Jean - Marie Defrance Jean - Marie Defrance ( 1771 – 1855 ) was a French General of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars . He was also a member of the Council of Five Hundred ( the lower house of the legislative branch of the French government under The Directory ) , and a teacher at the military school of Rebais , Champagne . Defrance had an extensive and successful military career in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars . After the First Battle of Zurich , he refused a battlefield promotion to brigadier general , asking instead for a cavalry regiment ; he received command of the 12th Regiment of " Chasseurs - a - Cheval " ( light cavalry ) as " Chef - de - Brigade " , a rank equivalent to colonel . He led this brigade in the campaigns of 1799 – 1800 in southwestern Germany and northern Italy . By 1805 , he had been promoted to brigadier general . At the Battle of Austerlitz and the Battle of Jena - Auerstadt , he commanded a cavalry brigade of " carabinier s " in Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty ' s First Division . By the Battle of Borodino in September 1812 , he had been promoted to general of division , commanding the 4th Cuirassier Division of Nansouty ' s reserves , where they charged the Shevardino redoubt . He fought his way across Germany to the Rhine River after the French loss at Leipzig and participated in the Six Days Campaign . In the Hundred Days , he commanded part of Jean Maximilien Lamarque s Army of the West . At the second Bourbon Restoration , he retained his titles and honors and subsequently held several command posts until retirement in 1829 . He died in 1855 . Family . Jean - Marie Defrance was born on 21 September 1771 at Vassy , in the Champagne province and died 6 July 1855 . On his mother ' s side , he was the grandson of the French writer Pierre Chompré ( 16981750 ) ; his father , Jean - Claude Defrance , was the medical doctor at the Royal Military School of Rebais , in Champagne . Jean - Marie Defrance married the daughter of the richest jeweler in Paris , by the name Foncier . Military career . Defrance was stationed in Santo Domingo during the first Haitian revolt and served in the volunteers " Cape Dragoons " . On his return to France in 1792 , he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the cavalry regiment " royal - étranger " . After serving in the Army of the North , he was appointed adjutant - general brigadier in the Army of Sambre - et - Meuse . He also served in the Council of the Five Hundred . Defrance also served in the Swiss Campaign of 1799 as divisional Chief of Staff of the 1st Division of Jean - Baptiste Jourdan ' s Army of the Danube ; after the losses at the battles of Ostrach and Stockach in March 1799 , the Army of the Danube was combined with the Army of Helvetia , under the command of Andre Massena . Defrance continued in his capacity as divisional chief of staff . At the First Battle of Zurich in June 1799 , he was appointed on the field as brigadier general , an honor which he declined , asking instead to be given command of a cavalry regiment . He received command of the 12th Regiment of " Chasseurs - a - Cheval . " As " Chef - de - Brigade " , the equivalent of colonel in France ' s revolutionary - era field army , Defrance went to Italy and participated in the actions leading up to the Battle of Marengo . During the winter of 18001801 , he campaigned in the Grisons in Switzerland and returned to France after the Treaty of Lunéville in 1801 . Career during the Napoleonic Wars . In 1803 , with Napoleon ' s military reorganization , the title " Chef - de - Brigade " reverted to colonel ; Defrance retained his command of the 12th Regiment of " Chasseurs - a - Cheval " . He was named Officer of the Légion d ' honneur on 14 June 1804 . On 1 February 1805 , he accepted a promotion to brigadier general and commanded a brigade in the Danube campaign against Austria and Russia at the battles of Ulm and Austerlitz . In 1806 , he campaigned against Kingdom of Prussia and Russia at the Battle of Jena - Auerstadt . There , and at the Battle of Friedland on 14 June 1807 , he commanded a carabinier brigade — the first and second regiments — in Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty ' s First Division . Napoleon raised him to Count of the Empire on 2 July 1808 . At the Battle of Wagram ( 1809 ) , he again commanded the carabinier brigade . The confiscation of the Prussian cavalry and draft stock required supervision to integrate the acquisitions into the Grande Armée . After completing several terms as an inspector general of cavalry , Defrance was appointed general of division in August 1811 and joined Joachim Murat ' s Cavalry in February 1812 for Napoleon ' s Invasion of Russia . At the Battle of Borodino , he commanded 4th Cuirassier Division , which included three brigades and two horse artillery units of 12 guns . These were assigned to Nansouty ' s Reserves and assaulted the Shevardino redoubt on 5 – 6 September . During the Saxon campaign , Defrance was appointed Inspector General for the Grande Armée . He also commanded the 4th Heavy Cavalry Division at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813 , and one of his brigades remained at Lindenau to cover a possible retreat . In January 1814 , for the last few months of Napoleon ' s rule , Defrance commanded four regiments of Imperial Guard and fought in the action of 11 February at Montmirail , during the Six Days Campaign . On 7 March , with much smaller force than his opponent , he repulsed the Russian assault at Rheims , but on 12 March was forced to relinquish the city as more Coalition troops arrived . The following day , he attacked the Russian cavalry , but was again forced to withdraw when faced with superior numbers . Late military career . During the first Bourbon Restoration , Louis XVIII appointed Defrance as inspector general of cavalry . During the Hundred Days , Napoleon ' s brief return to France , Jean - Marie Defrance commanded part of the " Armée de l ' Ouest " . This Army of the West was also called the Army of the Vendée and the Army of the Loire . Under overall command of Jean Maximilien Lamarque , one of Napoleon ' s fiercest supporters , it was formed to suppress potential Royalist insurrection in the Vendée region of France . Defrance did not participate in the Battle of Rocheserviere , in which Lemarque ' s army brutally crushed the anticipated Vendéen uprising . He remained instead at his post of the 18th military division , inspecting the cavalry depots in the upper Loire . Defrance retained his rank after the second restoration and commanded the First Military Division in Paris from 1819 to 1822 . He also taught at the military school in Rebais . Defrance ' s name is engraved on the east side of the Arc de Triomphe .