Louis Charbonnier

Louis Charbonnier (9 October 1754 – 2 June 1833) commanded a French army during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1771 he joined the French Royal Army. He joined a volunteer battalion and was soon the commanding officer. He led his troops at Jemappes, Neerwinden and Menin before being promoted to general officer in late 1793. After a second promotion he was named to command the Army of the Ardennes. After being defeated at Grandreng and Erquelinnes in May 1794 he was summoned to Paris where he was cashiered, though he avoided the guillotine. In 1796 he rejoined the army as a relatively junior officer and by 1800 he had regained the rank of general. He spent the entire Napoleonic Wars on garrison duty in Belgium and the Netherlands and retired to civilian life in 1815. He died in his hometown of Clamecy, Nièvre in 1833. His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 4.