Louis Tousard
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Louis de Tousard (1749–1817) was a French artillerist who served in the American
Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...
under La Fayette, and later was given a US commission. Tousard wrote two very influential books: one was a proposal for a school for officers that became the blueprint for
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
, and the other was a manual for artillery officers that became standard in the young army..


Biography

He is the brother of
Antoine Étienne de Tousard Antoine Étienne de Tousard (9 December 1752 – 15 September 1813) was a French general and military engineer during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was also the last military engineer of the Order of Saint John. He is the ...
. Educated at the Strasbourg school of artillery,. Tousard served with the Continental Army between 1777–1778 and lost an arm due to wound received in the
Battle of Rhode Island The Battle of Rhode Island (also known as the Battle of Quaker Hill) took place on August 29, 1778. Continental Army and Militia forces under the command of Major General John Sullivan had been besieging the British forces in Newport, Rhode Is ...
. He was decorated with the
Order of Saint Louis The Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis () is a dynastic order of chivalry founded 5 April 1693 by King Louis XIV, named after Saint Louis (King Louis IX of France). It was intended as a reward for exceptional officers, notable as the fi ...
on his return to France. After being briefly imprisoned during the French Revolution in 1793 at
Prison de l'Abbaye A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are imprisoned under the authority of the state, usually as punishment for various crim ...
, he returned to the US in 1795 where he received a commission as a major in the 2nd U.S. Artillery Regiment in the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers. By 1800 he was a lieutenant colonel and Inspector of Artillery. As the Inspector, he supervised the construction of several forts in Eastern seaboard of the US, and the construction and testing of cannons. His influence with
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
was instrumental in the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1802, initially to train engineers and artillerists, with a curriculum modeled after that of the
École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...
. After retiring from US service he served France in military and diplomatic capacities. In 1809 he published ''The American Arillerist's Companion, or Elements of Artillery'',. a book that became the basic manual for US artillerymen.


Influence on armory and manufacturing

His greatest influence was that he promoted
Jean Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval (; 15 September 1715 – 9 May 1789) was a French artillery officer and engineer who revolutionised the French cannon, creating a new production system that allowed for lighter, more uniform ...
's idea of
interchangeable parts Interchangeable parts are parts (wikt:component#Noun, components) that are identical for practical purposes. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they will fit into any assembly of the same type. One ...
for guns. The
War Department War Department may refer to: * War Department (United Kingdom) * United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet ...
then set up the armories at Springfield and
Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is a historic town in Jefferson County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 269 at the 2020 United States census. Situated at the confluence of the Potomac River, Potomac and Shenandoah River, Shenandoah Rivers in the ...
, which set out to perfect the idea. Despite the claims of Eli Whitney, who failed to deliver on his original 1798 contract until 1809 and who never achieved interchangeability, the
American system of manufacturing The American system of manufacturing was a set of manufacturing methods that evolved in the 19th century. The two notable features were the extensive use of interchangeable parts and mechanization for production, which resulted in more efficient u ...
was not perfected until inside contractor Captain John H. Hall realized it with the
M1819 Hall rifle The M1819 Hall rifle was a single-shot breech-loading rifle (also considered something of a hybrid breech and muzzle-loading design) designed by John Hancock Hall, patented on May 21, 1811, and adopted by the U.S. Army in 1819. It was preceded b ...
. Historian
David A. Hounshell David Allen Hounshell (born 1950) is an American academic. He is the David M. Roderick Professor of Technology and Social Change in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, Department of History, and the Department of Engineering and P ...
said,


Other military contributions

Major de Tousard also designed
Fort Adams Fort Adams is a former United States Army post in Newport, Rhode Island, Newport, Rhode Island, that was established on July 4, 1799, as a Seacoast defense in the United States#First System, First System Coastal defence and fortification, coas ...
and
Fort Hamilton Fort Hamilton is a United States Army installation in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, surrounded by the communities of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. It is one of several posts that are part of the region which ...
in Newport, Rhode Island.


References


Bibliography

* * * * * Sim Gérald, ''Louis Tousard (1749-1817). Un artilleur entre deux mondes'', Paris, L'Harmattan, 2021.


External links


The Forgotten "Founder" of West Point — ''Military Affairs'' 24:177‑188 (1960)Tousard, Louis de (1749-1817) to Henry Knox
26 April 1802—The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Louis de Tousard Letter
a
The Historic New Orleans Collection


Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tousard French Army officers French military personnel of the American Revolutionary War French military writers 1749 births 1817 deaths Order of Saint Louis recipients French male non-fiction writers Artillery person