Colonel Cresson is the overarching antagonist of the television movie Sharpe's Mission.
He was portrayed by Peter Le Campion, who also played James Horton in Highlander.
Biography[]
Colonel Cresson was a French intelligence officer. At some point prior to 1810, he recruited British officer Major Brand as an asset. The two of them arranged a charade where Cresson ambushed a group of British soldiers and captured their officer, Lieutenant Graham. Brand pretended to attempt to rescue Graham, but in fact killed the lieutenant himself after Cresson left them alone, carrying his body back to the British. His supposed heroism resulted in Brand being made a colonel and given his own regiment.
Three years later, Cresson was given orders to capture Lord Wellington's head of intelligence, Major-General Ross. He consulted with both Brand and General Calvet on a plan to lure Ross into a trap. Brand gave the British information on the location of Calvet's powder magazine as bait, while Cresson had Calvet provide him with a group of French soldiers who had deserted. Dividing them into those willing to fight and those who wouldn't, he issued both groups with faulty powder so their muskets wouldn't fire, then sent the latter group to be slaughtered by Brand and his men. The first group he left as a garrison at the powder magazine, intending for them also to be killed by Brand while he intercepted and captured Ross.
Cresson's plan went wrong when Major Richard Sharpe uncovered Brand's treachery and had him and his men arrested, also capturing the powder magazine by telling the garrison the truth. Cresson led a group of French troops in trying to storm the magazine, but the first attack was beaten back by Sharpe. After rigging the powder magazine to explode, Sharpe and most of the British party escaped down a tunnel, leaving the remaining members of Brand's old regiment to sacrifice themselves in a rearguard action against Cresson's men.
With the powder magazine destroyed and having failed to capture Ross, Cresson reported back to Calvet who forced him to eat from a bowl of mushrooms which may have been poisonous. Cresson discovered the mushrooms were fine but was promptly killed by a shot in the back from Calvet's batman Gaston as punishment for his failure.
