page_title: André Joseph Boussart
section_title: Spain
hierarchical_section_title: André Joseph Boussart / Spain
caption_attribution_description: Part of a series chronicling the uniforms of Napoleon's Grande Armée.
context_page_description: André Joseph Boussart or André Joseph Boussard was a French soldier and general. He enlisted in the army of Habsburg Austria as a youth. A Belgian by birth, he joined the Brabant Revolution against Austria and fled to France when the rebellion collapsed. He soon found himself fighting for France during the French Revolutionary Wars. Promoted to general officer during the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria, he returned to France where he held several non-combat posts.
  He commanded a dragoon brigade during the 1805 and 1806–1807 campaigns. At Prenzlau he led a highly successful charge against forces of the Kingdom of Prussia, capturing many soldiers and cannon. After the battle his cavalry participated in the mopping up operations in Prussia. He was wounded fighting the Russians at Czarnowo and Pultusk. He transferred to Spain in 1808 where he was captured in the Bailén debacle. He was exchanged and fought in many battles at the head of Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet's cavalry during the Peninsular War. Recklessly brave, he suffered many wounds during his military career and was nearly killed at Valencia. He died of his injuries in the summer of 1813.
context_section_description: Napoleon appointed Boussart a Baron of the Empire on 19 March 1808 and posted the much-wounded veteran to Spain. In 1808 he was with Pierre Dupont de l'Étang's corps in Andalusia. He led a cavalry brigade that consisted of the 6th Provisional Dragoon Regiment and numbering 620 troopers. On 17 July his command was detached with Dominique Honoré Antoine Vedel's division to march to Bailén. However, Vedel marched beyond the town in a mistaken belief that the Spanish had seized the passes to the north. In fact, Theodor von Reding's 17,000-man Spanish corps arrived at Bailén on the 18th and occupied the town without opposition. This placed Dupont's 11,000 men squarely between Reding and Francisco Javier Castaños's corps. In the Battle of Bailén, Dupont failed to break out of trap and asked for terms. While the negotiations were going on, Vedel's division returned. Boussart's dragoons attacked and captured about 1,000 Spanish troops. When a Spanish delegation warned Vedel that there was a truce in force, he ordered his soldiers to cease fire. When Dupont ordered him to release the prisoners taken during the parley, Vedel did so. As Dupont surrendered, Vedel began retreating north in accordance with secret orders from his superior. Later, when the Spaniards threatened to massacre Dupont's men unless Vedel was included in the capitulation, Dupont sent an order to Vedel to return to Bailén and surrender. Amazingly, Vedel followed the order even though his division was not surrounded. This more than doubled the total of unwounded prisoners taken from 8,242 to 17,635. While Dupont and the French generals were returned to France, the enlisted men spent the rest of the war in prison hulks or on the bleak island of Cabrera and half of them died of disease or starvation.
  In January 1810, Boussart next appeared in the French order of battle in Spain at the head of Suchet's 1,899-strong III Corps cavalry. On 23 April at Margalef in Catalonia, Suchet encountered 7,300 Spaniards and six artillery pieces under Henry O'Donnell. The 6,000 Frenchmen included Louis François Félix Musnier's division and the 13th Cuirassier and 4th Hussar Regiments. In the event, the 500 cuirassiers won the battle almost single-handed. The French horsemen suffered 100 casualties but rode down O'Donnell's hapless troops. The Spanish lost 500 killed and wounded, plus 2,000 soldiers and four colors captured. The successful Siege of Lerida quickly followed. Between 29 April and 13 May, Suchet forced García Conde to capitulate with six generals, 307 officers, 7,000 soldiers, and 105 cannon. During the siege operations, the Spanish lost 1,700 killed and wounded while the French lost 1,000 out of the 13,000 men in III Corps.
  On 16 December 1810, Suchet's 12,000-man Army of Aragon invested Tortosa. By 2 January 1811, the Siege of Tortosa was concluded after the French inflicted 1,400 casualties on the defenders, while suffering only 400 killed and wounded. The French forced the 3,974 survivors of Conde de Alacha Lilli's garrison to surrender. Boussart's cavalry, the 13th Cuirassier, 4th Hussar, and 24th Dragoon Regiments, were present during the operation. Boussart participated in the Siege of Tarragona from 5 May to 29 June 1811. He led his three French regiments plus the Italian Napoleone Dragoon Regiment. The French besiegers lost 4,300 killed and wounded, while the Spanish defenders lost 7,000 killed and 8,000 captured. Twice during the operation, Suchet formed expeditions to chase off armies attempting to relieve the garrison.
  On 15 July 1811, Boussart commanded 1,876 cavalrymen in three regiments. In September, his command numbered 2,405 in 14 squadrons. In late summer, Suchet launched an invasion of the province of Valencia, arriving before the ancient fortress of Saguntum (Sagunto) on 23 September 1811. After the garrison repelled two French assaults, a relief army of Joaquín Blake y Joyes appeared and the two sides clashed in the Battle of Saguntum on 25 October. While the French dispersed Blake's left flank rather easily, the fighting in the center and right of
caption: Boussart's 4th Hussar Regiment
exif: {}