Jacques-Melchior Saint-Laurent, Comte de Barras (1719–1793) was a French Navy officer of the eighteenth century. He notably served in

Yorktown Campaign The Yorktown campaign, also known as the Virginia campaign, was a series of military maneuvers and battles during the American Revolutionary War that culminated in the siege of Yorktown in October 1781. The result of the campaign was the surren ...

of the

War of American Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

Biography

From 25 November 1761 to 11 April 1762, with the rank of Lieutenant, he captained the frigate ''Oiseau'' for a mission in the Eastern Mediterranean. In early 1781 Barras' French squadron was based at Newport, Rhode Island. His orders from France were to mount an expedition against

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. Barras was persuaded by the

Comte de Rochambeau Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, 1 July 1725 – 10 May 1807, was a French nobleman and general whose army played the decisive role in helping the United States defeat the British army at Yorktown in 1781 during the ...

to instead go southwards and rendezvous with Admiral De Grasse, who had brought his French fleet from the West Indies. The series of events led to the surrender of a British Army at Yorktown. The following year Barras served under De Grasse in the West Indies. Barras led a French expedition to capture Montserrat in February 1782. Later Barras participated in the

Battle of the Saintes The Battle of the Saintes (known to the French as the Bataille de la Dominique), also known as the Battle of Dominica, was an important naval battle in the Caribbean between the British and the French that took place 9–12 April 1782. The Brit ...

in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

where

Admiral Rodney Admiral George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney, KB ( bap. 13 February 1718 – 24 May 1792), was a British naval officer. He is best known for his commands in the American War of Independence, particularly his victory over the French at the ...

's ships broke the French line. The British victory led to the failure of a Franco-Spanish invasion plan against Jamaica.

Sources and references

Notes References Bibliography * Bicheno, Hugh. ''Redcoats and Rebels: The American Revolutionary War''. Harper Collins, 2004. * Grainger, John D. ''The Battle of Yorktown, 1781: A Reassessment''. The Boydell Press, 2005. * * External links * 1719 births 1793 deaths French Navy admirals French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War Counts of France {{France-noble-stub