Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen

Possibly singled out for "exile" by Napoleon Bonaparte for his association with Moreau's Army of the Rhine, Decaen was sent on a difficult mission to the French establishment in India in 1802. From 1803 to 1810, he defended the remote Île Bourbon (Réunion) and Isle de France (Mauritius) against all the efforts of the British. Ultimately overwhelmed by superior numbers, he obtained an honorable capitulation. He released Matthew Flinders from house arrest in April 1810, a few months before the Battle of Grand Port (August) and the capitulation to the British on 3 December of the same year.

Upon his return he was made a count and made the head of the Army of Catalonia from October 1811 to January 1814, fighting in Spain. From his headquarters in Barcelona, he reported to Marshal Louis Gabriel Suchet. He formed the Catalan guides and gained their high regard. At Suchet's request, he sent the troops who raised the Siege of Tarragona. In 1814, he tried in vain to keep the British out of Bordeaux. After the first abdication of Napoléon I he recognized Louis XVIII and he was appointed as governor of the 11th military division (Bordeaux). Decaen made an unsuccessful effort to maintain the royal authority in that city after the return of Napoleon I from Elba in 1815.

After the royal princes had left France, Decaen rejoined the emperor's side and during the Hundred Days, he commanded troops in the south of France, for which he was imprisoned for five months after the Bourbon restoration which occurred after Waterloo. After his release he retired to civil life until he was recalled to activity by Louis-Philippe I in 1830. He died two years later.