Marquis Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy (c. 1596 or 1603 – 1670) was a French aristocrat,
statesman, and military leader. He was the
seigneur
''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' (or ...
of Tracy-le-Val and Tracy-le-Mont (
Picardy).
Life
The Marquis de Tracy first made his name as a regimental commander in Germany in the 1640s, then was appointed Commissary-General of the French troops serving in Germany. In 1647 he represented France at the Ulm negotiations with Sweden and Bavaria.
In 1664 a fleet under the Marquis de Tracy carried a force of soldiers and colonists led by
Antoine Lefèbvre de La Barre
Joseph-Antoine le Fèbvre, sieur de La Barre (or Antoine Lefebvre, Antoine Lefèvre; 1622–1688) was a French lawyer and administrator best known for his disastrous three years term as governor of the colony of New France (Quebec).
As a young ...
of the newly formed
Compagnie de la France équinoxiale to Cayenne.
They left the port of
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. Wi ...
, France, on 26 February 1664 with two warships and 400 soldiers.
The expedition included 1,200 settlers.
They arrived in Cayenne on 11 May 1664.
On 15 May 1664 the Dutch general
Guerin Spranger
Daniel Guerin Spranger, or Quijrijn Spranger, Gerrit Spranger (born ) was a Dutch Jewish entrepreneur who was the commander of the colony of Cayenne, now in French Guiana, between 1656 and 1664. The island of Cayenne had earlier been abandoned by ...
agreed to capitulate.
The Marquis de Tracy was then appointed lieutenant-général of
New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
. The
governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
was not present, so de Tracy acted as the governor in the
Sovereign Council. From his base in
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
, he led the
Carignan-Salières Regiment in a campaign against the
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...
peoples. After defeating them and destroying their crops and villages, he launched an attack against the
Mohawk nation
The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous people of North America, with communities in southeastern Canada and norther ...
and caused destruction to their territory in central present-day New York. Marquis Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy seized all the Mohawk lands in the name of the king of France. He forced the Mohawk to accept the Roman Catholic faith and to adopt the French language as taught by the
Jesuit missionaries. A mission village for Mohawk Catholics,
Kahnawake
The Kahnawake Mohawk Territory (french: Territoire Mohawk de Kahnawake, in the Mohawk language, ''Kahnawáˀkye'' in Tuscarora) is a First Nations reserve of the Mohawks of Kahnawá:ke on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River in Queb ...
, was set up south of Montreal.
Marquis Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy died in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
in the
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...
of
Saint-Eustache on 28 April 1670.
Legacy
The
Tracy Squadron of cadets at the
Royal Military College Saint-Jean
, mottoeng = Truth, Duty, Valour
, established = 1952
, type = Military college
, chancellor = Anita Anand (''ex officio'' as Defence Minister)
, principal = Command ...
was named in his honour.
See also
*
Vincent Basset Du Tartre Vincent Basset Du Tartre, ( fl. 1665 – 1668), was the surgeon major of the French Carignan-Salières Regiment which arrived in New France in the summer of 1665 with about 1200 men in twenty-four companies.
The surgeon major would have had 24 ...
(surgeon major)
*
Pierre de Saurel Pierre de Saurel (1628–1682) was a captain in the Carignan-Salières Regiment and a seigneur who was born in Grenoble and came to New France in 1665.
Captain Saurel was immediately sent to rebuild Fort Richelieu, the fort having been burned by th ...
*
Alexandre Berthier
Alexandre Berthier (1638–1708) was a captain in the French army who was born Isaac Berthier and a Huguenot. He became known as Alexandre after his arrival in New France in 1665. The name change appears to be because of his conversion to the Ro ...
Notes
Sources
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External links
*
Histoire de Sorel-Tracy''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prouville
Year of birth uncertain
1670 deaths
French marquesses
People of New France
Governors general of the French Antilles