General Joachim-Jérôme Quiot du Passage

Joachim-Jérôme Quiot du Passage began his military career at the young age of 16 when in 1791 he joined the 3rd Battalion of Drôme in the fall of 1791. Sent to the Army of the Alps, he rose to captain in 1793 and was then sent to the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees. In 1795 he joined the Army of Italy, and in May of 1796 became an aide de camp to Victor. During the campaigning throughout Italy, he was wounded in July of 1796 at Rivoli.

Designated for the Army of England, Quiot du Passage instead returned to the Army of Italy, and in March of 1799 distinguished himself at the combat of Pastrengo. The next month he received a promotion to chef de bataillon. In 1800, he joined the Army of the Reserve as Victor's aide, and fought at Marengo. During the years of peace, Quiot du Passage first went to Louisiana, and then Holland.

In 1805, Quiot du Passage returned to France as an aide de camp to Marshal Lannes. After Austerlitz, he was promoted to colonel and given the 100th Line in Gazan's division. The next year he fought at Jena where he was wounded by a shot to the right arm, and then he continued to serve with La Grande Armée through 1807.

In 1808 Quiot du Passage was transferred to the Army of Spain and was made a Baron of the Empire. Serving throughout the peninsula, in February of 1811 his head was wounded by grapeshot at the siege of Badajoz. 1811 continued to be a busy year for him, as he fought at Gebora and Campo-Mayor before being wounded at Albuera by a bayonet to the left thigh. A promotion to general de brigade followed, and he took command of the 2nd Brigade of Claparéde's division of V Corps in the Army of Midi, leading it to victory at Ballesteros in August. In early 1812 he took command of the 1st Brigade of Darricau's 6th division, and then in August had left Spain and was serving at the camp of Utrecht.

The summer of 1813 saw General Quiot de Passage take command in Germany of the 2nd Brigade of Teste's 23rd Division in I Corps. Thrust into the fighting, he was hit at Kulm by a shot to the scapula and right shoulder, badly wounding him, and he was taken prisoner. After being released and returned to France in May of 1814, he was reasonably well treated by the Bourbons but nonetheless rallied to Napoleon. Given command of a brigade in the 1st Division of I Corps of the Army of the North, he led them into action at Waterloo.

Sources:

Six, Georges. Dictionnaire Biographique des Généraux & Amiraux Français de la Révolution et de l'Empire (1792-1814). Paris: Gaston Saffroy, 2003.