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 in North America. He was governor of

French Louisiana The term French Louisiana refers to two distinct regions: * first, to colonial French Louisiana, comprising the massive, middle section of North America claimed by France during the 17th and 18th centuries; and, * second, to modern French Louisi ...

(1743–1753) and in 1755 became the last Governor-General of New France. In 1759 and 1760 the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 (175 ...

(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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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 ...

Life and work

He was born to the Governor-General of

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 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 thirtee ...

. He was the uncle of

Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil Louis-Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil (18 April 1724 – 14 December 1802) was second in command of the French squadron off America during the American Revolutionary War. Biography Early life Louis-Philippe Rigaud de Vaudreuil was ...

. Vaudreuil rose 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, and in 1742 of

, 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 reached ...

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 tot ...

, Vaudreuil's leadership was questioned and some of his orders were ignored by officials of the French army such as Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, 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 James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Quebec. ...

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 The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec (french: Bataille des Plaines d'Abraham, Première bataille de Québec), was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War (referred to as the French and Indian War to describe ...

, 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 Discrimination is the act of making unjustified distinctions between people based on the groups, classes, or other categories to which they belong or are perceived to belong. People may be discriminated on the basis of race, gender, age, rel ...

, 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, he retired to his ancestral estate near Rouen, although the episode ruined his fortunes. He died in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

on 4 August 1778. His nephew

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 The Battle of the Chesapeake, also known as the Battle of the Virginia Capes or simply the Battle of the Capes, was a crucial naval battle in the American Revolutionary War that took place near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on 5 September 17 ...

during the siege of Yorktown 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 ...

at 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 ...

. Vaudreuil was one of three governors-general of Canada known to have owned

enslaved people Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. 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