Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, marquis de Vaudreuil (22 November 1698 – 4 August 1778) was a Canadian-born colonial governor of

French Canada French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fre ...

in North America. He was governor of French Louisiana (1743–1753) and in 1755 became the last

Governor-General of New France Governor General of New France was the vice-regal post in New France from 1663 until 1760, and it was the last French vice-regal post. It was replaced by the British post of Governor of the Province of Quebec following the fall of New France ...

. In 1759 and 1760 the British conquered the colony in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...

(known in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

as the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

Life and work

He was born to the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

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 ...

Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil (; c. 1643 – 10 October 1725) was a French military officer who served as Governor General of New France (now Canada and U.S. states of the Mississippi Valley) from 1703 to 1725, throughout Queen ...

and his wife, Louise-Élisabeth, the daughter of Pierre de Joybert de Soulanges et de Marson, in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

. He was the uncle of Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil. Vaudreuil

rose A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...

quickly through the

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

and civil service, in part owing to his father's patronage but also due to his own innate ability. Commissioned an officer of the French

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

while still a youth, in 1733 he was appointed governor of

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River across from the city of ...

, and in 1742 of French Louisiana, serving there from to May 10, 1743 to February 9, 1753 and proving himself a skilled officer and capable administrator. While governor of Louisiana, he married Jeanne-Charlotte de Fleury Deschambault, a widow about 15 years his elder. He moved to France in 1753 before being appointed by King

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

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 ...

of New France in 1755. The first governor of New France to be born in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

, Vaudreuil's leadership was questioned and some of his orders were ignored by officials of the French army such as

Louis-Joseph de Montcalm Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Grozon, Marquis de Montcalm de Saint-Veran (28 February 1712 – 14 September 1759) was a French soldier best known as the commander of the forces in North America during the Seven Years' War (whose North American th ...

, who judged him to be "too Canadian". Although Vaudreuil held supreme civil authority in Canada and was technically commander-in-chief of all French forces there, he clashed often with Montcalm, the military commander in the field, who resented his oversight role. The two men grew to detest one another, much to the detriment of the French war effort. Vaudreuil had excellent relations with the Canadian

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

and with the Native-Canadian tribes allied with France; Montcalm looked down on both, preferring to rely upon French regular troops and making poor use of irregular Canadian and pro-French Native-Canadian forces. After Montcalm lost to the British forces under Maj. Gen. James Wolfe at

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 ...

in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, Vaudreuil tried to rally resistance to the British but to no avail. He was forced to surrender Montreal on 8 September 1760 to Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Amherst. One of several scapegoats for France's losses in the New World, Vaudreuil was imprisoned in the Bastille on March 30, 1762 but was released on May 18. He was joined by Bigot, Cadet, Pean, Breard, Varin, Le Mercier, Penisseault, Maurin, Copron, and others. Of the 21 men brought to trial, 10 were condemned, six were acquitted, three received an admonition and two were dismissed for want of evidence. Absent were 34, of whom seven were sentenced in default, and judgement was reserved in the case of the rest.Parkman, Francis: "Montcalm and Wolfe" Exonerated in a military tribunal held in December 1763, he was awarded a pension and military decoration. After selling his Canadian seigneuries at Vaudreuil and Rigaud to his cousin,

Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, Marquis de Lotbinière Michel-Alain Chartier de Lotbinière, 1st Marquis de Lotbinière (1723–1798), Seigneur of Vaudreuil, Lotbinière and Rigaud, Quebec etc. In 1757, on his advice at the Siege of Fort William Henry, the Marquis de Montcalm successfully attacked ...

, he retired to his ancestral estate near

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe, the population ...

, although the episode ruined his fortunes. He died in

Paris Paris () is the capital and 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), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

on 4 August 1778. His nephew Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil was the second in command of the French naval units supporting the Americans during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

. He was present at the defeat of the British fleet by the French at the pivotal Battle of the Chesapeake during the

siege of Yorktown The Siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown, the surrender at Yorktown, or the German battle (from the presence of Germans in all three armies), beginning on September 28, 1781, and ending on October 19, 1781, at Yorktown, Virg ...

in 1781, although he was later defeated by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

at the Battle of the Saintes. Vaudreuil was one of three governors-general of Canada known to have owned enslaved people. During his tenure, he owed 16 people, 13 of whom were Africans.

Legacy

In Literature

Vaudreuil is a menacing offstage presence in Kenneth Roberts' Arundel novels, ''Arundel'' and ''Rabble in Arms''.

Notes

References

* Barron, Bill (1975). ''The Vaudreuil Papers: A Calendar and Index of the Personal and Private Records of Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Royal Governor of the French Province of Louisiana, 1743-1753'', New Orleans: Polyanthos, 543 p. * Frégault, Guy (1952). ''Le Grand marquis : Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil et la Louisiane'', Montréal: Fides, 481 p. * Frégault, Guy (1955). ''La Guerre de la Conquête'', Montréal: Fides, 514 p. * Roy, Pierre-Georges (1938). ''La Famille de Rigaud de Vaudreuil'', Lévis, 216 p.
online
* Le Jeune, Louis, "Pierre de Cavagnal, marquis de Vaudreuil", in ''Dictionnaire général de biographie, histoire, littérature, agriculture, commerce, industrie et des arts, sciences, mœurs, coutumes, institutions politiques et religieuses du Canada'', volume II, Ottawa: Université d’Ottawa, 1931, pp. 764–767.
online
* Casgrain, Henri-Raymond (1895). ''Lettres du marquis de Vaudreuil au chevalier de Lévis'', 215 p.
online
* Casgrain, Henri-Raymond (1890). ''Extraits des archives des Ministères de la marine et de la guerre à Paris : Canada, Correspondance générale, MM. Duquesne et Vaudreuil, Gouverneurs-generaux, 1755-1760'', Québec : L.J. Demers, 322 p.
online
* Vaudreuil, Pierre de Rigaud de (1763). ''Mémoire pour le marquis de Vaudreuil, grand-croix de l'Ordre royale & militaire de Saint-Louis, ci-devant gouverneur & lieutenant général de la Nouvelle France'', Imprimerie de Moreau, 46 p.

External links

(in French). * ttps://web.archive.org/web/20041023124313/http://cmhg.gc.ca/cmh/en/page_234.asp Canadian Military Heritage - Mutual Dislike Between Colonial and Metropolitan Officers
1759 From the Warpath to the Plains of Abraham (Virtual Exhibition)

National Battlefields Commission (Plains of Abraham)
*Archives of Pierre de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil Cavagnia
(série Pierre de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil Cavagnial, MG18-G2)
are held at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is t ...