Career
Pontault went into the army at the age of fifteen, and behaved with so much spirit at the siege of Rochelle, that the king gave him the post of commissary of artillery, even though he was so young. He was afterwards present at most of the battles and siege, which he has described, and did not quit a military life until the loss of an arm and other wounds, with the approach of old age, rendered retirement necessary. Pontault died on 10 August 1674.
From the death of this able drafts-man, there were few capable military topographers in France until the latter half of the 18th century.