Louis Pierre Aimé, baron Chastel (; 29 April 1774, in Veigy, near Carouge,

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

– 26 September 1826, in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

) was a French officer in the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

, who rose to lieutenant general of cavalry.

Early career

Chastel first joined up in 1792, in the

légion des Allobroges The Légion des Allobroges was a unit of the French Revolutionary Army that consisted mainly of volunteers from Switzerland, Piedmont and Savoy. The Legion's name refers to the Allobroges, a Gallic tribe in Roman times. Reviving Roman names and co ...

, under

Jacques François Dugommier Jacques François Coquille (), known as Dugommier (; 1 August 1738 – 18 November 1794), was a French military leader during the French Revolutionary Wars. Early life and career Jacques François Coquille was born on 1 August 1738 in Trois ...

, was then transferred to the

armée des Pyrénées One of the French Revolutionary armies, the Army of the Pyrenees (''Armée des Pyrénées'') was created by a decree of the National Convention dated 1 October 1792 and formed out of the right wing of the Armée du Midi. At the outbreak of the Wa ...

and saw service in Italy. He took part in Bonaparte campaign in Egypt, where he discovered the

Dendera Zodiac The sculptured Dendera zodiac (or Denderah zodiac) is a widely known Art of ancient Egypt, Egyptian bas-relief from the ceiling of the ''pronaos'' (or portico) of a chapel dedicated to Osiris in the Dendera Temple complex, Hathor temple at Dende ...

Austerlitz

He was made major en second (Lieutenant Colonel) of the mounted grenadiers of the

Imperial Guard An imperial guard or palace guard is a special group of troops (or a member thereof) of an empire, typically closely associated directly with the emperor and/or empress. Usually these troops embody a more elite status than other imperial force ...

, in 1803, following Austerlitz, where his bravery got him recognised by Napoleon.

Peninsular War

He then fought in Spain during the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

, including

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...

, becoming an officer of the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

in November 1808.

Russian Campaign

In 1812 he was summoned to join the

French invasion of Russia The French invasion of Russia, also known as the Russian campaign (), the Second Polish War, and in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812 (), was initiated by Napoleon with the aim of compelling the Russian Empire to comply with the Continenta ...

where he led the 3rd Light Cavalry Division in the III Cavalry Corps. His bravery at

Borodino The Battle of Borodino ( ) or Battle of Moscow (), in popular literature also known as the Battle of the Generals, took place on the outskirts of Moscow near the village of Borodino on 7 September 1812 during Napoleon's invasion of Russia. T ...

gained him a mention in dispatches in the June 1815 bulletin during the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days ( ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition (), marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII o ...

Hundred Days

During the return of Napoleon to power, Chastel served as commanding officer of 10th Cavalry Division together with Major General

Jean Baptiste Alexandre Strolz Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Baron de Strolz, sometimes written Stroltz, (; 6 August 1771 – 27 October 1841), was a French general during the Napoleonic Wars, and subsequently an important political figure. He was chief of staff to André Masséna ...

' 9th Cavalry Division in General Exelman's II Corps of the

armée du Nord The Army of the North or is a name given to several historical units of the French Army. The first was one of the French Revolutionary Armies that fought with distinction against the First Coalition from 1792 to 1795. Others existed during th ...

Battle of Ligny

On 16 June, Exelman's II, Cavalry Corps held the right flank in Napoleon's last victory. Recognizing the position of 20,000 Prussians at Gembloux, Exelman's cavalry commanders Strolz and Chastel, heavily outnumbered were unable to interfere with the Prussian retreat on 17 June, having only 3,000 cavalry under their command.

Waterloo

During the

battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

, Chastel's 10th Cavalry Division fought at Wavre holding the extreme right flank on the east bank of the Dyle River while Strolz watched the far left flank on the west bank.

Rocquencourt and Le Chesnay

On 1 July 1815, Napoleon's Grande Armée fought its last battle in Rocquencourt and Le Chesnay, when Strolz' 2nd Cavalry Division, their rear covered by Chastel, together with three battalions of the 44th Line Infantry Regiment, and a half battalion of the Sèvres National Guard hunted down Oberstleutnant Eston von Sohr's Prussian cavalry brigade, wrecking the 3rd Brandenburg and 5th Pommeranian Hussar Regiments.

Distinctions

*Chevalier de la Légion d' Honneur. (1803) *Officier de la Légion d' Honneur. (1808) *Chastel's name is engraved on the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Plac ...

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chastel, Louis Pierre Aime French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars 1774 births 1826 deaths Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe