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General François Roguet

Printable Version



Born: November 12, 1770

Died: December 4, 1846

Place of Birth: Toulouse, Haute-Garonne

Cause of Death: Natural causes

Battle Unit Rank
Montenotte
Castiglione
Arcola
Novi Colonel
Elchingen Général de brigade VI Corps (Ney) - 2nd Division - 2nd Brigade
Jena Général de brigade VI Corps (Ney) - 1st Division (Marchand)
Aspern-Essling Général de brigade Young Guard - 1st Division (Curial)
Wagram Général de brigade Young Guard - 1st Division - 2nd Brigade
Borodino (La Moskowa) Général de division Young Guard - 2nd Division
Lützen Général de division Old Guard
Bautzen Général de division Old Guard
Dresden Général de division Young Guard - 4th Division
Leipzig Général de division Young Guard - 4th Division
Hanau Général de division Young Guard - 4th Division
Waterloo (Mont St. Jean) Général de division Imperial Guard - Grenadiers à Pied


Nicknamed "Old Man Roguet" or "Father Roguet", General Roguet was an outstanding infantry commander who eventually rose to command units of the Imperial Guard. Most famous for being unbreakable during the retreat from Russia, Roguet had served under Napoleon Bonaparte since the first Italian campaign.

Due to the turmoil of the Revolution, in 1793 Roguet suddenly found himself placed in charge of training new recruits, despite not knowing anything about training. As the new recruits began to stream in, Roguet feigned illness and spent three days reading drill manuals until he felt confident enough to be able to teach the new soldiers.

While serving in Spain, Roguet grew frustrated with the guerrilla warfare and decided to turn the guerrillas against one another. Drawing up fake documents about an agreement between himself and various guerilla bands, he ensured that these documents would fall into different guerrilla bands' hands. Before long the rival bands were filled with mistrust for one another.


Sources: Boycott-Brown (Road to Rivoli), Elting (Swords Around a Throne), Haythornthwaite (Who Was Who), Six (Dictionnaire Biographique)