Claude François Ferey
Command Ratings
Commands
Units Commanded
Claude François Ferey (often styled in full as Claude-François Ferey; also known under his imperial title as Claude François Ferey, baron de Rozengath/Rosengath) was a French infantry officer of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars who rose to général de division and was mortally wounded commanding a division at Salamanca in July 1812. His surname is among those inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe.
He was born at Auvet (Auvet-et-la-Chapelotte, Haute-Saône) in 1771. He entered the army before the Revolution, enlisting on 21 March 1788 in the chasseurs à cheval du Gévaudan. During the constitutional monarchy he transferred into the Garde constitutionnelle du Roi (21 December 1791). When that formation was dissolved in 1792, he re-entered service in the new wartime structures: he became a sous-lieutenant on 9 July 1792 and was soon serving with volunteer units from Haute-Saône with the Armée du Rhin.
In 1793 he was present at the siege of Mainz (Mayence). During the defense he received a serious wound to the left knee from gunfire. In the same year he was promoted to captain and, after the capitulation of Mainz (23 July 1793), was sent west into the War in the Vendée as an aide-de-camp (notably in the entourage of General Marigny, in accounts that summarize this period of his service). This early alternation between front-line duty and staff employment continued to recur in the outline of his career.
Through the later Revolutionary wars he remained on active service and progressed into higher responsibility. He is recorded in later biographical summaries as taking part in Major actions of the period, including Neuwied (18 April 1797) and the Italian campaign’s battles of Montebello (9 June 1800) and Marengo (14 June 1800). By the opening years of the Empire he had become a general officer, and by 1804 he was a Commandeur of the Légion d’honneur.
In the War of the Fourth Coalition he served in the winter campaign of 1806–1807 and is associated in standard battle lists with Jena, Lübeck, and Eylau, followed by the summer fighting of 1807 in East Prussia. In June 1807 he repulsed Russian forces at Lomitten and fought at Heilsberg, where he was again wounded. These operations placed him within the hard-fought sequence of engagements that culminated shortly afterward in the armistice and settlement with Russia.
He was then posted to Spain. In 1808 he joined the Armée d’Espagne, initially in staff employment, but quickly returned to field command. In January 1809 he received an imperial noble title as baron de l’Empire (the title commonly appears as baron de Rozengath, with variant spellings). In 1809 he commanded the 2nd Brigade in the division of General Mermet, part of Marshal Ney’s VI Corps during the French operations on the Portuguese frontier and in the northern Spanish theatre.
In 1810 he served under General Loison and was present during the operations around the frontier fortresses and the approaches into Portugal, including the sieges of Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida. In the same campaigning season he fought in the operations that led to the Battle of Buçaco (27 September 1810), where his conduct is repeatedly noted in compressed biographical treatments as meriting attention. In October 1810 he was promoted to général de division.
In March 1811, after the change of command within VI Corps following Marshal Ney’s departure, Ferey took command of the 3rd Division of VI Corps. With that division he fought at the combat of Foz de Arouce (Foz d’Arunce) in March 1811 during Masséna’s retreating operations in Portugal, and later that spring at Fuentes de Oñoro (3–5 May 1811), where the French army attempted to relieve Almeida and force Wellington away from the Spanish frontier.
By 1812 Ferey was serving in the Armée du Portugal and on 22 July 1812 commanded his division at the Battle of Salamanca. When the French left wing became overextended during the maneuvering that preceded the Allied counterstroke, the battle turned into a rapid collapse of several French divisions. In the later stages of the fighting, Ferey’s division was heavily engaged and suffered severe losses while resisting the Allied advance. He was mortally wounded in the battle and died on 24 July 1812 at Olmedo, two days after Salamanca, as the defeated French forces withdrew.
Sources
X 05-07 Hollabrun, Austerlitz, Eylau, Heilsberg (wounded); X 10 Spain – Bussaco; XX 11-12 Spain - Fuentes de Onoro, Salamanca (KIA)