Armand Louis de Gontaut
Armand Louis de Gontaut | |
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Order of St. Louis |
Armand Louis de Gontaut (French pronunciation:
Biography
Early life
Born in
In 1788, he succeeded to the duchy of Biron on the death of his uncle,
He served in the guards as early as 1761, and in 1767 made the expedition of Corsica as aid-de camp of de Chanvelin. On 29 June 1769, he was made chevalier of the order of Saint Louis. Traveling throughout Europe, engaging in idle frivolity, and – according to his Memoirs – various love affairs, he wasted his fortune, which in 1777 forced him to transfer his estates to Henri Louis, Prince of Guéméné (grand chamberlain and captain lieutenant of the gendarmes of the king's ordinary guard), upon the payment of an annuity of 80,000 livres. The prince, however, became bankrupt and the annuity was reduced more than half. Around that time he attracted attention by an essay on the military defenses of Great Britain and her colonies (État de défense d’Angleterre et de toutes ses possessions dans les quatres parties du monde), leading to his appointment to a command against the English in 1779, in which he had some success. That in turn lead to his being sent with some ships under the command of Louis-Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil on an expedition to Senegal and other coast possessions of the English, de Veudreuil capturing Senegal in January 1779, shortly before sailing to North America in aid of Rochambeau in 1780. Though the fortress at Cape Blanc he seized on 30 January 1779 was recaptured directly after his departure during the same year, de Vaudreuil was awarded the Grand Cross of St. Louis in 1789, whereas Lauzun received the title of colonel of hussars, and became proprietory [sic?] colonel of a foreign regiment named after him. Appointed brigadier on the first of March, 1780, Lauzun decided to take part in the War of American Independence.
American Revolution service
Following his appointment to a command against the British in 1779, commanding the troops that captured
In 1781, he took an important part in the
De Lauzun received the order to sail for France on 11 March 1783. On 24 October 1781, after the Siege of Yorktown, Surveillante, under Villeneuve Cillart, brought Lauzun to France to bring the news of the victory. She arrived at Brest on 15 November. [8] Lauzun had a hero's welcome and was made maréchal de camp.[3]
On the death of his uncle,
French Revolution service
In 1789, he was returned as deputy to the
In May 1793, he was transferred to the command of the French Revolutionary Army on the La Rochelle front, the Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle, operating against the Vendéan insurgency against the Reign of Terror.[10] He gained several successes, among them the capture of Saumur and the victory of Parthenay (Bataille de Parthenay), but the insubordination of his troops and the suspicions of his political supervisors made his position intolerable and he sent in his resignation, ending his command on 16 July 1793.[3]
Execution
He was accused by the notorious
Works
His Memoires, which come down to 1783, were published under his name in 1822 (and reprinted in a new edition of 1858), and letters were published in 1865, said to have been written by him in 1789 to friends in the country, describing the Estates-General.[3]
Legacy
- An American warship was named after Armand Louis de Gontaut: USS Duc de Lauzun.
- P Street Bridge, a bridge over Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C., was renamed Lauzun's Legion Bridge in 2006.
- The Duc de Lauzun, was portrayed in the book, Mistress of the Revolution by Catherine Delors. He also is portrayed as the main character in the play Fortuna by Marina Tsvetaeva.
References
- ^ Dictionnaire de la Franc-maçonnerie, page 143 (Daniel Ligou, ed. Presses Universitaires de France, 2006)
- ^ Benedetta Craveri,The Last Libertines, p.10
- ^ a b c d e f public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Biron, Armand de Gontaut, Baron de s.v. Armand Louis de Gontaut". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 989. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Bodinier, Gilbert. Dictionnaire des officiers de l'armée royale qui ont combattu aux États-Unis pendant la guerre d'Indépendance: 1776-1783. Service historique de l'armée de terre; Versailles : Éd. Mémoire & documents, 2005
- ^ Gaston Maugras, The Duc de Lauzun and the Court of Louis XV. Osgood, McIlvaine & Company, 1895, de Boufflers%2C&f=false pp. 129–130.
- ^ a b Asa Bird Gardiner, The Order of Cincinnati in France, Rhode Island State Society of Cincinnati, 1905. p. 74
- ^ Life and Letters of Samuel Holden Parsons, Major General in the Continental Army and Chief Judge of the Northwestern Territory 1737–1789, Charles S. Hall 1905, page 364 [1]
- ^ Contenson (1934), p. 159.
- ^ Stevenson, Cornelius. "A Biographical Notice of the Duc De Lauzun, Commander of the Troop of Cavalry Which Became Known as 'Lauzun's Legion' in the Revolutionary War." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 47, no. 4, 1923, pp. 298–306.
- ^ Secher, Reynald. A French Genocide: The Vendée. Notre Dame, Ind: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003. pp.2-3
- ^ Stevenson, Cornelius. "A Biographical Notice of the Duc De Lauzun, Commander of the Troop of Cavalry Which Became Known as 'Lauzun's Legion' in the Revolutionary War." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 47, no. 4, 1923, p. 303
Bibliography
- OCLC 7842336.
- Hall, Charles S., Life and Letters of Samuel Holden Parsons, Ostenigo Publishing Co., Binghamton, NY, 1905