Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau

French military leader

• Born: July 1, 1725
• Birthplace: Vendôme, France
• Died: May 10, 1807
• Place of death: Vendôme, France

Placed in command of the French troops who came to assist the colonists in the American Revolutionary War, Rochambeau helped General George Washington plan the Battle of Yorktown and defeat the British under the command of Cornwallis in 1781.

Early Life

Born into a well-established French noble family with a military heritage, Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (kohnt duh roh-shahm-boh), was the third son of Joseph Charles de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, and Marie Claire Thérèse Bérgon. At age five, he was sent by his parents to school at the Collège de Vendôme, run by the Oratian Fathers, an order of clergy in the Roman Catholic church. There he began to receive excellent training in history, literature, mathematics, and the physical sciences.

Though Rochambeau grew up with heroic stories about the prowess of his ancestors, his family designated him for the priesthood because he was both the youngest son and not very robust. The Oratians, however, were suspected of heresy. A friend of the family, the bishop of Blois, persuaded young Rochambeau’s father to transfer his son to a Jesuit school in Blois, where his teachers were more likely to prepare him to receive a bishopric one day.

The event that changed the course of Rochambeau’s life was the sudden death of his only surviving brother. He was about to be tonsured, a preparatory step toward receiving the priesthood, when he was informed that he must, from that point on, serve his country with the same vigor he would have devoted to his God. Back at Vendôme, his father began encouraging Rochambeau to follow in the footsteps of his war-loving forefathers. At age fifteen, he set out for Paris and enrolled in the academy for officers.

Having already been influenced by military histories and memoirs read at home, once in Paris, Rochambeau came in contact with some of the most advanced military and political thinking in Europe. He had scarcely begun his studies in earnest when war broke out between Prussia and Austria, a conflict destined to engulf all of Europe. Young Rochambeau left school and joined the Army of the Rhine, thus beginning fifty years of active military service.

Rochambeau rose rapidly through the ranks of the French army. Early in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), he obtained a commission as a junior officer of cavalry. In July, 1743, he was promoted to captain and given command of a cavalry unit. In 1746, he became aide-de-camp to a royal prince, the duc d’ Orléans, and in 1747 was appointed colonel of an infantry regiment. By the time the war ended, Rochambeau had been severely wounded and had distinguished himself in battle. His gallantry was recognized by King Louis XV, who admitted him to that select circle allowed to dine with the monarch in private and permitted to ride with him in his royal coach. In December, 1749, Rochambeau married the daughter of a wealthy merchant and devoted himself to peacetime training. This did not last long, as France was soon plunged into one of the most disastrous conflicts of its history—the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763).

Life’s Work

During the Seven Years’ War, Rochambeau honed those skills and qualities that marked the rest of his brilliant career. He again achieved distinction on the battlefields of Germany and was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1761. He was appointed to the post of inspector of cavalry and introduced a number of reforms that aided the efficiency of the French army. He came to be known for his emphasis on discipline but also for his concern for the welfare of the common soldier. In 1776, the king of France again rewarded Rochambeau’s meritorious service by appointing him governor of Villefranche-en-Roussillon, a post that came with a significant annual stipend of eight thousand francs.

In 1779, after thirty-seven years of military service, including another promotion to the rank of lieutenant-general (a fitting climax to a distinguished career), Rochambeau looked forward to retirement. Ever since the humiliating treaty that had ended the Seven Years’ War in 1763, however, France had been looking for a way to reclaim its former position in the world. In 1778, France’s political leaders had formed an alliance with the American revolutionaries fighting against England. By February, 1780, the French were persuaded, chiefly by the lobbying of the marquis de Lafayette, to send military forces to the American colonies. Much to the disappointment of Lafayette, the French government called upon Rochambeau, then age fifty-five, to command the expeditionary force. Elaborate preparations were made, and Rochambeau’s administrative skill in organizing the expedition benefited the French war department immeasurably.

After several delays, the French fleet carrying Rochambeau’s 5,500 troops set sail on May 1, 1780. They anchored off Newport, Rhode Island, on July 11, 1780. The next day, Rochambeau wrote to George Washington, placing himself and his army at the disposal of the colonial leader. Rochambeau’s emphasis on discipline again paid off as the good conduct of French troops and officers paved the way for effective cooperation in fighting a common foe—the British. The greatest complicating factor in Rochambeau’s command of the French expeditionary force was the interference of the younger and somewhat impetuous Lafayette. At one point, he urged Rochambeau to cast off his lethargy and attack New York without waiting for control of the seas. Yet the older and wiser Rochambeau prevailed, and Washington, who was inclined to favor a New York attack, ended up putting his trust in the knowledge and experience of his older associate for the rest of the war.

In the fall of 1780, Rochambeau and Washington sent a request to the French government for additional French forces and more money to assist the war effort. Though they waited in vain for extra ground troops, in May, 1781, Rochambeau’s son, the vicomte de Rochambeau, arrived with news that the French king had consented to supply an extra six million livres and that another French fleet under the command of Admiral François-Joseph-Paul, comte de Grasse, had been dispatched to the West Indies and would cooperate with Rochambeau and Washington. On May 21, 1781, Rochambeau and Washington met and agreed that together their combined forces could overwhelm British forces under Sir Henry Clinton at New York or defeat the army of the First Marquess Cornwallis in Virginia, but not both. With Rochambeau’s urging, they opted to avoid Clinton and strike Cornwallis, and they asked Admiral de Grasse to bring his fleet to Chesapeake Bay to cut off British communications and prevent Cornwallis from being reinforced by Clinton.

On June 10, 1781, Rochambeau’s army, which had been wintering in Rhode Island, broke camp and joined with Washington’s troops at White Plains, New York, on July 5. Though the combined French-American army now numbered some ten thousand soldiers, Rochambeau did not wish to fully engage a large British force, preferring instead to met the enemy in several small skirmishes.

The strategy of the French-American alliance depended on de Grasse. If the British lost control of the seas and Clinton could be prevented from joining with other British troops, the fate of Cornwallis would be sealed. On August 14, Rochambeau and Washington received word that de Grasse had set sail from the West Indies. On August 19, they began their long march south, feinting an attack on New York as they went. The speed with which the combined armies traveled, and the union they formed, were extraordinary and owed much to the leadership of Rochambeau.

In late August, de Grasse anchored off Chesapeake Bay and deposited an additional four thousand soldiers to join the army of Lafayette, who was busy harassing British troops in Virginia. On September 14, Rochambeau and Washington reached Lafayette at Williamsburg, Virginia, and immediately held a conference to draw up plans for the Siege of Yorktown.

On October 2, 1781, the allies attacked Lord Cornwallis, whose forces were bottled up on the Yorktown peninsula. Seventeen days later, Cornwallis asked for terms of surrender, effectively ending the fighting of the revolution. After brief tours of Virginia and Rhode Island, Rochambeau embarked for France on January 11, 1783.

Back home, Rochambeau’s contributions to two nations were recognized by his appointments as commander of the Calais military district in early 1784 and the Alsace district in 1789. Though he retired later that year because of poor health, he was brought back into active service in September, 1790, during France’s revolutionary period, and placed in command of the Army of the North. He was declared a marshal of France in 1791. The following year, he became so disenchanted with governmental policy as well as the performance of the poorly trained troops being sent him that he resigned his command for good and was succeeded by Lafayette. During the Reign of Terror, Rochambeau was arrested for treason, and he was awaiting execution at the guillotine when Robespierre’s own death in 1794 finally put an end to the carnage in France.

In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte made Rochambeau a member and grand officer of the Legion of Honor. He died at his château at Thoré on May 10, 1807. His two volumes of memoirs were published in 1809.

Significance

When Rochambeau traveled to Versailles in 1779 to receive new orders from King Louis XVI, his dreams of a comfortable old age evaporated. Though he had already served his country with distinction, he was to embark on a series of events that changed the world, leading to the independence of the thirteen American colonies and the creation of the United States of America. Few individuals have had so momentous an impact and yet remained so unassuming.

A striking figure, Rochambeau was simple in his tastes and remained dignified in his behavior—qualities he fostered in his soldiers. He disliked ostentation and airs of self importance. He willingly placed himself under the authority of a foreign commander and yet became the pivotal figure in ensuring the victory of that foreign land. Not only was his strategic planning and military execution indispensable, but also at one point he even lent Washington $20,000 in hard currency so that colonial troops could be paid a month’s salary despite the depleted American treasury. Yet when the British tried to surrender to him directly, Rochambeau directed them to the Americans, revealing his strict sense of propriety and modesty.

Upon Rochambeau’s return to France in 1783, there was no great public celebration for him, in large part because of Lafayette, who monopolized public attention. Among those who knew the truth, however, Rochambeau was esteemed a hero. King Louis XVI declared that France owed the peace to Rochambeau.

Bibliography

Davis, Burke. The Campaign That Won America: The Story of Yorktown. New York: Dial Press, 1970. Places Rochambeau’s critical contributions to American independence in the context of the seminal battle that he helped plan and carry out and that effectively ended the Revolutionary War.

Ketchum, Richard M. Victory at Yorktown: The Campaign That Won the Revolution. New York: Henry Holt, 2004. Chronicles the final battles of the revolution, including the victory at Yorktown. Includes a great deal of information about Rochambeau’s role in the battle and in other aspects of the American Revolution.

Rice, Howard C., and Anne S. K. Brown, eds. The American Campaigns of Rochambeau’s Army. 2 vols. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1972. This massive work is a collection of documents and maps that present a comprehensive story of the French army in America (encampments, marches, daily life) under Rochambeau from 1780 to 1783.

Rochambeau, Marshal Comte de. Memoirs of the Marshal Count de Rochambeau Relative to the War of Independence of the United States. Translated by M. W. E. Wright. New York: Arno Press, 1971. A reprint of an 1838 English translation of extracts from the memoirs of Rochambeau, who describes conditions in colonial America at the time of his arrival on July 12, 1780, and his involvement in the American Revolution, including his command of French forces and association with Washington at Yorktown. Of modest length (113 pages), it is an invaluable resource.

Weelen, Jean-Edmond. Rochambeau, Father and Son: A Life of the Maréchal de Rochambeau and the Journal of the Vicomte de Rochambeau. Translated by Lawrence Lee. New York: Henry Holt, 1936. A biography by a French historian who researched family and local archives as well as official French records.

Whitridge, Arnold. Rochambeau. New York: Macmillan, 1965. The most complete, readable biography of the great commander available in English. Details unavailable elsewhere help the reader to see Rochambeau as a real person against the backdrop of the monumental events of the eighteenth century. Includes several pages of photographs and illustrations.