Charles Decaen

Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen (13 April 1769 – 9 September 1832), born in Caen, became a French general who served during the French Revolutionary Wars, as Governor General of Pondicherry and Isle de France (now Mauritius) and as commander of the Army of Catalonia during the Napoleonic Wars.

Before the French Revolution Decaen served as a gunner in the French navy. In 1792 Decaen enlisted in the Calvados battalion. He served under Kléber in the siege of Mainz. Promoted to adjudant-general, Decaen served in the uprising of the Vendée. He fought under the generals Canclaux, Dubayet, Moreau and Kléber. Promoted to general of brigade, Decaen was captured in the attack on Frantzenthal. After having given his parole he was exchanged.

In 1796 he served under Moreau in the operations near the Rhine and he distinguished himself in the passage of the river and the siege of Kehl, for which he was awarded a sword of honor by the French Directory. In 1800 he captured Munich and that December he commanded a division in the Battle of Hohenlinden. In that battle, he reacted "confidently and aggressively" in a confusing situation in heavy forest during a snowstorm. His attack defeated the southernmost Austrian column and contributed greatly to the overall French success. For his role at Hohenlinden he was promoted to general of division (Major-General).

Possibly singled out for "exile" by Napoleon Bonaparte for his association with Moreau's Army of the Rhine, Decaen was sent on a difficult mission to the French establishment in India in 1802. From 1803 to 1810, he defended the remote Île Bourbon (Réunion) and Isle de France (Mauritius) against all the efforts of the British. Ultimately overwhelmed by the superior numbers of British, he obtained an honorable capitulation. He released Matthew Flinders from house arrest in April 1810, a few months before the Battle of Grand Port (August) and the capitulation to the British on 3 December of the same year.

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