Francis Canrobert was born in 1809, in the department of Lot, some leagues from the village where Murat first saw the light. He entered the school of St. Cyr in the month of November, 1826, and obtained the highest honors in that establishment, after passing two years in laborious study. On the first of October, 1828, he was appointed to the sub-lieutenancy of the 47th regiment of the line, and was made lieutenant on the 20th of June, 1832. In 1835 he embarked for Africa, and arrived in the province of Oran, where the Emir, Abd-el-Kader, had held the French troops for some time in check. Soon after his arrival, he accompanied the expedition to Murcara, when he first distinguished himself. He followed with his regiment the movements of the generals Clausel, D’Arlanges, and Letang, in the province of Oran. The capture of Tlemcen, the expeditions to Chelif and Mina, the battles of Sidi, Yacoub, Tafua, and Sikkah, revealed his brilliant military qualities, and gained him the rank of captain on the 26th April, 1837. Captain Canrobert returned to France in 1839, with the decoration of the Legion of Honor. In 1840 he was on duty at the camp of St. Omer, when he composed, in obedience to the commands of the Duke of Orleans, several chapters of a Manual for the use of the light troops. In the month of October he was incorporated into the sixth battalion of _Chasseurs-à-Pied_, and returned to Africa in 1841. In this new campaign he signalised himself on all occasions. He had been an officer of the Legion of Honor for ten years, when Colonel St. Arnaud, who in the year 1845 succeeded Colonel Cavaignac in the government of Orleansville, made use of his services against Bon Maga. He succeeded with two hundred and fifty bayonets in holding his own against more than three thousand men, who could make no impression on him; consequent upon these transactions followed his appointment to a lieutenant-colonelcy on the 26th of October.