François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo

François-Nicolas-Benoît Haxo was born in Lunéville, France and began his career with the Military engineers (Génie Militaire) in 1793.

In 1801, he became a battalion commander following the capitulation of Fort Bard (1 June 1800) by the Army of Italy, part of the French military from 1792 to 1802.

For example, in Besançon in the late seventeenth century, guns did not have enough range to reach the citadel from the hills of Bregille and Chaudanne, whose peaks were higher.

Haxo took part in the Battle of Wagram, and then returned to the Iberian Peninsula to direct the siege operations of Louis-Gabriel Suchet's army in Catalonia and Valencia.

In 1813, in addition to commanding the Guard Engineers, he constructed the works around Hamburg, making defense of Davout's fortress possible.

After the Restoration, Louis XVIII of France wished to give Haxo a command in the Royal Guards, but the general remained faithful to Napoleon.

In 1819, however, he was reinstated as Inspector General of frontier fortifications (Grenoble, Besançon, Dunkirk, St. Omer, Sedan, the Fort Lock, Belfort, and Bitche).

During the later years of his life, Haxo wrote Mémoire sur le figure du terrain dans les cartes topographiques (Paris, N.D.), and the biography of General Dejean (1824).