François Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux, (5 May 1734, Paris - 24 October 1788, Paris) was a military officer who served during the War of American Independence as a major general in the French expeditionary forces led by general Comte de Rochambeau. Being on general Rochambeau's staff for the duration of the war, Chastellux acted as the principal liaison officer between the French commander in chief and George Washington. However the Chevalier de Chastellux was also widely recognized, at the time of his campaigns in America, as a highly talented man of letters and a member of the French Academy.
Early literary career
He first became known as a writer, historian and philosopher. He was the third member elected to occupy Seat 2 of the Académie française in 1775.
Military career in America
After arriving in America in July 1780, Chastellux participated to the American Revolutionary War as a Major General in the French expeditionary force led by general Rochambeau. During the following year, he was third in command of the French forces engaged at the decisive Siege of Yorktown in 1781 where the British were ultimately defeated. Major General de Chastellux was fluent in English and with his strong ideological support of the American cause, he served the alliance well. During the latter part of the campaign he was the principal liaison officer between George Washington and French general Rochambeau. Thereafter, Chastellux remained a personal friend of George Washington for life. Furthermore, the College of William and Mary and the University of Pennsylvania also awarded Chastellux with honorary degrees. After his return to France, Chastellux also remained in contact with Thomas Jefferson, now the American representative in Paris, whom he had previously visited on his Virginia estate at Monticello.
His late literary career
Major General de Chastellux placed on record and published in 1786 his complete recollections of the American War of Independence. This included a description of his travels in America after the war had ended. Because of his literary talent and acute sense of observation, Chastellux descriptions of George Washington as an effective yet profoundly human leader in wartime stand among the most vivid and most accurate in existence.
Bibliography
- Essai sur l'union de la poésie et de la musique (1765). Réédition : Slatkine, Genève, 1970.
- De la Félicité publique, ou Considérations sur le sort des hommes, dans les différentes époques de l'histoire (1772). Réédition : Publications de la Sorbonne, Paris, 1989.
- Iphigénie en Aulide, opéra (1773)
- Éloge de M. Helvétius (1774)
- Voyages de M. le Marquis de Chastellux dans l'Amérique septentrionale, dans les années 1780, 1781 et 1782 in two volumes,chez Prault,Imprimeur du Roi (1788). Modern réédition : Tallandier, Paris ,1989. An English translation by Howard C.Rice was published in 1963 under the title:" Travels in North America in 1780,1781 and 1782"
- Chevalier de Chastellux at the Battle of Yorktown" in: "Yorktown Battlefield-Chevalier de Chastellux" (U.S.National Park Service)
- This article incorporates information from the revision as of December 2008 of the equivalent article on the French Wikipedia.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
