Pierre Adolphe Rost

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Pierre Adolphe Rost (1797 – September 6, 1868) was born in France in 1797. He received his education at the École Polytechnique in Paris, France where men were recruited into the civil service or military. As an artilleryman, he was credited for brave conduct in the defense of Paris on March 30, 1814. Rost applied for a commission in Napoleon's army after the Emperor's escape from Elba, Italy, but was too late for the Battle of Waterloo.

Escaping from what he thought to be an oppressive régime, he then emigrated to the United States in 1816. He became a teacher in Natchez, Mississippi and studied law under Joseph Emory Davis, the brother of Jefferson Davis. He moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana where the majority were people of French origin and started a profitable practice. In 1822 (some sources say 1826), he was elected to the Louisiana Senate. He also ran to be a congressman in the United States House of Representatives four years afterwards, but was defeated. He moved to New Orleans, Louisiana and commenced practicing law. Upon his return from a trip to Europe, he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, served in 1839, then resigned to engage in agricultural pursuits. He returned in 1846 when reorganization of the court was effected, serving until 1854.

During the American Civil War, he sided with the Confederacy. On March 16, 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Secretary of State Robert Toombs appointed Rost, William Lowndes Yancey and Ambrose Dudley Mann the first Confederate commissioners to Europe. The three sailed March 31, 1861. Rost and Yancy were later replaced by John Slidell and James Murray Mason.

Rost owned the Destrehan Plantation also known as the Rost Home Colony in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana from 1865 until it was seized by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands in 1866. Through that time, it was used to house a self contained colony of freedmen, complete with a hospital, schools, colony store and police force. Rost then returned with a full pardon from President Andrew Johnson and demands for the return of his property.

Rost continued practicing law until he died in New Orleans, Louisiana on September 6, 1868.

[edit] Works

  • Eulogy upon the life and character of George Eustis,: Formerly chief justice of the Supreme court of Louisiana. Pronounced at Lyceum hall, on the 31st March, 1859 (1859)

[edit] Sources

  • Knight, Michael F., The Rost Home Colony, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana Prologue, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Fall 2001): 214-220, National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.
  • http://www.famousamericans.net/

[edit] External links

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