François Jean Baptiste Quesnel

Who was François Jean Baptiste Quesnel?

François Jean Baptiste Quesnel du Torpt 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.