1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Forey, Élie Frédéric

FOREY, ÉLIE FRÉDÉRIC (1804–1872), marshal of France, was born at Paris on the 5th of January 1804, and entered the army from St Cyr in 1824. He took part in the earlier Algerian campaigns, and became captain in 1835. Four years later he was given command of a battalion of chasseurs à pied and in 1844 he became colonel. At the Revolution of 1848 Cavaignac made him a general of brigade. He took an active part in the coup d’état of the 2nd of December 1851, and Napoleon III. made him a general of division shortly afterwards. He held a superior command in the Crimean War, and in the Italian campaign of 1859 distinguished himself very greatly in the action of Montebello (20th May). In 1862 Forey was placed in command of the French expeditionary corps in Mexico, with the fullest civil and military powers, and he crowned a successful campaign by the capture of Mexico city in May 1863, receiving as his reward the marshal’s bâton. From December 1863 to 1867 he held high commands in France, but in the latter year he was struck with paralysis and had to retire. Marshal Forey died at Paris on the 20th of June 1872.