Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau
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Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (July 1, 1725 – May 10, 1807) was a French aristocrat, soldier, and a Marshal of France.
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[edit] Military life
Rochambeau was born in Vendome, Loir-et-Cher. He was schooled at the Jesuit college at Blois. However, after the death of his elder brother, he entered a cavalry regiment, and served in Bohemia, Bavaria, and on the Rhine, during the War of the Austrian Succession. By 1747, he had attained the rank of colonel.
He took part in the siege of Maastricht in 1748 and became governor of Vendome in 1749. After distinguishing himself in 1756 in the battle of Minorca on the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, he was promoted to Brigadier General of infantry. In 1758, he fought in Germany, notably in the battle of Krefeld. He also received several wounds in the battle of Clostercamp in 1760. In 1761, he was appointed marechal de camp and Inspector of Cavalry. In this position, he was frequently consulted by the ministers on technical points.
[edit] American Revolution
In 1780, Rochambeau was given the rank of Lieutenant General in command of 5,000 French troops and sent to join the American colonists under George Washington fighting the Kingdom of Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War.
He landed at Newport, Rhode Island, on July 10, but was held there inactive for a year, owing to his reluctance to abandon the French fleet blockaded by the British in Narragansett Bay. At last, in July 1781, Rochambeau's force finally left Rhode Island, marching across Connecticut to join Washington on the Hudson River. There then followed the celebrated march of the combined forces and the siege of Yorktown. On September 22, they combined with the Marquis de Lafayette's troops and forced Marquess Cornwallis to surrender on October 19.
Rochambeau's behaviour has been celebrated: he had placed himself entirely under Washington's command and handled his troops as part of the Continental Army. In recognition of his services, the Congress of the Confederation thanked him and his troops and presented him with two cannons taken from the British. These guns, with which Rochambeau returned to Vendôme, were requisitioned in 1792.
[edit] Return to France
Upon his return to France, he was honored by King Louis XVI and was made governor of Picardy.
During the Revolution, he commanded the Armée du Nord in 1790, but resigned in 1792 after several reverses. Rochambeau was arrested during the Reign of Terror and narrowly escaped the guillotine. He was subsequently pensioned by Napoleon Bonaparte and died at Thoré-la-Rochette during the First French Empire.
[edit] Legacy
[edit] Honors
A statue of Rochambeau by Ferdinand Hamar, was unveiled in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C., by President Theodore Roosevelt on May 24, 1902, as a gift from France to the United States. The ceremony was made the occasion of a great demonstration of friendship between the two nations. France was represented by ambassador Jules Cambon, Admiral Fournier and General Henri Brugère, as well as a detachment of sailors and marines from the battleship Gaulois. Representatives of the Lafayette and Rochambeau families also attended. A Rochambeau fête was held simultaneously in Paris.
[edit] Memoirs
Rochambeau's memoirs, Mémoires militaires, historiques et politiques, de Rochambeau were published by Jean-Charles-Julien Luce de Lancival in 1809. Of the first volume a part, translated into English by M.W.E. Wright, was published in 1838 under the title of Memoirs of the Marshal Count de R. relative to the War of Independence in the United States.
Rochambeau's correspondence during the American campaign is published in H. Doniol, Histoire de la participation de la France en l'établissement des Etats Unis d'Amérique, vol. v, Paris:1892.
[edit] Miscellany
- Rochambeau's son, Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur was an important figure in the Haitian Revolution.
- Rochambeau Middle School in Southbury, Connecticut is named for the Comte de Rochambeau, as is the Rochambeau Bridge which carries Interstate 84 and U.S. Highway 6 between Southbury and Newtown, Connecticut (Rochambeau's army marched through the area during the American Revolutionary War).
- The French international school in Bethesda, Maryland is named for the Comte de Rochambeau.
- A bridge over the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., is also named for Rochambeau.
- There is a Rochambeau Drive named in his honor in Williamsburg, Virginia, which is not far from the Yorktown battlefield.
- There is a Rochambeau Avenue named in his honor in Providence, Rhode Island, as well as a Rochambeau Street in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
- There is a Rochambeau Avenue named in his honor in the Bronx, New York.
- In Alexandria and other suburbs of Washington, D.C., children call the game Rock, Paper, Scissors Rochambeau, and begin the game with the name instead of saying "one-two-three".
- Another variation is when one tells another that he'll "rochambeau" for something (a prize, precedence, etc). After the other player agrees, the initiator kicks the other player in the crotch. This has been popularized by South Park.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. In turn, it cites as references:
- Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne, "Autour de Rochambeau" in Revue des facultés catholiques de l'ouest (1898-1900)
- E. Gachot, "Rochambeau" in Nouvelle Revue (1902)
- H. de Ganniers, "La Dernière Campagne du maréchal de Rochambeau" in Revue des questions historiques (1901)
