Charles René Gaston Gustave de Raousset-Boulbon (May 5, 1817 – August 13, 1854) was a French adventurer,
filibuster and entrepreneur and, by some accounts a
pirate
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
, and a theoretician of
colonialism
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colony, colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose the ...
.
Early life
Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon was born in
Avignon,
Vaucluse
Vaucluse (; oc, Vauclusa, label= Provençal or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.[Kingdom of France
The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period ...]
. He inherited the title of
count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
.
Career
In 1845, following the death of his father, Raousset-Boulbon moved to
Algeria
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, map_caption =
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, capital = Algiers
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, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
and served under the command of General
Thomas Robert Bugeaud
Thomas Robert Bugeaud, marquis de la Piconnerie, duc d'Isly (15 October 178410 June 1849) was a Marshal of France and Governor-General of Algeria.
Early life
He was born at Limoges, a member of a noble family of Périgord (Occitania), the y ...
in the campaign in Kabylia. It was there where his first theories about colonialism were born; the
French Revolution of 1848 killed his hopes of making a new fortune on Africa and he returned to Paris, where he failed to integrate into a society where aristocrats were fading and giving way to a new
bourgeoisie.
Unable to survive in France, he boarded a ship sailing to the Americas as a third-class passenger, disembarking in a
Colombian port. His impressions are typical of a 19th-century aristocrat: A letter to a friend describes Colombia as:
![Flag of republic of sonora](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Flag_of_republic_of_sonora.svg)
Raousset-Boulbon arrived in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
and felt deeply disillusioned after not receiving the treatment he thought was deserved for a Count.
After a series of failed enterprises as a gold prospector he became involved in a conflict in the Mexican state of
Sonora.
A group of mercenaries under the command of the Count Raousset-Boulbon sailed from the port of San Francisco, California, attempting two separate filibuster expeditions, in 1852 and 1854, against the government of Sonora, Mexico. During this time he became a close friend of the painter
Leonardo Barbieri, with whom he eventually accompanied from California to Mexico City.
The main objective of the invaders was to attain independence for the State of Sonora, forming a new country separate from Mexico, following the example of
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, which had achieved its independence in 1836. The first expedition was under the guise of a mining company known as La Compania Restauradora de la Mina de la Arizona. Raousset-Boulbon and his forces captured
Hermosillo
Hermosillo (), formerly called Pitic (as in ''Santísima Trinidad del Pitic'' and ''Presidio del Pitic''), is a city located in the center of the northwestern Mexican state of Sonora. It is the municipal seat of the Hermosillo municipality, the ...
, Sonora, the capital of the state, in 1852. A retreat to
Guaymas
Guaymas () is a city in Guaymas Municipality, in the southwest part of the state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. The city is south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and from the U.S. border. The municipality is located on the Gulf of Cali ...
resulted in his surrender to General
Miguel Blanco. In 1854 Raousset-Boulbon returned to Sonora, but his forces did not get the popular support they needed. They were defeated in Guaymas by a small army led by
Jose Maria Yanez
Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods.
*Jose ben Abin
*Jose ben Akabya
*Jose the Galilean ...
, in the
Battle of Guaymas
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
, on July 13, 1854.
Death
On August 13, 1854 the Count Raousset-Boulbon was executed by a
firing squad
Execution by firing squad, in the past sometimes called fusillading (from the French ''fusil'', rifle), is a method of capital punishment, particularly common in the military and in times of war. Some reasons for its use are that firearms are ...
in
Guaymas
Guaymas () is a city in Guaymas Municipality, in the southwest part of the state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. The city is south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and from the U.S. border. The municipality is located on the Gulf of Cali ...
,
Sonora,
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
. He refused to wear a blindfold. Don José Márquez, an eye-witness to the execution, stated that Raousset-Boulbon's remains were buried in Guaymas until 1866, when, while Mexico was under the rule of
Maximilian, they were exhumed by French naval officers and taken to France for final burial.
See also
*
Filibuster (military)
A filibuster (from the Spanish ''filibustero''), also known as a freebooter, is someone who engages in an unauthorized military expedition into a foreign country or territory to foster or support a political revolution or secession. The term i ...
*
William Walker (filibuster)
William Walker (May 8, 1824September 12, 1860) was an American physician, lawyer, journalist, and mercenary. In the era of the expansion of the United States, driven by the doctrine of "manifest destiny", Walker organized unauthorized military ...
*
List of French possessions and colonies
From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire stretched from a total area at its peak in 1680 to over , the second largest empire in the world at the time behind only the Spanish Empire. During the 19th and 20th centuri ...
References
Sources
* Condal, Pablo. (1977). El Conde de Sonora. ''Todo es historia, El ayer de los hechos de hoy.'' Año II., Núm. 18. Marzo de 1977. México D.F.: Grupo Editorial, S. A. Cd. Satélite.
* de Collet La Madelène, Joseph Henri. (1876). ''Le comte Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon, sa vie et ses aventures: d'pres ses papiers et sa correspondance.'' Paris: Charpentier et Cie, Libraires Éditeurs.
* de Lachapelle, André
aousset de Boulbon (1859). ''El Conde De Raousset-Boulbon Y La Expedición De Sonora: Correspondencia, recuerdos y obras inéditas, publicadas por André de Lachapelle, exredactor en jefe del Messager de San Francisco, etc., etc.'' (Carlos Mal Pacheco, Trans.). París: Impreso en Bonaventure et Successois, Quai des Augustins, 55. (Biography in Spanish, with letters and poems written by the Earl of Raousset.)
* Dyssord, Jacques. (1943). ''Un conquistador moderne : Le comte de Raousset-Boulbon.'' Paris: Éditions Sorlot.
* Glantz, Margo (Ed.). (1973). ''Un folletín realizado: La aventura del conde de Raousset-Boulbon.'' México, D.F.: Secretaría de Educación Pública, Dirección General de Educación Audiovisual y Divulgación.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raousset-Boulbon, Gaston de
1817 births
1854 deaths
Businesspeople from Avignon
Counts of France
Filibusters (military)
History of Sonora