Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing

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Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing
American War of Independence

Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing (24 November 1729 – 28 April 1794) was a French general and admiral. He began his service as a soldier in the War of the Austrian Succession, briefly spending time as a prisoner of war of the British during the Seven Years' War. Naval exploits during the latter war prompted him to change branches of service, and he transferred to the French Navy.

Following France's entry into the

American War of Independence in 1778, d'Estaing led a fleet to aid the American rebels. He participated in a failed Franco-American siege of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1778, and the equally unsuccessful 1779 Siege of Savannah
. He did have success in the Caribbean before returning to France in 1780. His difficulties working with American counterparts are cited among the reasons these operations in North America failed.

Although d'Estaing sympathized with revolutionaries during the French Revolution, he held a personal loyalty to the French royal family. Because of this he came under suspicion, and was executed by guillotine in the Reign of Terror.

Early years

He was born on 24 November 1729 at the

Louis XVI), who was born at about the same time.[3] D'Estaing thus became close friends with the Dauphin and served in his retinue.[4]

In May 1738 at the age of 9 he was nominally enrolled in the

Marshal Château-Renault. His regiment was called to serve in the War of the Austrian Succession. D'Estaing served as aide-de-camp to Marshal Saxe throughout the Flanders campaigns of 1746–48. During these years he was promoted to colonel in command of Regiment de Rouergue, and was wounded at the 1748 Siege of Maastricht.[5]

Following the war

King Louis XV embarked on a program to modernize his army on the successful model of Frederick the Great's Prussian army. D'Estaing became one of the leading reformers. After a few years, the Regiment de Rouergue was viewed "as a model of the infantry".[6] Seeking to gain experience in diplomacy, d'Estaing accompanied the French ambassador to England for a time.[7]

Seven Years' War in India

Main articles:
Third Carnatic War

When hostilities broke out between the British and French colonies in North America, d'Estaing considered joining the forces of Louis-Joseph de Montcalm that sailed in 1755, but his family dissuaded him from doing so.[7] When an expedition to the East Indies was organized, he applied to participate without consulting his family. His participation was ensured when he was offered a back-dated promotion to brigadier-general, provided he could transfer command of his regiment to someone else, which he did.[8] In early January 1757, shortly before embarking, d'Estaing was awarded the Order of Saint Louis.[9]

Lally's campaigns

Portrait by Jean-Pierre Franque

After a lengthy journey, the fleet of the

Tanjore (the only one in Lally's war council to do so) following the British seizure of Karikal. When Lally began to besiege Madras in December 1758, d'Estaing's division was positioned in the center of the French line. When the British made a sortie against that sector, d'Estaing advanced alone to reconnoiter their movements. He was surrounded by British troops, unhorsed, and twice wounded by bayonet before surrendering.[13]

D'Estaing was taken into Madras, where he was confined by the order of Governor George Pigot. Pigot offered to release him on parole, but d'Estaing refused, preferring instead to be exchanged so that he could resume fighting.[14] The arrival of a British fleet off Madras in February 1759 convinced d'Estaing to accept the offer of parole, which was conditioned on his not fighting against the British in the East Indies.[15] In May 1759 he sailed for Île-de-France (present-day Mauritius).[16]

French East India Company service

While d'Estaing was at Île-de-France, word arrived of a prisoner exchange agreement between France and Britain. D'Estaing, however, was excluded from this agreement because he had been paroled before its date. While requests were forwarded to India to negotiate his inclusion in the cartel, d'Estaing decided to enter the service of the French East India Company, leading a naval expedition to gather resources for Île-de-France. D'Estaing thought he would finesse his parole status by declaring himself to be a "spectator" in case the force came into conflict with the British or their allies, and permitted his second in command to lead such operations.[17]

In command of a two-vessel company fleet (the 50-gun Condé and the frigate l'Expédition), d'Estaing sailed for the

Bandar-Abbas,[19] before sailing for Sumatra. While en route he detached his accumulated prize ships, sending them to Île-de-France. D'Estaing's success was notable: in three months he had acquired significant prizes at the expense of only five casualties (28 men died of smallpox).[20]

After a slow crossing (retarded by calms and contrary winds), d'Estaing's fleet reached the coast of Sumatra in early February 1760. There he captured the British factory at

Padang
, a major Dutch settlement, where he supplemented his forces with local recruits and resupplied.

He sailed for Bencoolen (now Bengkulu, the capital of the Indonesian province of Bengkulu), the main British settlement on Sumatra. The town was defended by Fort Marlborough and a garrison of 500 Europeans and local sepoys, with the potential to raise over 1,000 additional Malay militia. Although these forces were alerted to the French arrival by a ship that d'Estaing chased into the harbour, the first broadside directed at the fort panicked its defenders, who fled into the surrounding jungle. D'Estaing spent a day in pursuit of some of these troops. He used Fort Marlborough as a base to subdue the remaining lesser British settlements on the west side of Sumatra. He returned to Île-de-France ten months after his departure.

Ordered back to France, d'Estaing boarded a westbound company ship. Just off the French coast the ship was captured by British patrols. He was imprisoned at Plymouth, charged with violating his parole, before being granted limited freedom from a house in London. He was able to successfully defend himself against the charges, and was allowed to return to France. Upon his arrival, d'Estaing was commissioned as field marshal, the reward for his service in the East Indies.

Interwar years

Governor of the Leeward Islands

In the early months of 1762 France made preparations for a major expedition against Portuguese territories in South America. Promoted to lieutenant general of the army on July 25, 1762, d'Estaing was also given the rank of chef d'escadre (rear admiral) in the French Navy in recognition for his exploits, a rank lesser than that he held in the army. In order to clarify his command role in the expedition, the king formally removed him from the army and gave him the rank of lieutenant general in the navy. The expedition was called off when preliminary peace terms were agreed.

In 1764 King Louis appointed d'Estaing governor general of the French Leeward Islands, a post he held until 1766. Based principally in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), he recruited French colonists known as Acadians to settle there. They had been deported from the French colony of Acadia in present-day Canada by the British during the war, as they had refused to take loyalty oaths to Britain. These efforts were largely unsuccessful, as many Acadian immigrants died of tropical disease. Others sought to resettle elsewhere because of the hot climate and poor land.[citation needed]

Home service

D'Estaing returned to France in 1767. At this time he had to deal with the formal separation from his wife, which they had agreed to in writing in 1756, before his departure for India. The division of their properties was somewhat contentious, leading to court proceedings and appeals that ultimately failed to divide their estates.

In 1772 d'Estaing was appointed naval inspector and governor at Brest, the country's principal Atlantic naval station. In 1777 he was promoted to vice admiral of the Asian and American seas (vice-amiral des mers d'Asie et d'Amérique).

American War of Independence

Main articles: Franco-American alliance and Anglo-French War (1778–1783)
Le Destin molestant les Anglois, contemporary caricature showing d'Estaing presenting a palm frond to America

At the entry of France into the

New York harbour
. He did not enter the harbour because his largest ships were believed to be unable to clear the bar at its mouth.

Newport

Main article: Battle of Rhode Island

In cooperation with the American generals, d'Estaing planned an attack on

Boston for repairs. He sailed for the West Indies on 4 November.[21]

West Indies

Main articles:
Capture of Grenada, and Battle of Grenada

He arrived in the West Indies in December 1778, shortly after the British began operations to capture St. Lucia. He sailed in an attempt to relieve the place, but he was defeated in both land and naval efforts to prevent its capture.

In June 1779, with his fleet reinforced by arrival of ten ships of the line commanded by

took by storm
two days later.

Admiral Byron had been alerted to the capture of St. Vincent, and was sailing with a force to retake it when he learned that d'Estaing was at Grenada. He changed course, making all sail for Grenada, and arrived there early on 6 July. Although d'Estaing had been alerted to Byron's progress, and his fleet outnumbered Byron's, he still scrambled to embark soldiers and sail away from the island. Byron, unaware that d'Estaing had been reinforced, ordered a general chase, which resulted in a somewhat disorganized battle.[22] D'Estaing refused to press his numerical advantage, and both fleets ended up retiring to their bases for repairs. In August, d'Estaing sailed for Savannah, Georgia, to join forces with the Americans who wanted to recapture the British-held city.

Siege of Savannah

Main article: Siege of Savannah
An October 1779 map by Antoine O'Connor, d'Estaing's chief engineer, of the coastline to the east of the Savannah colony, including Bonaventure Plantation[23]

The siege consisted of a joint Franco-American attempt to retake Savannah from 16 September 1779 to 18 October 1779, with d'Estaing in overall command of the combined forces. After weeks of fruitless bombardment, on 9 October 1779, a major assault against the British siege works failed. During the attack, d'Estaing was twice wounded. When the assault failed, d'Estaing lifted the siege. British forces remained in control of coastal Georgia until they withdrew near the end of the war.

Return to France

D'Estaing returned to France in 1780 on

crutches. He fell into disfavour at the court, and was strongly criticised by his subordinates. Friends of Benjamin Franklin, then minister in France, jokingly suggested that the French court at Versailles should provide America with the names of other gifted admirals.[24]

In 1781 France sent a fleet under Admiral de Grasse, along with an expeditionary force to reinforce the Americans in Virginia. Admiral de Grasse defeated the British in the Battle of the Chesapeake, holding a blockade against their forces and contributing to the surrender of the British army at Yorktown in 1781.

Three years later, d'Estaing was placed at the head of the Franco-Spanish fleet assembled before Cádiz. The peace between the US, Great Britain and France was signed, and no operations took place.

On September 28, 1784 Governor John Houstoun of Georgia granted four 5000-acre tracts of vacant land in Franklin County, Georgia to d'Estaing and his heirs.

After the American war, d'Estaing turned his attention to politics. He was made a

grandee of Spain. In 1787, he was elected to the Assembly of Notables. When the French Revolution broke out, he supported the revolutionary cause. In 1789, he was appointed as commanding general of the Versailles National Guard, and in 1792 he was promoted to admiral's rank by the National Assembly. While supporting liberal reforms, he stayed loyal to the royal family. In the 1793 trial of Marie Antoinette, during the Reign of Terror, he testified in her favour. On this account, and because of certain friendly letters which had passed between him and the queen, he was himself brought to trial, charged with being a reactionary. He was sent to the guillotine on 28 April 1794.[21] Before his execution, d'Estaing wrote, "After my head falls off, send it to the English, they will pay a good deal for it!"[25] Both his wife Marie-Sophie Rousselot and his only child had died before him.[26]

In his moments of leisure, d'Estaing wrote a poem, Le Rêve (1755), a tragedy Les Thermopyles (1789), and a book on the colonies.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charles Henri d'Estaing.
  1. ^ Colman-Maison, pp. 2-3
  2. ^ Colman-Maison, p. 2
  3. ^ Colman-Maison, p. 3
  4. ^ Colman-Maison, p. 4
  5. ^ Colman-Maison, p. 5
  6. ^ Colman-Maison, p. 6
  7. ^ a b Colman-Maison, p. 7
  8. ^ Colman-Maison, p. 14
  9. ^ Colman-Maison, p. 15
  10. ^ Colman-Maison, pp. 20-22
  11. ^ Colman-Maison, pp. 22-23
  12. ^ Colman-Maison, pp. 26-28
  13. ^ Colman-Maison, pp. 30-44
  14. ^ Colman-Maison, p. 44
  15. ^ Colman-Maison, p. 45
  16. ^ Colman-Maison, p. 46
  17. ^ Colman-Maison, pp. 47-48
  18. ^ Colman-Maison, pp. 48-54
  19. ^ Colman-Maison, pp. 55-59
  20. ^ Colman-Maison, pp. 60-61
  21. ^ a b c  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Estaing, Charles Hector, Comte d'". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 789.
  22. ^ Stephens, pp.363-364
  23. ^ Engineers of Independence: A Documentary History of the Army Engineers in the American Revolution, 1775-1783, Paul K. Walker; The Minerva Group, 2002
  24. ^ Schiff p.220
  25. ^ Quand vous aurez fait tomber ma tête, envoyez là aux Anglais, ils la paieront cher!. Quoted in "CHATEAU-RENAULT_CHATEAURENAULT_ Marine Nationale Française". Archived from the original on 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2008-11-26.
  26. ^ Samuel F. Scott. Estaing, Comte d', American National Biography Online, February 2000. Retrieved Tue November 24, 2015.

References

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