Donatien de Rochambeau
Command Ratings
Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau (often styled simply “Donatien de Rochambeau” in modern reference works) was born in Paris on 7 April 1755, the son of Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (marshal of France and commander of the French expeditionary army in North America during the American Revolutionary War). He entered the French Army in 1769 and began his career under the monarchy, then continued in service through the Revolution and the Empire, reaching the rank of général de division. He died of wounds at Leipzig on 20 October 1813, after being wounded during the Battle of Leipzig (the “Battle of Nations”).
He accompanied his father to North America during the American Revolutionary War and served on the expedition in an attached capacity as part of the Rochambeau staff and household. In that theatre he was present with the French field army during the operations that culminated in the allied siege of Yorktown in 1781, and he remained with the French force in Virginia during the winter cantonments of 1781–1782 before the French army’s return journey and embarkation for Europe.
During the French Revolution he remained in military employment and, in the early 1790s, was sent to the French West Indies, where his duties were tied to the unstable situation in the Windward Islands and in Saint-Domingue. In this period he held senior colonial military authority and is recorded in reference works as commandant in the Windward Islands and as serving in Martinique in 1793. He also held high office connected to Saint-Domingue during the revolutionary years, being noted as governor-general there in 1796.
In the later Revolutionary Wars he served in European theatres, including the French forces operating in the Italian peninsula, and he held responsibilities connected with French authority in Liguria during the period of French influence and occupation in northern Italy. By the Consulate and early Empire he was a senior general officer available for Major assignments, and in 1802 he was committed to the large French expedition sent to reassert metropolitan control in Saint-Domingue. After the death of General Charles-Victoire-Emmanuel Leclerc, the expedition’s original commander, Rochambeau assumed the leading command role in the colony. In that capacity he served as captain-general of Saint-Domingue during 1803, directing French forces in the final stage of the campaign as the French position deteriorated under combined military pressure and the effects of disease, and as control of the colony was lost.
On the return voyage to France after the collapse of French power in Saint-Domingue, Rochambeau fell into British hands. He was taken prisoner and remained a British prisoner of war from 1803 until his exchange and release in 1811, matching the “POW 03–11” notation in the existing record. After his return to France he did not remain permanently retired: he resumed active military life under the Empire.
In the War of the Sixth Coalition, Rochambeau was again employed in the field and was present with the French armies during the Leipzig campaign. He was wounded in the Battle of Leipzig (16–19 October 1813) and died shortly afterwards in Leipzig on 20 October 1813.
Sources
The son of Rochambeau #1. X 93 Windward Islands; X Haiti 02-03; British POW 1803 – 1811. XX 13 Katzbach, Leipzig (KIA). (1750-1813)