The I Corps of the Grande Armée was a French military unit that existed during the Napoleonic Wars. The corps was composed of French troops.
Juan de Courten (younger) was a Spanish general who led an infantry division during the Peninsular War against the First French Empire. In 1810, he was promoted to mariscal de campo, a Spanish rank between brigadier general and lieutenant general, and therefore equivalent to major general. The following year he was captured at the conclusion of the Siege of Tarragona. In 1818, he received an important military decoration.
In the Battle of La Bisbal on 14 September 1810 a Spanish division led by Henry O'Donnell and supported by an Anglo-Spanish naval squadron led by Francis William Fane and Charles William Doyle surprised an Imperial French brigade commanded by François Xavier de Schwarz. The Imperial troops were from the Confederation of the Rhine, a collection of small German states that were allied to Napoleon. Part of a division led by Marie François Rouyer, Schwarz's brigade was almost completely wiped out, most of its soldiers being taken prisoner along with its commander. One of the few Allied casualties was the capable O'Donnell, wounded in the foot. The battle occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
The Siege of Figueras, which lasted from 10 April to 19 August 1811, saw the Spanish garrison of Sant Ferran Castle led by Brigadier General Juan Antonio Martínez defend against an Imperial French force commanded by Marshal Jacques MacDonald and his deputy Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers. Martínez and his men held out much longer than expected but were eventually starved into surrendering the fortress, which was near Figueres. The action occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
Joaquín Ibáñez Cuevas y de Valonga, Baron de Eroles led a Spanish division against Imperial France in a number of actions during the Peninsular War. A lawyer at the outbreak of war, he took command of guerillas who resisted the French occupation of his native Catalonia. He fought at Molins de Rey in 1808. Captured by the French at Gerona in 1809, he later escaped. By 1810 he led one of four regular divisions of the Army of Catalonia. In November 1810 he destroyed a French convoy at La Junquera. His men were driven off Montserrat Mountain on 25 July 1811. His division wiped out a French column at Col de Balaguer on 18 January 1812. Six days later he was badly beaten at Altafulla when he mistakenly attacked Maurice Mathieu's superior French force in a thick fog. On 5 March he defeated a French force that attacked him at Roda de Isábena. Later in the war he liberated a number of towns from the French.
Francesc Rovira i Sala or Francisco Rovira led miquelets against Imperial France in a number of partisan actions during the Peninsular War. A Catholic priest by profession, he took command of guerillas who resisted the French occupation of his native Catalonia. Soon he directed a force numbering a few thousand partisans. In February 1810, his men took part in the Battle of Vich. His most notable exploit was the surprise capture of Sant Ferran Castle in April 1811, which was part of the Siege of Figueras.
The Battle of Manresa and Battle of Vilafranca from 21 March to 5 April 1810 saw a Spanish division led by Juan Caro and Luis González Torres de Navarra, Marquess of Campoverde attack an Imperial French brigade commanded by François Xavier de Schwarz. Caro's division first surprised the town of Vilafranca del Penedès in March and captured its 800-man garrison made up of troops from the Confederation of the Rhine. Vilafranca is located 35 kilometres (22 mi) west of Barcelona.
Étienne Heudelet de Bierre joined the French army as a volunteer lieutenant in 1792. A year later he became a staff officer for a number of generals before becoming Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr's chief of staff in 1795. He fought under Jean Victor Marie Moreau in the 1796 campaign and fought at Kehl. He became a general officer in 1799, leading his troops at the First and Second Battles of Zurich. In April 1800 he was a brigade commander in Jean Victor Tharreau's division in Moreau's army. In December of that year he fought at Hohenlinden under Michel Ney.
The Battle of El Pla was a battle on 15 January 1811 between an Imperial French column made up of two Italian brigades on one side and a Spanish division under the command of Pedro Sarsfield on the other. The Spanish troops held steady and repulsed the attack of the first brigade, then counterattacked and defeated both brigades. The combat occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The action was fought near El Pla de Santa Maria, north of Valls, Catalonia, Spain.
Louis Jean Nicolas Abbé became a French general during the Napoleonic Wars. He enlisted as a foot soldier in the royal army in 1784 and was a non-commissioned officer by 1792. He spent most of the French Revolutionary Wars fighting in Italy. In 1802 he joined the Saint-Domingue expedition. He was appointed colonel in command of the 23rd Light Infantry Regiment in 1803 and led the unit at Caldiero, Campo Tenese, Maida, and Amantea. Promoted to general of brigade in 1807, he led a brigade in 1809, fighting at Sacile, Caldiero, the Piave, Tarvis, Raab, and Wagram.
In the Battle of Montserrat a force of Spanish irregulars led by Joaquín Ibáñez, Baron de Eroles defended Montserrat Mountain against two Imperial French divisions under the command of Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet. The minor action occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle was fought near the Santa Maria de Montserrat Monastery, which is located on the mountain 36 kilometres (22 mi) northwest of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
In the Battle of Cervera a Spanish force led by Luis Roberto de Lacy attacked a series of Imperial French garrisons belonging to the VII Corps of Marshal Jacques MacDonald. The actions were highly successful and netted nearly 1,000 enemy prisoners. The clashes occurred during the Peninsular War, part of the Napoleonic Wars. The largest garrison was located at Cervera which is located about 55 kilometres (34 mi) east of Lleida, in Catalonia, Spain.
Louis Auguste Marchand Plauzonne became a general officer during the First French Empire of Napoleon. He was killed while leading his brigade at the Battle of Borodino. PLAUZONNE is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 12.
Luigi Gaspare Peyri or Louis Gaspard Balthazar Pierre Léon Marie Peyri became a general officer in the army of the Kingdom of Italy which was a satellite of Napoleon's First French Empire. He led Italians, Swiss, and Poles in a number of important actions in the War of the Fourth Coalition, the War of the Fifth Coalition, and the Peninsular War.
Pierre Hugues Victoire Merle was a French general during the First French Empire of Napoleon. He joined the French army as a private in 1781 but after the French Revolution, the pace of promotion quickened. He was appointed a general officer in 1794 for distinguishing himself during the War of the Pyrenees. After leading a brigade at Austerlitz in December 1805, he was promoted again. His division was in the first wave of the 1808 invasion of Spain, which precipitated the Peninsular War. In Spain, he led his division at Medina de Rioseco, Corunna, First and Second Porto, Bussaco, Sabugal, and Fuentes de Onoro. After being sent home from Spain, Merle was assigned to lead a division in the French invasion of Russia. He led his troops at First and Second Polotsk. He embraced the Bourbon cause in 1814, retired from the army in 1816, and died at Marseilles in 1830. Merle is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe on Column 35.
The Siege of Mequinenza saw a 16,000-man Imperial French corps commanded by Louis Gabriel Suchet invest a 1,000-strong Spanish garrison under Colonel Carbon. Mequinenza and its castle were captured by the French after an operation lasting about three weeks. The action occurred during the Peninsular War, which formed part of the Napoleonic Wars. Mequinenza is located at the confluence of the Ebro and Segre Rivers about 211 kilometres (131 mi) west of Barcelona.
Joseph O'Donnell or José O'Donnell (1768–1836) was an Irish-Spanish general who commanded troops from the Kingdom of Spain against Imperial France during the Peninsular War. His father was Joseph O'Donnell the elder. Joseph was the brother of two other generals, the more famous Henry O'Donnell, 1st Count of la Bisbal and Charles O'Donnell. In 1808, Joseph was an officer on the staff of Pedro Caro, 3rd Marquis of la Romana during the escape of the Northern Division from Denmark. He was beaten by Nicolas Godinot at Zújar in 1811. After the disastrous loss of Valencia in January 1812, he ably reorganized the fragments of the Spanish army. While Captain General of Murcia, he suffered a severe defeat at the hands of Jean Isidore Harispe at Castalla in July 1812. He was superseded in command soon afterward.
Annet Morio de L'Isle became a French and Dutch brigade commander during the Napoleonic Wars. In 1799 he joined a cavalry regiment and was posted to the Army of Italy in 1800 where he was wounded. He became an aide-de-camp to Louis Bonaparte in 1804 and went with Louis when he became King of Holland in 1806. He became a general of brigade in the Dutch army in 1809 and led a German brigade at the Third Siege of Gerona. After the Kingdom of Holland was annexed by the First French Empire in 1810, Morio was demoted to colonel in the French army. Starting in December 1810, he led the 16th Light Infantry Regiment at Cádiz, Albuera, Bornos and Tarifa. He was promoted general of brigade and appointed Baron of the Empire in 1813. He fought at Leipzig in 1813 and at Mainz in 1814. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 21.
Pierre François Xavier Boyer became a French division commander during the Napoleonic Wars. He joined a volunteer regiment in 1792. He fought in the Italian campaign of 1796 and participated in the French invasion of Egypt in 1798. He became a general of brigade in 1801 and took part in the Expedition to Saint-Domingue in 1802. While sailing back to France he was captured by the British. After being exchanged, he fought at Jena and Pultusk in 1806, Friedland in 1807 and Wagram in 1809. Transferred to Spain, Boyer led a dragoon division at Salamanca and Battle of Venta del Pozo in 1812 and Vitoria in 1813. He earned the nickname "Pedro the Cruel" for brutal actions against Spanish partisans. He led an infantry division at the Nivelle and the Nive in late 1813. His division was transferred to the fighting near Paris and he was promoted general of division in February 1814. He led his troops at Mormant, Craonne, Laon and Arcis-sur-Aube.
Giuseppe Federico Palombini or Joseph Friedrich von Palombini became an Italian division commander during the Napoleonic Wars. He joined the army of the Cispadane Republic in 1796 and fought at Faenza in 1797. He became commander of a dragoon regiment in 1798. He became commander of the Napoleone Dragoons, of the Cisalpine Republic army, in 1802. He fought as an ally of the French at Kolberg and Stralsund in 1807. He married the daughter of Jan Henryk Dąbrowski (Dombrowski) in 1806.
