CHARLES
HECTOR
FRENCHMAN
1729
– 1794
Charles
Hector, was a Frenchman, who assisted the American Colonies against
the British Fleet of Lord Howe during the American Revolution. Here
is an abstract of articles gathered from Wikipedia, Military Wiki,
Encyclopedia Britannica and Barefootin in the Cape Gazette, that
offers a bit of a story about he and his life.
Jean
Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, born November 24, 1729, at the
Chateau de Ravel in Auvergne, to Charles Francois, the Marquis de
Saillant and Marie Henriette Colbert de Maulevrier, a descendant of
Jean Baptiste Colbert. His father was a lieutenant general in the
French Army and came from a family with a long history of service to
the french crown. Charles Hector, also known as Count de Estaing,
was educated alongside Louis the Dauphin, father of Louis XVI, was
a close friend and served as an attendant of the Dauphin. At age 9,
the year of 1738, he was enrolled in the musketeers by his
aristocratic family. Within eight years he was a lieutenant in the
Regiment de Rouergue. That was the year1746, the same year that he
married Marie Sophie, the granddaughter of the Marshal Chateau
Renault. The regiment was called to service in the War of the
Austrian Succession. D'Estaing served as aide-de-camp to Marshal
Saxe in the Flanders campaigns of 1746 and 1748, became a colonel
of command of Regiment de Rouergue. In 1748 he was wounded at the
Seige of Maastrich.
D'Estaing
was a leading reformer in King Louis XV's program to modernize his
army which the regiment under D'Estaing became known as a model of
the infantry.
There
too, he seeking to gain experience in diplomacy, he accompanied the
French ambassador to England for a time.
In
1755, during hostilities between the British and French colonies in
North America he considered joining the force of Louis Joseph de
Montcalm and sail to America but was dissuaded by his family. In
1757, after he had transferred the command of his regiment, he
applied to participate in an expedition to the East Indies, when
accepted was promoted to brigadier general. Before embarking on this
expedition, in January, 1757, d'Estaing was awarded the Order of
Saint Louis. After the lengthy voyage of Count d'Ache's fleet with
the forces of Count de Lally on board , they arrived at Cuddalore on
the southern coast of India, controlled by the British, the date 28
April 1758. During one of the campaigns there d'Estaing was
surrounded by the British troops, wounded and surrendered, confined
at Madras until he was paroled in May of 1759 to Ile de France,
Mauritius.
At
Ile de France in 1759, he was unable to re- join with Count Lally's
forces due to terms of the parole, not to fight the British in the
East Indies with Lally. Honoring the terms of parole he joined the
service of French East India Company, as a “Spectator” in command
of a naval expedition for Ile de France. Here he saw action as
commander of a 50 gun Conde and frigate l'Expedition in the Persian
Gulf, took prize a British ship at Muscat, destroyed a British
factory at Bandar-Abbas, then sailed to Sumatra , arriving in
February of 1760, capture British Natal, sailed to British
Tappanooly to destroy the fortification . sailed to Padang, a dutch
settlement and supplemented his forces with local recruits and
supplies, after which he sailed for Bencoolen, capital of Indonesian
Bengkulu, a major settlement on Sumatra, defended by Fort Marlborough
and a garrison of 500 Europeans and locals. With one broadside on the
fort the defenders fled into the jungle. D'Estaing then used Fort
Marlborough to subdue the British settlements on the west side of
Sumatra. He returned to Ile de France ten months after departure.
Ordered
back to France, on the voyage the ship was captured by the British ,
he was again imprisoned, successfully defended himself and was
allowed to return to France. There he was welcomed with a commission
of Field Marshal for his East Indies service.
Early
1762 d'Estaing was promoted to army Lt .General, then removed from
the army, sent to the navy with the rank of chef d'escadre, a rear
admiral.
1764
King Louis appointed d'Estaing governor general of the French
Leeward Islands, a post he held until 1766. His efforts to recruit a
population of Acadians was unsuccessful because of climate, poor land
and disease.
1767
he returned home to France and was granted a divorce or separation
from his wife which has been in contention since 1756.
1772
he was appointed Naval Inspector and Governor at Brest, the French
principal Atlantic Naval Station.
1777
he was promoted to vice Admiral of Asian American Seas, the
vice-amiral des mers d'Asie et d'Amerique.
1778
France entered the American War of Independence, d'Estaing left
Toulon in command of twelve ships and four frigates to assist the
American Colonies. He saw action at New York's Sand Hook and
Newport, Rhode Island., was defeated at St. Lucia, capture St Vincent
and set out to capture Barbados which was a failure because of the
westerly trade winds, however, he was able to take Grenada. He and
Admiral Byron met in a somewhat disorganized battle with both fleets
having to retire to their bases for repairs before either could call
a “victory”.
On
August 1778 d'Estaing sailed for Savannah, Georgia to join forces
with the Americans to recapture the British held city. A siege by
the joint Franco American force with d'Estaing in command lasting
near a month failed and he was twice wounded. The British held
control of coastal Georgia until the end of the war.
1780
D'Estaing returned to France on crutches, fell in disfavor and
criticized by subordinates. . He went into politics, was a grandee
of spain, a member of Assembly of Notables and suported the
revolutionary cause in the French Revolution. 1789 he became
commander of the Versailles National guard, 1792 prometed to admiral
rank by a National assembly. Staying loyal to the royal family,
favored Marie Antonette, brought to trial charged as a reactionary
and sent to the guillotine 28 April 1794, suggesting that his
severed head be sent to the British which he said would pay a good
deal for it.
Both
his wife, Marie Sophie Rousselot and his only child had died earlier.
1784
D'Estaing and his heirs were granted four 5000 acre tracts of vacant
land in Franklin county Georgia by the Governor John Houston
So
what is the Lewes connection to this story? Barefootin tells that
General George Washington had sent his chief aid, Lt. Colonel,
Alexander Hamilton to Lewes at the time of the Savannah siege to
rendezvous with D'Estaing and his fleet. Hamilton sailed from
Philadelphia to Lewes, where there were taverns, inns, residences and
commercial establishments, seeking Henry Fisher, who monitored
shipping activity, and relayed the information to Philadelphia,
probably lodging with him at home. The rendezvous apparently never
happened and Hamilton left Lewes for Egg Harbor, New Jersey, hoping
to meet up with D'Estaing there. There are feelings that Hamilton
enjoyed the hospitality and fine fall weather and strode the streets
of Lewes as the most important historical figure to ever visit this
part of Delaware.
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