elements of the French Armée du Midi (Army of the South) at the small Spanish village of Albuera, about south ...
against a combined British, Portuguese, and Spanish force before returning to France.
Quiot did not participate in the
French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign, the Second Polish War, the Army of Twenty nations, and the Patriotic War of 1812 was launched by Napoleon Bonaparte to force the Russian Empire back into the continental block ...
in 1812 but he did serve in the subsequent
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated F ...
under General
François Antoine Teste
General of Division François Antoine Teste, Baron Teste (19 November 1775 in Bagnols-sur-Cèze – 8 December 1862 Angoulême) was a French officer during the Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global co ...
. Wounded in the shoulder leading troops against the forces of Prussian Field Marshal
Friedrich Graf Kleist von Nollendorf
Friedrich Emil Ferdinand Heinrich Graf Kleist von Nollendorf (9 April 1762 – 17 February 1823), born and died in Berlin, was a Prussian field marshal and a member of the old ' family von Kleist.
Biography
Kleist entered the Prussian Army in 1 ...
, Quiot became a prisoner of war. He was not released until after the defeat of Napoleon and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchs. Made a Knight of Saint Louis by
Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...
, he administered the territory of Drôme.
Hundred Days
When Napoleon returned to France during the
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...
, Quiot rallied to the restored Emperor and received command of the 1st Division under General
Jean-Baptiste Drouet d'Erlon, replacing General Jacques Alexandre Allix de Vaux. During the 1815
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...
, his division took part in the assault on
La Haye Sainte
La Haye Sainte (named either after Jesus Christ's crown of thorns or a bramble hedge round a field nearby) is a walled farmhouse compound at the foot of an escarpment on the Charleroi-Brussels road in Belgium. It has changed very little since it ...
on the right of the British, Dutch, and Hanoverian defenses. The
King’s German Legion resisted the attack until they ran out of ammunition, but the farmhouse was not taken until it was too late to change the course of the battle.
Retirement and death
After Napoleon’s defeat and second exile, Quiot remained in good graces with the royal government. In 1823 he became a lieutenant general before retiring with a pension in 1831. He lived in Le Passage in the Isère department, serving on its
departmental council for several sessions. He died on 12 January 1849 and was buried in the Saint-Roch cemetery in
Grenoble
lat, Gratianopolis
, commune status = Prefecture and commune
, image = Panorama grenoble.png
, image size =
, caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...
. His name is inscribed on the south side of the
Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...
in
Paris, France
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quiot du Passage, Joachim Jérôme
1849 deaths
Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
1775 births
People from Drôme
French Republican military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars
People of the First French Empire
French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars
Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe