Charles Victor Woirgard

Charles Victor Woirgard (also recorded as Charles-Victor Woirgard de Beaurgard; surname used on monuments and in some references as Beauregard) was a French cavalry officer of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods, born at Metz on 16 October 1764 and killed in action in Spain on 19 February 1810.

He entered the royal army in August 1782, enlisting in the Swiss Régiment de Diesbach, and left active service in January 1788. He returned to service after the outbreak of the French Revolution. On 16 January 1792 he was appointed Lieutenant in the 1er bataillon de volontaires de la Seine-Inférieure. His promotion was rapid in 1792: he became Adjudant-major on 14 March 1792, and on 10 September 1792 he reached Lieutenant-colonel en second (the grade corresponding to second-in-command at that level). During this early Revolutionary period he served with the Armée du Nord and fought at the battle of Jemappes (November 1792).

In 1793 he continued with the Armée du Nord and took part in the battle of Neerwinden (March 1793). On 12 April 1793 he was promoted to général de Brigade (initially on a provisional basis), and this promotion was confirmed on 30 April 1793. In the same year he was involved in operations connected with Valenciennes, and he was taken prisoner when the place capitulated in July 1793; he was released soon afterwards.

Following his release, he received assignments again in the Armée du Nord from 23 August 1793, but in the political and administrative turbulence of the period he was removed from his functions and imprisoned from October 1793 until August 1794. After his release he returned to service and was sent to the Armée de l’Ouest. In September 1795 he became commandant of the military division at Angers. During 1796 he faced accusations connected with discipline and conduct in the west; he was brought before a council of war and was acquitted, allowing him to continue his career.

By 1799 he was transferred to the Armée du Rhin. He served at Kehl and later held the post of commandant militaire of Brisach; in this area he conducted security and defensive duties against Austrian-supported partisans during the later Revolutionary campaigns on the Rhine. After the end of the major fighting, on 4 February 1802 he was appointed commandant militaire at Alessandria (Alexandria) in Italy. That appointment proved short-lived; later in 1802 he was removed from that post and then remained without significant employment for several years.

He returned to active duty on 17 April 1809 with an appointment in the 12e division militaire (La Rochelle). On 19 June 1809, still holding the rank of Général de Brigade, he received field employment in the Peninsular War: command of a brigade of light cavalry assigned to the corps commanded by Marshal Mortier operating in Spain. In the later campaigning of 1809 his command was present in central Spain and, by October, located around Toledo. Around this same period he took over a brigade within a dragoon division, commanding the 13e Régiment de dragons and 22e Régiment de dragons.

In the autumn campaign he fought at Ocaña on 19 November 1809, where French forces won a major victory and his cavalry command was engaged against Spanish mounted troops. In early 1810 his brigade operated in Extremadura during the French advance and covering operations toward Badajoz. On 18–19 February 1810 his command was at Valverde de Leganés. In the combat there on 19 February 1810, Spanish forces under Francisco Ballesteros surprised the French cavalry; Woirgard attempted to rally and counter-attack and was killed in action during the fighting. He was later commemorated among the officers of the Revolutionary and Imperial wars whose names were inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, where the inscription appears as “BEAUREGARD” (a form of his alias).