User:Kaliforniyka/Pierre-Jacques Osten

Pierre-Jacques Osten (4 April 1758 – 16 March 1814) was a Belgian general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

Early life and family
Osten was born in Menen, West Flanders, then part of Austrian Netherlands. Osten worked as a master carpenter in Menen and married Judith Remaut (1753-1812) on 15 October 1776. They had four children:

Peter Andreas (Menen 1776-Hertogenbosch in 1804, aide de camp for his father) Ludovica Francisca (Menen 1778) Judith Rosalie (Menen 1780) Jan Carolus (1782 Menen - Menen 1782)

The divorce was issued on April 26, 1802. He married secondly, Nathalie Eugenie Pardoen (1766-1802). Here, two children were born:

Julia Aimable (Lille 1792) Jacques Octave (Middelburg 1798 - 1863 Chaudfontaine)

Brabant Revolution
He was a supporter of the Vonckists and took an active role in the Brabant Revolution against the Austrians, and was made a second lieutenant in the army of the short-lived United Belgian States on 21 November 1789. Osten performed admirably under the direction of Jean-André van der Mersch and was made a captain on 1 April 1790.

War of the First Coalition
When France declared war on Austria in 1792, Osten left for France to fight in the War of the First Coalition as part of the Army of the North, commanded by Nicolas Luckner. On 3 August 1792, he was appointed a colonel of the Corps de volontaires belges under the command of General Charles Joseph de Nozières d'Envezin.

Napoleonic Wars
During the Walcheren Campaign in 1809, he was forced to surrender to an army of 30,000 English soldiers headed by the Earl of Chatham. He was taken prisoner along with hundreds of others and sent to England. He was among many who successfully escaped from England after being sentenced to live on parole. His daughter had accompanied him from Flushing, and being free to leave, she departed with all of her father's belongings in December 1809. Osten, who had been on parole in Lichfield, escaped with two other officers with the help of a smuggler, and 46 hours later he was back in Holland.