François Nicolas Lefevre

Born 6 December 1769 in Toul (Meurthe), died on 5 March 1835.

François Lefevre volunteers in the Dillon regiment (87th Infantry) on 17 December 1784 and is discharged on 1 November 1788. He is elected Quartermaster of the 5th Battalion of the Meurthe on 1 October 1791 and becomes Lieutenant of an independent company employed as Assistant of the Adjutant-General on 15 August 1792 and serves in that role in the Army of the North from 1793 to 1796, of Sambre-and-Meuse in 1797 and 1798, of Germany in 1799 and in the army of the Rhine from 1798 to 1802. He is attached with his rank to 6th Cavalry Regiment on 20 October 1797 and to the 9th Cavalry Regiment as Captain on 18 April 1799 and later as Major on 6 September 1801. On 20 May 1802 he obtains a charge in the 19th Cavalry Regiment where he is awarded Knight’s cross of the Legion of Honour June 14, 1804. He takes part in the campaigns of Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau and Friedland, is appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the 11th Cuirassiers Regiment on 11 April 1807 and is employed in the depot in Thionville until the end of July 1813.

He joins the Grande Army in Saxony and takes command as Colonel of the war squadrons of the 11th Cuirassiers Regiment on 3 September 1813 and serves in Saxony and France.

After the abdication, he is awarded Officer’s cross of the Legion of Honour on 24 August 1814 and Knight’s cross of the Royal and Military Order of Saint-Louis on 27 September. During the Hundred Days, he is promoted to Quartermaster-Colonel on 13 April 1815 but this promotion is cancelled on 1 August. He is laid off in 1816 and made to take retirement in 1819.