A carte-de-visite portrait of Général de Beaufort d’Hautpoul, marquis d'Hautpoul (1804-1890).
A pencilled inscription verso in a period hand identifies the sitter as the Général d'Hautpoul. His name appears as the Marquis d'Hautpoul among the 97 generals listed in Disdéri's catalogue dated 15 March 1861.
Charles Marie Napoléon de Beaufort d’Hautpoul was born on 9 November 1804 at Salerno in the Kingdom of Naples. In 1830 he took part in the expedition to Algiers, as an aide-de-camp of Général Valazé. From 1834 to 1837 he was charged by Maréchal Soult with missions in Egypt and Syria, and he thus became an aide-de-camp of Soliman Pacha. Attached to the Persian embassy, he visited all of Asia Minor, and then took part in a new mission in Egypt. As an aide-de-camp of the duc d’Aumale, he served in Algeria until 1848, gaining the rank of chef d’escadron and lieutenant-colonel. He was present at the taking of the Arab chief’s retinue.
Having been recalled to Paris by Général Cavaignac, he returned to Algeria in 1849 where he spent five years as the chef d’état-major of Général Pélissier in the province of Oran. In 1850 he became a colonel and on 1 January 1851 he was promoted général de brigade. He directed several expeditions against Morocco et commanded the subdivisions of Mostaganem and Tlemcen, retaking the Beni-Snassen.
Returning to France in 1858, he commanded the départment of Yonne and in 1859 became état-major of the 5th corps of the army. In April 1860, he was charged with the delineation of the new frontier with Savoy and was promoted général de division on 14 August.
In 1860 he commanded the French expedition of 6,000 men in Syria, ordered by Napoléon III following the events in Damascus of the same year.