Jean Joseph Amable Humbert General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert ( 22 August 1767 – 3 January 1823 ) was a French soldier , a participant in the French Revolution , who led a failed invasion of Ireland to assist Irish rebels in 1798 . Born in the townland of La Coâre Saint - Nabord , outside Remiremont Vosges , he was a sergeant in the National Guard of Lyon , and rapidly advanced through the ranks to become brigadier general on 9 April 1794 , and fought in the before being allocated to the Army of the Rhine . Expeditions to Ireland . In 1794 after serving in the Army of the Coasts of Brest , Humbert served under Hoche in the Army of the Rhin - et - Moselle . Charged to prepare for an expedition against Ireland , he took command of the " Légion des Francs " under Hoche , sailing in the ill - fated Expédition d ' Irlande against Bantry Bay in 1796 , and was engaged in actions at sea against the Royal Navy . Contrary weather and enemy action forced this expedition to withdraw , on his return to France he served in the Army of the Sambre - et - Meuse , before being appointed to command the troops in another attempt to support a rising in Ireland in 1798 . His command chiefly consisted of infantry of the 70th " demi - brigade " with a few artillerymen and some cavalry of the 3rd Hussars , however by the time he arrived off the Irish coast the United Irish rising had already suffered defeat . The expedition was able to land in Ireland at Killala on Thursday 23 August 1798 , meeting with initial success in the battle of Castlebar , and subsequently declaring a " Republic of Connacht " , with hopes of taking Dublin . But his small force was defeated at the battle of Ballinamuck and he was taken as a prisoner of war by the Kingdom of Great Britain . Later Service . He was shortly repatriated in a prisoner exchange and appointed in succession to the Armies of Mayence , Danube and Helvetia , with which he served at the 2nd Battle of Zurich . He then embarked for Saint Domingo and participated in several Caribbean campaigns for Napoleon Bonaparte before being accused of plundering by General Brunet . He was returned to France by order of General Leclerc in October 1802 , for " prevarications , and liaison relationships with organisers of the inhabitants and with leaders of brigands " . A committed Republican , his displeasure at Napoleon ' s Imperial pretensions led to him being dismissed in 1803 and he retired to Morbihan in Brittany . Humbert was employed in the Army of the North in 1809 , but again retired in 1809 , then was given leave to pass into service of the United States in 1812 . He settled in New Orleans , once again fighting the British at the battle of New Orleans in the War of 1812 . In 1814 he joined the rebelling forces of Buenos Aires , before once again retiring to New Orleans , where he thereafter lived peacefully as a schoolteacher until his death . War of 1812 . Infuriated by the Kentuckians ' fleeing , Jackson directed a French General , Jean Humbert , to cross the River and retake the American position . Humbert , who had fought under Napoleon and always appeared in his old uniform was delighted to accept the assignment . But in the U . S . ranks , he was serving as a volunteer private . Since Jackson neglected to give him written authority , American officers on the west bank refused to take orders from a man who was not a citizen , and Humbert returned angrily to Jackson ' s Headquarters ( From Union 1812 : The Americans who Fought the Second War of Independence by A . J . Langguth )