Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon

Jean-Baptiste Drouet, Comte d'Erlon (; 29 July 176525 January 1844) was a Marshal of France and a soldier in the Grande Armée during the Napoleonic Wars. He notably commanded the I Corps of the Army of the North at the Battle of Waterloo.

Early life D'Erlon was born in Reims on 29 July 1765. His father and grandfather were carpenters, and he trained to be a locksmith.

Revolutionary Wars D'Erlon entered the army as a private soldier in 1782, was discharged after five years’ service and re-entered it in 1792. In 1792 he served as a corporal, being elected to captain the following year.

From 1794 to 1796 he was aide-de-camp to General Lefebvre. In 1799 he was promoted to brigadier general, and fought under André Masséna in Switzerland. The same year he distinguished himself at the Second Battle of Zurich.

He continued his service in many battles of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, including the Battle of Hohenlinden (3 December 1800, in which he was wounded),

Post-Napoleonic service In 1825 he was granted amnesty by Charles X. He supported July Revolution in 1830, and was made Peer of France in 19 November 1831. In 1832 he was given the command of the 12th Division in Nantes. Later in the year his division suppressed a Vendean revolt and arrested the Duchess of Berry.

In 1834 d'Erlon was named governor-general of Algeria. After the defeat of the French army under General Trézel at the Battle of Macta in 1835, public outcry at the disaster resulted in D'Erlon being recalled to France and replaced by General Clauzel.

From 1837 he resumed his command of the 12th Division in Nantes, a position he held until 1843 when he moved to Paris to retire and was granted the title marshal of France on 9 April 1843. He died on 25 January of the following year.

Family In 1794, in Reims, d'Erlon married Marie-Anne de Rousseau (died 1828), daughter of Nicolas de Rousseau, a banker, whom he got to know through Marie-Jeanne (Rousseau) the wife of his brother Jean-François Drouet. While in Reims on the morning of his wedding, he was informed of his appointment as aide-de-camp to General François Lefebvre. On Christmas Day 1794, his first child, a son who was christened Nicolas Adolphe, was born. In 1796 his wife had their second child, a daughter: Marie-Anne Louise. His third child Aimé-Napoleon-François was born in Soissons in December 1803.