Field marshal. Marquis of Coupigny. Born in Arras in the Artois-Flandre. Due to his noble status he was admitted in 1776 as a Cadet in the Walonas Royal Guard Regiment and was later promoted to First Lieutenant with Colonel rank.
It is most likely that Antoine moved from Great Britain to Spain, where as a Cadet in the Walonas Royal Guard Regiment he participated in the Gibraltar campaigns during the years of 1781-1782, where General Castaños assigned him the defense of the Field of San Roque.
In 1808, at the beginning of the war against the French, he was named Field Marshal, and shortly after, that same year he was promoted to Lieutenant General, at the lead of his military division in Andalusia. He took on the task of conducting diversions against Dupont’s troops, at the time located in Córdoba, keeping his headquarters in Utrera in the meantime.
They kept up their pursue after the French, destroying their communications system, interfering their orders, and paralyzing some of their movements. During the efforts precedent to the battle of Bailén, Coupigny harassed Dupont’s troops, forcing them in the direction that had been previously set by General Castaños.
During this period starts the relationship between who would later become President of the Argentinian Republic, José de San Martín, who was named Coupigny’s assistant. Who, at the time, had been put in charge of the Fifth Army of Cataluña, being sent for a short period of time to Extremadura’s army to participate in the defense of Badajoz. Although after the square gave up, they continued unobstructed on their way to Lisboa, from where they departed towards Cádiz, arriving in the middle of 1811, when the Cortes were already in full effect. Immediately Coupigny was designated for leadership of the 4th Army, left in charge of the defense of the San Fernando and the Gaditana islands, which is the reason why we find him in charge of the troops stationed at the Isla de León, passing away in Madrid the 12th of June of 1825.
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