Dufour, Guillaume-Henri

(1787–1875) was a Swiss army officer, bridge engineer and topographer who as general led the Swiss forces to victory against the Sonderbund, formed by seven Catholic cantons in 1845 to protect their interests against a centralization of power. The war resulted in the emergence of Switzerland as a federal state. The campaign lasted only a few days and claimed fewer than a hundred victims. Dufour ordered his troops to care for the injured, anticipating the formation of the Red Cross in which he participated a few years later.