François-Xavier Octavie Fontaine (7 November 1762, in Saint-Remy, Haute-Saône – 17 May 1812, in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
) served in the French military in the
American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, the
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...
, and the
Napoleonic Wars
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Napoleonic Wars
, partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
, image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg
, caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
.
Biography
Fontaine enlisted in 1778 and participated in the American Revolution from 1779 to 1782, under command of Rochambeau. In particular, he distinguished himself at the
Siege of Pensacola
The siege of Pensacola, fought from March 9 to May 10, 1781, was the culmination of Spain's conquest of West Florida during the Gulf Coast Campaign of the American Revolutionary War.
The siege was commanded by Bernardo de Gálvez, whose near ...
in 1781.
Wounded at the Siege of Menin, receiving a bayonet stab in the chest. On 1 May 1793, he was appointed
lieutenant
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...
in the 19th Regiment of Chasseurs, and campaigned in
Vendée
Vendée () is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.Battle of Ostrach, he was attached to the Advanced Guard, commanded by
François Joseph Lefebvre
François Joseph Lefebvre, Duke of Danzig ( , ; 25 October 1755 – 14 September 1820) was a French military commander of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, and one of the original eighteen Marshals of the Empire created by N ...
, and he was caught between the Austrian and French fire at the village of Hosskirch; his troops took heavy casualties. Unable to escape from the village without being defeated, he took advantage of a thick fog to hide his column. He maneuvered through the channel of the Ostrach and managed to join with the 2nd Division at Riedhausen. Jourdan praised him for his coolness and courage under fire in this dangerous and difficult withdrawal. Later that same year, while in the Army of the Rhine, he was at the siege of Philipsburg.
Following the campaigns against Austria and Prussia in 1805 and 1806, he went to Spain, where he participated in the Peninsular War. He returned to France in 1810; Napoleon raised him to ''baron of the empire'' and he died in Paris, 17 May 1812.