He was created a baron of the Empire and a Commander of the Legion of Honour and his name is inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

During the 1815 War of the Seventh Coalition, Baron Lhéritier commanded a mixed dragoon and cuirassier division, at the head of which he charged during the Battle of Waterloo.

Born in Angles-sur-l'Anglin on 6 August 1772,[1] Lhéritier joined the army on 26 September 1792, aged 20[2] and he would spend his first years of service fighting in the French Revolutionary Wars, with action taking place mainly on the Rhine.

On 2 January 1797, he was appointed aide-de-camp to General Jacques Nicolas Bellavène and saw rapid promotion, first to lieutenant on 3 April 1797 and then to captain on 5 October 1797.

Completely healed from his injury on 23 October of that year, he was detached from his regiment and, from November reassumed staff duties, as aide-de-camp to General Jean Ambroise Baston de Lariboisière.

Following the various reforms of the cavalry branch during this period of peace, Lhéritier was again commissioned aide-de-camp on 16 December 1801, a position that he held until 26 August 1803, when he was decommissioned.

On 5 October 1806, Lhéritier was promoted to colonel and given the command of the 10th Cuirassiers,[2] a prestigious heavy cavalry regiment, formerly called Royal Cravates during the Ancien Régime,[6] and which traced its origins back to the reign of Louis XIII.

[7][8] The regiment, numbering 4 squadrons and a complement of 610 men, saw action at the Battle of Aspern-Essling,[8] where Colonel Lhéritier bravely led from the front and received a bullet wound to the right shoulder and had a horse shot under him.

There, Colonel Lhéritier was again noted for his bravery, as he led his men into action and in the process received a severe wound at the head.

[2] Having been promoted to brigadier general on 21 July 1809, Lhéritier left his regiment the next day and was given command of the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Heavy Cavalry Division.

[2] He led his men into combat with distinction at virtually all the major battles of the campaign, including Brienne, La Rothière and Saint-Dizier.

[2] When Napoleon returned from exile and reclaimed power in France, Lhéritier rallied to his cause[1] and was given a first field command on 23 April, namely the cavalry reserve of IV Army Corps.

[10][11] When the "Army of the North" attacked the forces of the Seventh Coalition in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kellermann, with Lhéritier's division, was placed under the command of Marshal Michel Ney.

At first, it broke Hugh Halkett's forces, then Frederick William, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel's German infantry, eventually reaching the crucial Quatre Bras crossroads.

The cuirassiers endured some close-range musketry before finally turning and retreating at a trot, a manoeuvre during which Kellermann had his horse shot under him and barely escaped capture.

[2] Napoleon abdicated a second time following his defeat at Waterloo and, as the Bourbons returned to power in France, Lhéritier was placed on the non-active list on 20 September 1815.