Henri Nicol
1846–1870A French naval officer who deserted his post to fight for the shogunate in Japan's Boshin War, was wounded in a surprise attack, and later died in the Franco-Prussian War.
Particulars
Henri Paul Hipolito Nicol, a French Navy officer, deserted his ship Minerva while anchored at Yokohama harbor, joining fellow officer Eugène Collache to support the Bakufu cause in Japan's Boshin War. He had trained with Collache at the Ecole Navale, where he also learned some Japanese.
Nicol took part in the Naval Battle of Miyako, serving aboard the Kaiten alongside samurai warriors of the Shinsengumi. Chosen for the main attack because he was from Bordeaux and knew the construction of the revolutionary warship Kotetsu, built in that city, he entered the harbor under an American flag before raising the Bakufu flag. The attack was repelled by a Gatling gun, and Nicol was severely wounded in the leg and arm.
After the Bakufu forces surrendered, Nicol was sent back to France, tried for treason, and given a light sentence. He was soon drafted as a private soldier in the Franco-Prussian War, where he died at age 24.
Compiled from Wikipedia. Automated record.