François Jean Baptiste Quesnel, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetFrançois Jean Baptiste Quesnel
Division commander in Napoleon's first empire
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Île-de-France, France
About François Jean Baptiste Quesnel
- François Jean Baptiste Quesnel du Torpt (18 January 1765 – 8 April 1819) became a division commander under the First French Empire of Napoleon.
- By the time the French Revolutionary Wars began, he had been a non-commissioned officer in the French army for nearly a decade.
- Within less than two years he rose to the rank of general officer while fighting against Spain.
- His career then stagnated until the War of the Second Coalition when he led a brigade in Italy at Verona, Magnano, Cassano, Bassignana where he was wounded, and Novi. Promoted to division command in 1805, he filled non-combat posts in the interior.
- He was captured in 1808 after participating in the 1807 Invasion of Portugal.
- After being released, he served in the 1809 Invasion of Portugal but was later detached to lead a column of dismounted cavalrymen back to France.
- He led a division at Figueras in 1811.
- During the War of the Sixth Coalition he commanded a division under Eugène de Beauharnais in Italy, fighting at the battles of Feistritz, Bassano, Caldiero, and the Mincio.
- He retired from the army in 1815 and drowned in the Seine under mysterious circumstances in 1819.
- Quesnel is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe on Column 37.
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