Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/318

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292
ROCHAMBEAU
ROCHE

Delaware river at Trenton, the united armies were reviewed by congress at Philadelphia, and Rocham- beau and Washington, taking tin. 1 advance with a sm.-ill escort, arrived at Williamsburg, Va., on 14 Sept., where they met Lafayette and Count de Saint Simon, who had just landed. They concerted the plan of campaign, and the siege of Yorktown 'u?gun on 29 Sept. Two assaults were led airainst the place by Saint Simon and Rochambeau, and Count de Grasse having driven back the Eng- lish fleet. Cornwallis understood that further resist- ance was impossible, and he surrendered. Alter returning to his winter-quarters. Rochambeau sent Lauzun's legion to the aid of Gen. Greene, and. in April. 1783. marched to invest Xew York, but the plan was abandoned. After visiting Washington he went to Providence, K. I., and arranged for the embarkation of his army at Boston. He paid again a visit to Washington at New Windsor, and em- barked in^Chesapeake bay. 14 Jan.. 1783. upon the frigate Kmeraude," arriving in Brest in March following. After the surrender at Yorktown, con- gress presented him with two cannons that had been taken from the enemy, upon which wen- en- graved his escutcheon and a suitable inscription. Louis XVI. created him a knight of the Saint Esprit, appointed him governor of Picardy and Ar- tois, and presented him with two water-color paint- ings by Van Blarenberghe, representing the cap- ture of Yorktown. and the English army defiling before the French and Americans. Before he left Bo-ton, congress had presented him with resolu- tion, that prai-ed his bravery, the services he had rendered to the cause of independence, and the se- vere discipline he had maintained in his army, and had also instructed the secretary of foreign rela- tion-, to recommend him to the favor of Louis XVI. I If was di-piity to the assembly of the nota- bles in 1788, repressed riotous movements in Al- sace in 1790. was created field-mar.-hal. 28 Dec., 17!M. and. after refusing to become secretary of war, wa< appointed to the command of the Army of the North, but resigned, 15 June, 1792, and retired to his castle. He was imprisoned in the C'onciergerie at Paris in 1793 and narrowly escaped the scaffold. In 1804 he was created a grand officer of the Legion of honor by Napoleon and given a pension. One of tin 1 four statues forming a part of the Lafayette monument to be erected in Washington by the U. S. government, will be that of Rochambeau. Luce de Lancival 'wrote at his dictation his " Memoires du Marechal de Rochambeau" (2 vols., Paris, 1809; translated into English by William E. Wright, London, 1838). His wife died 17 May, 1824. His son. Donation Marie Joseph de Vimeure, Viscount de, French soldier, b. in the castle of Rochambeau, near Vendome, 7 April, 1750; d. near Leipsic, Saxony, 18 Oct., 1813, became in 1767 a lieutenant in the regiment of Bourbonnois, wa- promoted captain in 1773 and colonel in 1779, and in 1780 accompanied his father to the United Si aifj as assistant adjutant-general. On 28 Oct. he was sent to France with cipher despatches for the king, and in March following he rejoined his father at Newport, llr was promoted major-gen- eral in 1791, and lieutenant-general, 9 July, 1792, appointed in August following governor-general of the Leeward islands, and pacified Santo Domingo, but in Martinique he was opposed by the royalist army, under the Count de Behagues, the former governor-general, who was also supported by the l!rit i-h. liochambeau compelled the latli-r to bark: but they returned, 14 Feb., 1794. with 1 l.nnii men. Although his forces numbered only about 700 men, Rochambeau sustained a siege in the for- tress of St. Pierre for forty-nine days, and obtained, on 22 March, an honorable capitulation. In 1796 he was again appointed governor-general of Santo Domingo : but, being opposed by the commissioners of the Directory, he was removed and transported to France, where he was imprisoned in the fortress of Ham. He was appointed in 1802 deputy com- mander of the expedition to Santo Domingo, and, landing on 2 Feb. at Fort Dauphin, defeated Tous- saint 1'Ouverture (q. v.) at Crete de Pierrot, in the valley of Artibonite. and at Ravine de Couleuvre, and. pursuing his success, destroyed the insurgent army in the passes of the Cohas "range. After the death of Victor Leclerc (q. v.), 2 Dec., 1802, he continued the war with vigor ; but his severity and the heavy taxes he imposed upon the country dis- pleased the wealthy population, and his army di- minished daily by desertions, famine, and yellow fe- ver. Nevertheless, he recaptured Fort Dauphin, de- feated Dessalinesand Christophe, and twice relieved the garrison of Jacmel, but was besieged at last in Cape Francais by Dessalines, who was supported by an English fleet. Provisions being exhausted, he evacuated the city. 30 Nov., 1803. and surrendered to the English admiral. He was transported to Jamaica, and in 1805 was sent to England and imprisoned in a fortress till 1811. when he obtained his release by exchange. He took part in the cam- paign of 1813 in Germany, and commanded a u of the corps of Lauriston in the battles of Lutzen and Bautzen, and at Leipsic, where he was killed toward the close of the action.


ROCHE, Alexandra de la, French colonizer, b. in Dieppe in 1594 ; d. in Le Moule, Guadeloupe, in 1667. He was the younger son of a wcMihv family, early entered the army, and in 1627 joined the expedition of Diel d'Enambue to St. Christ o- pher. He took an honorable part in the contest between the English and the Spanish in that isl- and, and in 1635 accompanied Diel du Parquet to Martinique. He assisted in the t.-tablishmeiit <>f the colony, and was afterward a lieutenant of Houel in Guadeloupe. There he founded the city of Le Moule, in Grande Terre, and built a fort. which he successfully defended against the Span- ish. He was granted hereditary letters of nobility by Louis XIV., with a concession of land that now forms the counties of Le Moule and Saint Francois.


ROCHE. James Jeffrey, author, b. in Queen's county, Ireland, 31 May, 1847. His parents re- moved to Prince Edward island when he was an infant, and he was educated in St. Dunstan's col- lege in that province. He went in 1866 to Boston. Mass. In 1883 he joined the editorial staff of the "Pilot, and he is still (1898) connected with that journal. He has contributed to periodical- and published "Songs and Satires" (Boston, 1887).


ROCHE, Troilus de Messronat. Marquis de la. French colonizer, b. in Nantes, France, in