[1] His family had long belonged to the noblesse de robe of Paris and included officials in finance and also members of the army.
[3] His uncle was Armand Louis de Mackau (1759–1827), a lieutenant colonel of the dragoons who served as the king's minister at Stuttgart and Naples.
[6] In 1791 Defitte joined the Angoumois regiment and served in the company of Godefroy de La Tour d'Auvergne.
On 7 April 1813 he was appointed sub-prefect of Cambrai, and held this position during the allied invasion of France in 1814.
[5] After the Bourbon Restoration of 1814 Defitte was left destitute, and complained bitterly to the Minister of the Interior Montesquiou.