Jacques Ferrand

Jacques Ferrand (14 November 1746 – 30 September 1804) was a French general and politician who fought in the War of the First Coalition.

Career

Born in Ormoy, Haute-Saône on 14 November 1746, the son of a labourer, Ferrand enlisted in the Royal-infanterie regiment on 13 January 1765. He rose through the ranks, eventually becoming sergeant major of the Brie-infanterie regiment on 6 June 1776.

It was not until the French Revolution that he would become an officer. Commissioned as a sous-lieutenant on 1 April 1791 and made a knight of the Order of Saint Louis a few days afterwards. A year later he was promoted to captain and posted to the Army of the Ardennes where he became a chef de bataillon on 17 March 1793. was provisionally made a General de Brigade by Representatives of the People Le Bas and Duquesnoy on 17 August 1793. The promotion was confirmed by the executive council on 30 August.

In October 1793, Ferrand was in command of the entrenched camp at Maubeuge in the run up to the Battle of Wattignies. On 4 November 1793, he took over command of the Army of the Ardennes from Jean-Baptiste Jourdan when the latter took command of the Army of the North. Two months later, Jourdan was dismissed from that post, and Ferrand commanded the Army of the North from 7 January 1794 until Jean-Charles Pichegru arrived to take command on 8 February.