David Chassé

David Hendrik Chassé
General David Hendrik Chassé by Jan Willem Pieneman
Born	March 18, 1765 Tiel
Died	May 2, 1849 Breda
Buried at	Ginneken
Allegiance	United Kingdom of the Netherlands
Service/branch	infantry
Years of service	1775-1839
Rank	lieutenant-general
Unit	Third Netherlands Division
Commands held	Dutch brigade, Division-Leval Third Netherlands Division
Battles/wars	Battle of Pancorbo Battle of Talavera Battle of Ocana Battle of Vitoria Battle of Maya Battle of Arcis-sur-Aube Battle of Waterloo Belgian Revolution Ten Days Campaign
Awards	Knight's Grand Cross Military William Order

David Hendrik, Baron Chassé (Tiel, March 18, 1765 – Breda, May 2, 1849) was a Dutch soldier who fought both for and against Napoleon. He commanded the Third Netherlands Division that intervened at a crucial moment in the Battle of Waterloo. In 1830 he bombarded the city of Antwerp as commander of Antwerp Citadel during the Belgian Revolution.

Chassé was the son of Carel Johan Chassé, a scion of an old Huguenot family, who was a major in the army of the Dutch Republic, and of Maria Johanna Helena Schull. He married Johanna Adriana van Nieuwenhoven on November 10, 1786 and divorced her in 1795. His second marriage was to the English widow Elisabeth Irish on April 12, 1796. They had one son. This marriage also ended in divorce in 1816.

Chassé entered the Dutch army as a ten-year-old cadet in his father's regiment in 1775. He was promoted to second lieutenant in 1781. He resigned his commission in 1786 because of his sympathy for the Patriot party in their opposition to the autocratic regime of stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange. Instead he became a captain in a Patriot Free Corps, defending Muiden and Weesp against the Prussian invaders that restored William to power in 1787. Because of this role in the revolt he had to go into exile in France, as many other Patriots. Another reason for going abroad was that he had killed a man in a duel.

In 1788 Chassé received a commission as a first lieutenant in the royal French army. After the revolution of 1789 he took part in the campaigns of the revolutionary French armies as a captain in the Légion franche étrangère (Free foreign legion). He received a wound in the right upper arm in 1794 that would make writing difficult for the rest of his life. As a lieutenant-colonel he conquered the fortress of Zaltbommel shortly before the fall of the Dutch Republic in January, 1795.