Jean Henri Becays Ferrand, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJean Henri Becays Ferrand
French general
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Lacaussade, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France
About Jean Henri Becays Ferrand
- Jean Henri Becays Ferrand or Jean Marie Begais Ferrand de la Caussade (10 September 1736 – 28 November 1805) became a French general officer early in the French Revolutionary Wars and led troops during two early actions.
- From a noble family, he was enrolled in the French Royal Army as an officer in the Normandie Infantry Regiment.
- At the age of ten, he fought at Lauffeld and Bergen op Zoom in the War of the Austrian Succession.
- In 1760 during the Seven Years' War, he was badly wounded at Kloster Kampen.
- For distinguished service, he was promoted to captain. Appointed colonel in 1791, Ferrand was made the commandant of the fortress of Valenciennes the next year.
- Promoted to maréchal de camp, he led the left wing at the Battle of Jemappes.
- He was elevated in rank to general of division in May 1793.
- Ordered by his turncoat superior Charles François Dumouriez to surrender Condé-sur-l'Escaut and Valenciennes, Ferrand refused to carry out his instructions.
- After the two-month long Siege of Valenciennes, he surrendered the city to Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany.
- Sometime after being paroled, he was imprisoned by the Committee of Public Safety for being from the old nobility.
- He avoided the guillotine and was released when the government of Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown.
- Napoleon Bonaparte later named him Prefect of Meuse-Inférieure but he retired in 1804, pleading bad health.
- His surname is one of the names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 4.
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