General Jean Baptiste Auguste Marie Jamin

Général de brigade who was killed at Waterloo

Born: February 17, 1775

Place of Birth: Louvigné-du-Désert, Ille-et-Vilaine, France

Died: June 18, 1815

Cause of Death: Killed in action

Place of Death: Waterloo, Belgium

Arc de Triomphe: JAMIN, A. on the north pillar

The son of a gendarme in the guard of the king, Jean Baptiste Auguste Marie Jamin joined the 9th Cavalry as a sous-lieutenant in 1792. He spent the next three years serving with the Army of the North and in 1795 he was promoted to lieutenant. In 1796 and 1797 Jamin served in the Army of the Sambre and Meuse and then in 1799 he joined the Army of the Rhine. That September he became an aide-de-camp to General Nansouty and then in August of 1800 General Moreau promoted him to capitaine. In 1802 Jamin was promoted to chef d'escadrons and then in September of 1805 he became an aide-de-camp to Marshal Masséna. That November he distinguished himself at the combat of San Pietro.

In 1806 Jamin was named an aide-de-camp to King Joseph Bonaparte of Naples, he was promoted to major of the Chevau-Légers of the Neapolitan Guard, and he was named a Commander of the Royal Order of Two Sicilies. In 1807 he was promoted to colonel and he followed Joseph Bonaparte to Spain in 1808. Jamin served at Almonacid in August of 1809. In 1810 he was promoted to maréchal de camp in the service of Spain, he was named a Knight of the Royal Order of Spain, and he became the Marquis of Bermuy. In 1811 Jamin took command of two cavalry regiments of the Spanish Royal Guard. General Jamin served at the Battle of Vitoria in June of 1813 and in January of 1814 he returned to France as a général de brigade. He initially commanded a brigade of light cavalry attached to II Corps for the defense of France, but then in March he joined the Grenadiers à Cheval of the Imperial Guard as a major. Jamin followed the Emperor Napoleon to Fontainebleau and remained there until Napoleon's abdication.

After the Bourbon Restoration, Jamin served as a major in the Cuirassiers of France and he was named an Officer of the Legion of Honor. In 1815 Napoleon returned from exile and resumed power in France without a shot being fired, and Jamin rallied to Napoleon's cause. For the campaign in Belgium that June, Jamin was placed in the Imperial Guard under General Guyot. During the Battle of Waterloo, Jamin charged a British battery and was killed.

Bibliography

Six, Georges. Dictionnaire Biographique des Généraux & Amiraux Français de la Révolution et de l'Empire (1792-1814). 2 vols. Paris: Gaston Saffroy, 2003.

Updated June 2019