(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.
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D'Estaing was born on 24 November 1729 at the Chateau de Ravel in Auvergne to Charles-François, the Marquis de Saillant, lieutenant general in the French Army from a family with a long history of service to the French crown, and Marie-Henriette Colbert de Maulevrier, a descendant of Jean-Baptiste Colbert.
D'Estaing was educated alongside Louis, the Dauphin (father of the future Louis XVI).
In May 1738 at the age of 9 he was nominally enrolled in the musketeers, and rose through the ranks. In 1746 he joined Regiment de Rouergue as a lieutenant. He served in the War of the Austrian Succession and as aide-de-camp to Marshal Saxe during the Flanders campaigns of 1746-48. D'Estaing was promoted to colonel in command of Regiment de Rouergue, then in 1748 he was wounded at the Siege of Maastricht. He was one of the leading reformers in army modernization program, which King Louis XV had embarked, and after a few years the Regiment de Rouergue became viewed "as a model of the infantry". D'Estaing participated in an expidition to the East Indies, though his family dissuaded him from doing so. He transferred his regiment and took the offer of a back-dated promotion to brigadier-general. As a colonel in the infantry he accompanied Comte Thomas de Lally to the East Indies in 1757, and in 1759 he commanded several ships with which he inflicted heavy losses on the British off the west coast of Sumatra. In 1759 he was taken prisoner by the British at the siege of Madras, but was released on parole; he returned to France and resumed his naval service. D'Estaing returned to Île-de-France ten months after his departure, but just off the French coast his ship was captured by British patrols. He was imprisoned in Plymouth in charge of vilating his parole, and then was granted limited freedom from a house in London. After succesful defending of himself he returned to France, where in the reward for his service in the East Indies he got a commission as field marshal. In 1762 preparations for a major expedition against Portuguese territories in South America were made. D'Estaing was formally removed from army and made lieutenant general in the navy. The expedition then was called off due to preliminary peace terms agreement. From 1764 to 1766 d'Estaing was governor general of the French Leeward Islands. In 1767 he returned to France, there he was called upon to deal with the formal separation from his wife, which failed eventually. In 1772 d'Estaing became naval inspector and governor at Brest, in 1777 he was promoted to vice admiral of the Asian and American seas. As a vice admiral, in 1778, he was put in command of a French fleet sent to aid the United States. After unsuccessful maneuvers off Newport, R. I, d'Estaing's fleet sailed for the West Indies and captured British-held St. Vincent and Grenada. D'Estaing then turned against Savannah but all his attacks were repulsed, and in 1780 he returned to France. On September 28, 1784 d'Estaing was granted four 5000 acre tracts of vacant land in Franklin County, Georgia by Governor John Houstoun of Georgia. In 1787 d'Estaing was elected grandee of Spain and a member of the assembly of the notables, and two years later was made commander of the National Guard at Versailles. During the first year of the French Revolution, d'Estaing tried to protect the royal family, and in 1792 the National Assembly appointed him admiral and provided for further advancement in the army if he desired it. The following year d'Estaing was a witness for the Queen in the trial of Marie Antoinette. Tried himself by the Revolutionary tribunal, he was sent to guillotine. Before the execution, he wrote: "After my head falls off, send it to the British, they will pay a good deal for it!" He was guillotined in Paris on April 28, 1794. During his spare time, he wrote a poem, Le Rêve (1755), a tragedy Les Thermopyles (1789) and a book on the colonies.
(This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. T...)
Assembly of Notables
In 1746 he married Marie-Sophie Rousselot. They had one son. Both his wife and son died before his execution.
