Louis Baraguey d ' Hilliers Louis Baraguey d ' Hilliers ( 13 August 1764 – 6 January 1813 ) was a French Army general who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars . He was the father of Achille Baraguey d ' Hilliers , a Marshal of France , and the father - in - law of General Damrémont , governor - general of Algeria . French Revolution . Louis Baraguay d ' Hilliers was born in Paris . He was a minor noble and entered the French Army as a lieutenant in 1784 . At the start of the French Revolutionary Wars , he decided to remain in France . By 1793 , he had been promoted during the siege of Mainz to général de brigade and served as chief of staff to Adam Custine . When Custine was arrested , Baraguey d ' Hilliers was arrested as well . Luckier than his chief who died under the guillotine , he was released after the overthrow and execution of Maximilien Robespierre . In 1796 , Baraguey d ' Hilliers commanded part of Paris against insurgents . After another spell in prison on suspicion of royalist tendencies , he was posted to Louis Hoche ' s army . Transferred to Italy , he served under Napoléon Bonaparte as governor of Lombardy . He was involved in the capture of Bergamo . He led a brigade in Gabriel Rey ' s division at the Battle of Rivoli . Promoted to général de division in 1797 he was appointed governor of Venice . In 1798 , he accompanied Bonaparte to Egypt but after the French captured Malta he was sent back to France with the trophies . However , on his way back his ship was intercepted by the Royal Navy and he became a prisoner . After his release he faced a court martial but was acquitted . Then he joined Jacques MacDonald as his chief of staff . In 1800 , he fought under Laurent de Gouvion Saint - Cyr at the Battle of Stockach on 3 May and six days later at Biberach . Later he was assigned to guard the Valtellina . Napoleonic Wars . In 1801 , Baraguey d ' Hilliers was appointed Inspector General of infantry and in 1804 he became colonel general of the dragoons . He commanded a dragoon division of the cavalry reserve during the campaign of 1805 . He fought under Marshal Michel Ney at the Battle of Elchingen . In 1808 he again became governor of Venice . During the campaign of 1809 Baraguey d ' Hilliers served under Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais . At the Battle of Piave River he commanded a two - division corps . He also distinguished himself at the Battle of Raab where he led one division of his corps . He then served for some time as governor of the County of Tyrol with orders to pacify the region . In 1810 he was sent to Spain where he served in Catalonia . Recalled from Spain , he served in the Russian campaign of 1812 where his troops were assigned to guard Smolensk after that city was captured by the French . During the retreat from Moscow , Emperor Napoleon ordered Baraguey d ' Hilliers to march east to meet him . However , instead of joining Napoleon , his division marched into the jaws of the advancing Russian army . The Russians surrounded one of his brigades and forced it to surrender on November 9 . For this incident , Baraguey d ' Hilliers fell into disgrace with the emperor . He died in January 1813 in Berlin .