Étienne Hastrel de Rivedoux Étienne d ' Hastrel de Rivedoux was a general of the First French Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars . He was born 4 February 1766 at Pointe - aux - Trembles in Quebec , which was then the British colony , Province of Québec , the son of an officer in the French military . His father had served in India during the Seven Years War , and later in Quebec . The son of rural nobility , he attended the Royal Military School in Paris as a gentleman - cadet . After his graduation , Hastrel occupied several junior positions . During the French Revolution in 1789 , and its subsequent political and social upheavals , he affirmed his loyalty to France . Described by his colleagues as naturally talented , quickly moved into the ranks of the general staff , filling increasingly important positions in several French field armies , including the Army of the Rhine , the Army of the Danube , the Army of Helvetia , and the Grande Armée . He also managed an autonomous division of engineers and sappers during the Peninsular War . After the Bourbon Restoration , he retained his titles and honors . He was recalled from retirement in 1830 , during the July Revolution . He died 19 September 1846 at Versailles . Family . Étienne d ' Hastrel descended from a family of rural notables . He was the son of Christophe Claude d ' Hastrel of Rivedoux , a second son of the Lord of Rivedoux , Pierre Bruno d ' Hastrel . His mother , Marie Anne Lienard de Boisjoly married his father , Christophe Claude d ' Hastrel , a gentleman from the Île de Ré , a small island off the coast of France near La Rochelle , on 12 February 1760 in Neuville . The senior d ' Hastrel was a captain in the Languedoc Regiment , in a company of grenadiers . He participated in the Siege of Pondicherry in the Seven Years War . Etienne d ' Hastrel ' s elder brother , Jacques Bruno D ' Hastrel , " ecuyer " ( equerry ) , Chevalier , and Lord of Rivedoux , was a Knight of the Order of Saint Louis . Upon their father ' s death in 1782 , he inherited the family estates and titles . Etienne Hastrel was married twice , first in 1796 to his cousin Marie - Josephe d ' Hastrel Rivedoux ( b . 1767 ) , who died 18 January 1801 . He married later to an Alsatian , Louise Zäpffel or Zöpffel , the sister of Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke . He and his second wife had a son , Adolphe Hastrel de Rivedoux ( 1805 – 1875 ) , artillery captain and traveler , but best known as a painter and print maker . Military career . Étienne d ' Hastrel was admitted to the Royal Military School in Paris as a gentleman - cadet , with the rank of sous - lieutenant on 11 September 1781 . When he graduated on 8 May 1784 , he joined the Artois Regiment — later the 48th Infantry Regiment — as a lieutenant . He was present at Rennes during the turmoil immediately following the Revolution , particularly divisive in the military . Some of soldiers , and indeed of some of the officers , suspected the loyalty of fellow officers remained with the old regime . Hastrel worried that the officers could no longer command the obedience of the troops , and recounted in his journal : " The reception of the tri - color occasioned a scene of insubordination , which deprived us of several officers and served as a pretext to the revolutionaries to inspire defiance among the soldiers . At the moment when the flag was blessed and given to the battalion , the commander gave the orders to leave the church , but the soldiers would not budge . Stirred up by the youths who had assisted with the ceremony , they declared that they would not leave the old flag to be hung from the church vaults . . . We could not enforce our commands . . . Seeing his authority ignored , the commander left the church and was followed by six or seven other officers . Then " Capitaine Sermizelles " , who had stayed , took the flag and gave it to the priest to be hung in the church . . . [ T ] he battalion . . . returned to the barracks in order . " He was promoted to captain with the campaign of the Vosges on 13 April 1792 . He participated in the engagements at Frankfurt am Main and Hochheim and Siege of Mainz ( 1793 ) , and a small engagement at Bingen . Subsequently he was named adjutant staff major of the Army of the Rhine on 11 July 1793 . In 1799 , he was appointed to Jean - Baptiste Jourdan ' s general staff of the Army of the Danube , garrisoned initially in Strasbourg . After crossing the Rhine in early March , the Army engaged Archduke Charles ' Austrian troops at the battles of Ostrach and Stockach . Following defeat at Ostrach , the army was reorganized with the Army of Helvetia , under command of André Masséna . Hastrel received a staff appointment in Milan . François Antoine Louis Bourcier served with Hastrel in the Army of the Danube . In 1800 , he described Hastrel to François Nicolas Fririon : In 1804 , Etienne Hastrel became a member of the Legion of Honor . For the campaigns of 1805 against Austria , of 1806 against Prussia , and of 1807 against Poland , he served on the staffs of Antoine - François Andréossy . While in Warsaw in 1807 , he was promoted to general of brigade . Upon his return to Germany , Hastrel was appointed to the staff of the Prince of Ponte - Corvo , Jean - Baptiste Bernadotte , on 20 August 1809 and , later , to the staff of Nicolas Oudinot in Holland . Etienne Hastrel also served as the military governor of Neumarkt , in Küstrin , Pomerania , 15 February 1807 to May 1807 , and in the military government of Hamburg . In 1809 , Napoleon sent Etienne Hastrel to Spain , to command the engineer park attached to French army . This included three companies of miners , nine companies of sappers , a battalion of mariners , another of sailors , four companies of " pontonniers " ( bridge builders ) , four companies of pioneers ( engineers ) , two companies of artillery , and park ' s own medical detachment , close to 5 , 000 men . On June 1810 , he was rewarded as Commander of the Legion of Honor . As chief of general staff of the Provisional Army of Germany , and later major general ( after 1811 ) he was appointed 13 March 1812 as director - general of military conscription , a position which he held until the peace of 1814 . Bourbon restoration . Louis XVIII named him a Knight of Order of Saint Louis upon the restoration and placed him command of the military of the Vosges in October . During the Hundred Days , Napoleon appointed him as director of the Ministry of War . In 1816 , the King appointed him to various inspector generalships from 1816 to 1823 , and he retired in 1825 . During the July Revolution of 1830 , he was recalled to the general staff , but he retired permanently in 1832 . He became a grand officer of the Legion of Honor on 8 May 1835 . During his retirement , he wrote his " memoires " , which were published in 1833 . He died 19 September 1846 at his home in Versailles and is buried at Cemetery of Notre Dame , at Versailles . Sixty - one of his letters , written between 1806 and 1841 , are preserved at the Public Library of France , under the title " Belgique , Les fètes de Bruges " .