DESPREZCRASSIER, Jean Etienne Philibert, French general, born in Crassier, 18 January 1733; died in Ornex about 1803. He early entered the French army, and became in 1757 a captain in the Royal Deuxpont regiment, with which he served in Germany until the peace of 1693. After attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel, he served in this country during the Revolutionary war, distinguishing himself at Yorktown, where his regiment, haying captured two howitzers, obtained by the exploit the title of "Royal." In September 1792, he was made lieutenant general and given command of the advance guard of the army of the centre, which repelled the Prussians at the camp of La Lune. He was suspended as a nobleman in 1793, but was afterward restored and employed in the army of Italy, of the Pyrenees, and of the Rhine. He was deprived of his command, 26 October 1795, and then retired to his estates in Ornex.