Basile Baltus de Pouilly

Baltus's name is inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe: northern pillar, column two.

Basile Guy Marie Victor Baltus de Pouilly (January 2, 1766 – January 13, 1845) was a French general during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.

Life

Basile Baltus de Pouilly was born in Metz. He was first a pupil of artillery in August 1780, second lieutenant in the regiment of La Fere in July 1781, then captain in April 1791, and then a squadron leader in the 1st regiment of light artillery. Baltus was promoted to colonel in March 1806, and Baron of the Empire in January 1809, and finally Brigadier General in March 1811. Baltus commanded the artillery in Hamburg (see Siege of Hamburg). In 1815 during the Hundred Days He commanded the IV Corps Reserve Artillery and was present at the meeting on the morning of 17 June, when Marshal Grouchy decided to proceed to Wavre rather towards the cannon fire coming from the Battle of Waterloo.^[1] He was retired on 1 January 1816 according to the order of 1 August 1815. Baltus finally left the army December 9, 1826, with the rank of lieutenant general.

General Basile Baltus de Pouilly was one of 558 officers of the First Empire whose name is engraved on the Arc de Triomphe. His name appears on the second column.

Distinctions

• Légion d'honneur
  • Légionnaire (14/06/1804),
  • Officier (26/12/1805),
  • Commandant (11/07/1807).
• Chevalier de l’Ordre de Saint-Louis: ( juillet 1814).
• Chevalier de l'Ordre de Saint-Henri. (Saxony)
• Knight of the Order of the Sword

Notes

1. Siborne 1848, pp. 308–309.

References

• Archives nationales (CARAN) – Service Historique de l’Armée de Terre – Fort de Vincennes – Dossier S.H.A.T. Côte : 7 Yd 1 086.
• Siborne, William (1848), The Waterloo Campaign, 1815 (4th ed.), Westminster: A. Constable