General Humbert

General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert (22 August 1767 – 3 January 1823) was a French soldier, a participant in the French Revolution, who led a failed invasion of Ireland to assist Irish rebels in 1798. Born in the townland of La Coâre Saint-Nabord, outside Remiremont Vosges, he was a sergeant in the National Guard of Lyon, and rapidly advanced through the ranks to become brigadier general on 9 April 1794, and fought in the Western campaigns before being allocated to the Army of the Rhine.

In 1794 after serving in the Army of the Coasts of Brest, Humbert served under Hoche in the Army of the Rhin-et-Moselle. Charged to prepare for an expedition against Ireland, he took command of the Légion des Francs under Hoche, sailing in the ill-fated Expédition d'Irlande against Bantry Bay in 1796, and was engaged in actions at sea against the Royal Navy. Contrary weather and enemy action forced this expedition to withdraw. The trip home ended in a naval battle, the Action of 13 January 1797, during which Humbert, on the French ship Droits de l'Homme (1794), narrowly escaped death. As the ship was destroyed and sank, hundreds of men perished, but Humbert was among the last to escape.

On his return to France, Humbert served in the Army of the Sambre-et-Meuse, before being appointed to command the troops in another attempt to support a rising in Ireland in 1798. His command chiefly consisted of infantry of the 70th demi-brigade with a few artillerymen and some cavalry of the 3rd Hussars, however by the time he arrived off the Irish coast the United Irish rising had already suffered defeat. The expedition was able to land in Ireland at Killala on Thursday 23 August 1798, meeting with initial success in the battle of Castlebar. Humbert subsequently declared a Republic of Connacht, with hopes of taking Dublin. However, Humbert's small force was defeated at the battle of Ballinamuck and he was taken as a prisoner of war by the Kingdom of Great Britain. A monument to General Humbert depicting Mother Ireland stands on Humbert Street, Ballina, County Mayo, Ireland.

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