page_title: Louis Henri Loison
section_title: Later Empire
hierarchical_section_title: Louis Henri Loison / Later Empire
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: En uniforme de sergent de grenadiers au deŭième bataillon de la Côte d'Or en 1792Português: Em uniforme de sargento de granadeiros, no segundo batalhão da Costa de Ouro em 1792
context_page_description: Louis Henri Loison briefly joined the French Army in 1787 and after the French Revolution became a junior officer. Blessed with military talent and courage, he rapidly rose to general officer rank during the French Revolutionary Wars. He also got into difficulties because of his fondness for plundering. In late 1795 he helped Napoleon Bonaparte crush a revolt against the government. After a hiatus, he returned in 1799 to fight in Switzerland where he earned another promotion. In 1800 he commanded a division under Napoleon in the Marengo Campaign.
  In 1805, Loison led a division in Napoleon's Grande Armée during the Ulm Campaign and served in the War of the Fourth Coalition in 1806 and 1807. He saw much action in the Peninsular War including all three invasions of Portugal, though not always with distinction. In Portugal he earned a bad name for his harshness and the inhabitants called him Maneta or One-Hand. For a brief period, he commanded Michel Ney's famous VI Corps. During the French invasion of Russia he assembled a reserve division, which was later destroyed by the extreme cold weather.
context_section_description: Loison commanded a division in Jean Andoche Junot's Invasion of Portugal in 1807. After first Spain and then Portugal rose in revolt, the position of Junot's 26,000 French troops became difficult. Ordered by Napoleon to send troops to Almeida, Portugal and open communications with Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bessieres, Junot sent Loison with a brigade on this mission. Loison occupied Almeida and marched against Ciudad Rodrigo, chasing off the small Spanish garrison of Fort Conception. But on 12 June 1808 he found Ciudad Rodrigo held by a powerful force and the Spanish countryside in revolt against the French. He quickly fell back on Almeida, reaching there on the 15th. Hearing that the revolt had spread to northern Portugal, he set out for Oporto with 2,000 men. On his way there he was severely harassed by Portuguese guerillas and had to turn back.
  In view of the situation, Junot decided to abandon the north and south of the country and concentrate his army in central Portugal. He ordered Loison to leave a garrison in Almeida and march to Lisbon. Maximilien Sebastien Foy claimed that only one of twenty messages got through. Culling from his ranks all the troops unfit to march, he made up a garrison of 1,200 men to hold Almeida. Leaving the garrison behind, he put the rest of his men on the road on 4 July. He successfully fought his way through partisan ambushes for a week and lost 200 men. When Guarda resisted, the place was sacked and partly burned down. His troops left such a path of destruction that Loison became feared and hated in Portugal as Maneta or One-Hand. That Loison was missing one hand is shown by an incident that occurred before the First Battle of Porto in March 1809. The day before the battle Foy was captured by a Portuguese outpost and led into the city. Believing he was the reviled Loison, the mob was about to murder their prisoner when Foy held up both hands, proving he was not Maneta and was spared.
  On 25 July 1808, Junot sent Loison to relieve Elvas with more than 7,000 troops. His command included two grenadier battalions, the 3rd Battalions of the 12th and 15th Light and the 58th Line Infantry Regiments, the 1st Hanoverian Legion, 12 companies of the 86th Line, the 4th and 5th Provisional Dragoons, and eight artillery pieces. On 29 July 1808, Loison and his small army crushed a Portuguese-Spanish force in the Battle of Évora. General Francisco de Paula Leite de Sousa's Portuguese troops included one and one-half battalions of raw regular infantry and one squadron cavalry. Leite was joined by Colonel Moretti Spanish troops, one-half battalions of regular foot soldiers and the Maria Luisa Hussar Regiment. Altogether, Leite controlled 2,900 soldiers and seven guns. Leite and Moretti unwisely drew up their outnumbered troops in the open in front of the town. Behind them, townsmen and country people armed with pikes and hunting guns manned the crumbling old walls of Évora.
  In the face of Loison's first assault, Leite's and Moretti's men took to their heels. The Spanish hussars bolted without even attempting to stop the French charge. Leite fled, but most of his men ran back to the town and tried to defend the place. The French troops were able to fight their way into the town at a number of places. In the butchery that followed, at least 2,000 Portuguese and Spanish fell, including many townspeople. French losses were 90 killed and 200 wounded. After the killing stopped, the French soldiers thoroughly sacked Évora. According to one account, the French massacred the town's entire population. Whatever the exact truth, the atrocity made it easier for the proud Portuguese to accept British aid in their struggle. Loison continued east to drive the Portuguese away from Elvas before being ordered back to Lisbon to face a new threat.
  Arthur Wellesley landed with a British army at Figueira da Foz near the end of July and pressed south. On 21 August 1808, Junot attacked Wellesley's numerically superior army in the Battle of Vimeiro. Loison's division included three battalions of Jean-Baptiste Solignac's brigade and tw
caption: Jean Andoche Junot
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