Général Camou
(1792-1868)

Born on 1 May 1792 at Sarrance in the département Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Jacques Camou began his military career in 1808 as a sergeant in the mountain infantry. He served in the Napoleonic troops during the Peninsular War and in Italy. His military career was interrupted when the French armies were dissolved in 1815, but in 1817, he served again as a lieutenant. He participated in 1823 in the French expedition to Spain.

In 1830 he was sent to Algeria, where he eventually rose to the rank of Brigadier General in 1848. Four years later, he was promoted to the rank of Major General and made commander of the division of Algiers.

Camou subsequently commanded the 2nd Infantry Division of the Imperial Guard in the Crimean War, where he participated in the Siege of Sevastopol and in the Battle of Chernaya River in 1855. He commanded the same division during the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859.

In 1857 he was awarded the Grand cordon of the Légion d'honneur, and on 30 December 1863 he was made a Senator.

He died on 8 February 1868.