Jacques Desjardin

Who was Jacques Desjardin?

Jacques Desjardin or Jacques Jardin or Jacques Desjardins; enlisted in the French royal army as a young man and eventually became a sergeant. During the first years of the French Revolutionary Wars he enjoyed very rapid promotion to the rank of general officer in the army of the First French Republic. He saw a great deal of fighting in the north of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. In the campaign of 1805, he led an infantry division under Marshal Pierre Augereau in Emperor Napoleon's Grande Armée and saw limited fighting. In 1806 and 1807, he fought in several actions, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Eylau, and died three days later.