Louis Friant (18 September 1758 – 24 June 1829) was born in the village of Morlancourt

Morlancourt

Morlancourt is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Geography:Morlancourt is situated on the D42 road, some northeast of Amiens.-Population:-Personalities:* Louis Friant , French General, was born here....

, 8 km south of Albert

Albert, Somme

Albert is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.It is located about halfway between Amiens and Bapaume.-History:Albert was founded as a Roman outpost called Encre, in about 54 BC...

 near the river Somme

Somme River

The Somme is a river in Picardy, northern France. The name Somme comes from a Celtic word meaning tranquility. The department Somme was named after this river....

. The village would later suffer the misfortune of lying along the Western Front trench-lines of World War I.

Early life and French Revolutionary Wars

The son of a wax-maker, Louis enlisted in the Gardes Françaises

Gardes Françaises

The Gardes Françaises was one of the two non-ceremonial infantry regiments in the "Maison du Roi" of the French Army under the Ancien Régime. The other regiment was the Gardes Suisses, which made the Gardes Françaises the only one recruited from France.-History:The regiment was created in 1563 by...

 in February 1781, at age 22. He rose to the rank of Corporal before leaving the service in 1787. With the outbreak of the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

, Louis volunteered for the Garde Nationale of Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 in September 1789. He was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the 9e Battalion de Paris in September 1792, leading that battalion on the German frontier under the Army of the Moselle until wounded in the left leg on 16 December 1793.

Returning to action as Colonel of the 181e Demi-Brigade in March 1794, Friant took part in the great victory of Fleurus

Battle of Fleurus (1794)

In the Battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794, the army of the First French Republic under General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan faced the Coalition Army commanded by Prince Josias of Coburg in the most decisive battle of the Flanders Campaign in the Low Countries during the French Revolutionary Wars...

 (a stone's throw from the future battlefield of Ligny/St-Amand) on 26 June 1794. He was briefly acting-commander of a brigade (July 1794) and a division (August 1794). He served at the sieges of Maastricht

Maastricht

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...

 (October 1794) and Luxemburg

Luxembourg (city)

The city of Luxembourg , also known as Luxembourg City , is a commune with city status, and the capital of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg...

 (April 1795). He was promoted to Général de Brigade on 13 June 1795.

After a period as Military Governor of Luxemburg, Friant served with the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse in 1796 along the Rhine. In January 1797 he joined Bernadotte

Charles XIV John of Sweden

Charles XIV & III John, also Carl John, Swedish and Norwegian: Karl Johan was King of Sweden and King of Norway from 1818 until his death...

's Division of the Army of Italy

Army of Italy (France)

The Army of Italy was a Field army of the French Army stationed on the Italian border and used for operations in Italy itself. Though it existed in some form in the 16th century through to the present, it is best known for its role during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic...

. He served at the Battle of the Tagliamento (16 March 1797), and assumed command of the 5th Brigade, 3rd Division (30e and 55e Ligne) from June 1797.

Egypt

Friant commanded the 2nd Brigade (61e and 88e Ligne) of General Desaix's division in Egypt, taking part in the Battle of the Pyramids

Battle of the Pyramids

The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was fought on July 21, 1798 between the French army in Egypt under Napoleon Bonaparte, and local Mamluk forces. It occurred during France's Egyptian Campaign and was the battle where Napoleon put into use one of his significant...

 (21 July 1798), and in Desaix's brilliant campaign in Upper Egypt. He was provisionally promoted to Général de Division on 4 September 1799, and succeeded Desaix as commander in Upper Egypt after Desaix departed to play his decisive but fatal part in the Marengo campaign. Friant took a lead role in the suppression of the great revolt in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

 in March–April 1800. Confirmed in the rank of Général de Division and named Governor of Alexandria

Alexandria

Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

 in September 1800, he fought the British at the Second Battlle of Aboukir

Battle of Abukir (1801)

The Battle of Abukir of 8 March 1801 was the second battle of the Egyptian campaign in the French Revolutionary Wars, to be fought at Abu Qir on the Mediterranean coast, near the Nile delta. A British army of 5,000 led by General Ralph Abercromby landed along the beach to dislodge an entrenched...

 (8 March 1801), and defended Alexandria through August 1801.

Repatriated with the remnants of the Army of the Orient, Friant served as an Inspector-General of Infantry in 1801-03 before joining the Corps of his brother-in-law Davout

Louis Nicolas Davout

Louis-Nicolas d'Avout , better known as Davout, 1st Duke of Auerstaedt, 1st Prince of Eckmühl, was a Marshal of France during the Napoleonic Era. His prodigious talent for war along with his reputation as a stern disciplinarian, earned him the title "The Iron Marshal"...

 at the Camp of Bruges

Bruges

Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....

. There, he molded the 2ème Division, III Corps into "what arguably became the finest line division on the face of the earth" (Bowden, Napoleon and Austerlitz).

High days of the Empire

In the Ulm-Austerlitz campaign of 1805, Friant's Division earned a reputation for rapid and effective marching. This quality was put to excellent use when the Division was summoned from Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 to reinforce the Grande Armée at Austerlitz

Battle of Austerlitz

The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...

, marching 70 miles in 46 hours and arriving just in time to counterattack the Allies at Tellnitz and Sokolnitz on the morning of 2 December 1805. In the ferocious fighting along the Goldbach stream, Friant had three horses killed under him.

Friant was awarded the Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honor on 27 December 1805. In the 1806 campaign, at the Battle of Auerstädt

Battle of Jena-Auerstedt

The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...

 (14 October 1806) in which Davout's III Corps of 26,000 men faced and defeated the Prussian main body of 63,000, Friant's Division advanced on the right, turning the Prussian left flank. The infantry of Friant and Gudin

Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière

Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière, count, was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.-Early career and Revolutionary Wars:...

, standing in square, withstood and shattered a massive cavalry attack led by Blücher

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Fürst von Wahlstatt , Graf , later elevated to Fürst von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall who led his army against Napoleon I at the Battle of the Nations at Leipzig in 1813 and at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 with the Duke of Wellington.He is...

 himself.

In the Polish campaign, Friant's Division fought successfully at the forcing of the Ukra River on 24 December 1806. At the Battle of Eylau

Battle of Eylau

The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...

, Friant's Division arrived to reinforce the French right on the morning of 8 February 1807, helping to turn a near-defeat into a stalemate. Friant suffered a gunshot wound to his right side at Eylau.

Friant was named Comte de l'Empire on 5 October 1808.

In the 1809 campaign, Friant's Division fought with distinction at Teugen-Hausen

Battle of Teugen-Hausen

The Battle of Teugen-Hausen or the Battle of Thann was fought on 19 April 1809 between the French III Corps led by Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout and the Austrian III Armeekorps commanded by Prince Friedrich Franz Xaver of Hohenzollern-Hechingen. The French won a hard-fought victory over their...

 (19 April), Abensberg

Battle of Abensberg

The Battle of Abensberg took place on 20 April 1809, between a Franco-German force under the command of Emperor Napoleon I of France and a reinforced Austrian corps led by Feldmarschall-Leutnant Archduke Louis of Austria. As the day wore on, Feldmarschall-Leutnant Johann von Hiller arrived with...

 (21 April), Eckmühl

Battle of Eckmühl

The Battle of Eckmühl fought on 21 April – 22 April 1809, was the turning point of the 1809 Campaign, also known as the War of the Fifth Coalition...

 (22 April), and Ratisbon

Battle of Ratisbon

The Battle of Ratisbon, also called the Battle of Regensburg, of the Napoleonic Wars was fought on the 23 April 1809 between the army of the First French Empire, led by Napoleon I, and that of the Austrian Empire, led by Archduke Charles...

 (23 April). At the Battle of Wagram

Battle of Wagram

The Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...

 on 6 July 1809, Friant was wounded in the shoulder by a shell fragment during the successful storming of the Square Tower at Markgrafneusiedl.

Russia, Germany, France

In the Russian campaign of 1812, Friant commanded the 2e Division of Davout's I Corps. Nominated as commander of the Grenadiers à Pied de la Vieille Garde in August 1812, Friant remained at the head of his Division. He was wounded at the Battle of Smolensk

Battle of Smolensk (1812)

The Battle of Smolensk, the first major battle of the French invasion of Russia took place on August 16–18, 1812, between 175,000 men of the Grande Armée under Napoleon Bonaparte and 130,000 Russians under Barclay de Tolly, though only about 50,000 and 60,000 respectively were actually engaged...

 (17 August) and severely wounded during the capture of Semenovskaya village at the Battle of Borodino

Battle of Borodino

The Battle of Borodino , fought on September 7, 1812, was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the French invasion of Russia and all Napoleonic Wars, involving more than 250,000 troops and resulting in at least 70,000 casualties...

 (7 September 1812). Incapacitated and left behind at Ghjat, he was still there with his wounds unhealed when the retreating army returned to Ghjat at the end of October.

Friant returned to France to recover from his wounds in January 1813. He returned to the front in June 1813, commanding the Old Guard Division at the Battles of Dresden

Battle of Dresden

The Battle of Dresden was fought on 26–27 August 1813 around Dresden, Germany, resulting in a French victory under Napoleon I against forces of the Sixth Coalition of Austrians, Russians and Prussians under Field Marshal Schwartzenberg. However, Napoleon's victory was not as complete as it could...

 (26 August), Leipzig

Battle of Leipzig

The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...

 (16–19 October), and Hanau

Battle of Hanau

The Battle of Hanau was fought on between Karl Philipp von Wrede’s Austro-Bavarian corps and Napoleon's retreating French during the War of the Sixth Coalition....

 (30 October 1813).

In the 1814 campaign in France, Friant and his 1st Division of the Old Guard fought a successful defensive action against Gyulai's Austrians at Bar-sur-Aube

Battle of Bar-sur-Aube

The Battle of Bar-sur-Aube was fought on February 27, 1814, between the First French Empire and the Austrian Empire. The French were led by Nicolas Oudinot, while the Austrians and their Bavarian allies, forming the Army of Bohemia, were led by Karl Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg...

 on 24 January. Friant took part in Napoleon's surprise counter-offensive against Blücher's Army of Silesia, gaining victories at Montmirail

Battle of Montmirail

The Battle of Montmirail was a battle fought near Montmirail, France, during the Six Days Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. It was fought on February 11, 1814, and resulted in the victory of the French under Emperor Napoleon I over the Russians under General Fabian Wilhelm von Osten-Sacken and the...

 (11 February), Château-Thierry

Battle of Château-Thierry (1814)

The Battle of Château-Thierry occurred on 12 February 1814 between a Prussian army under Marshal von Blücher and the French under Emperor Napoleon I...

 (12 February), and Vauchamps

Battle of Vauchamps

The Battle of Vauchamps, the final major engagement of the Six Days Campaign of the War of the Sixth Coalition, was fought on 14 February 1814...

 (14 February 1814). Friant's Old Guard was the core and reserve of the Emperor's masse de manoeuvre. They were committed to battle in the bloody and indecisive clash at Craonne

Battle of Craonne

The Battle of Craonne was fought on March 7, 1814, and resulted in a French victory under Napoleon I against Russians and Prussians under General Blücher.Craonne is a village on the Chemin des Dames, in the département of Aisne....

 (7 March 1814), the reverse at Laon

Battle of Laon

The Battle of Laon was the victory of Blücher's Prussian army over Napoleon's French army near Laon.-Prelude:An Allied coalition attempted to complete the destruction of Napoleon's French Empire in 1814. France had been defeated in Russia in 1812 and in Central Europe in 1813...

 (9–10 March), the recapture of Reims

Battle of Reims (1814)

The Battle of Reims was fought at Reims on 13 March 1814 between the French Empire and a Russian-Prussian force. The French, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, were victorious.- Background :...

 (13 March), and the defeat at Arcis-sur-Aube

Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube

The Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube was Napoleon’s penultimate battle before his abdication and exile to Elba...

, (20 March).

Waterloo and final years

During Napoleon's exile, Friant was retained as commander of the grenadiers à pied de France. In the campaign of the Hundred Days

Hundred Days

The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...

, he was Colonel-in-Chief of the Grenadiers à Pied de la Vieille Garde. His men made the final assault on Ligny

Battle of Ligny

The Battle of Ligny was the last victory of the military career of Napoleon I. In this battle, French troops of the Armée du Nord under Napoleon's command, defeated a Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher, near Ligny in present-day Belgium. The bulk of the Prussian army survived, however, and...

 as darkness fell on 16 June 1815. On 18 June, at Waterloo

Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...

Friant led his Old Guard Grenadiers in the final, fateful attack on the Allied center, where he was wounded yet again.

Friant retired in September 1815. He died on 24 June 1829, aged 70.