Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau

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Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau
Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Rochambeau.jpg
Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Rochambeau in the uniform of the Régiment d'Auvergne
Born 7 April 1755 (1755-04-07)
Paris, Kingdom of France
Died 16 October 1813(1813-10-16) (aged 58)
Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony
Allegiance  Kingdom of France
 Kingdom of the French
 French First Republic
 First French Empire
Service/branch French Army
Years of service 1769–1813
Rank Divisional General
Battles/wars American Revolutionary War
French Revolutionary Wars
Napoleonic Wars
Awards Name inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
Relations Son of Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau



General de Rochambeau in Saint Domingue

He served in the American Revolutionary War as an aide-de-camp to his father, spending the winter of 1781-1782 in quarters at Williamsburg, Virginia. In the 1790s, he participated in an unsuccessful campaign to re-establish French authority in Martinique and Saint Domingue. Rochambeau was later assigned to the French Revolutionary Army in the Italian Peninsula, and was appointed to the military command of the Ligurian Republic.


At the Surrender of Cap Français, Rochambeau was captured aboard the frigate Surveillante by a British squadron under the command of Captain John Loring and returned to England as a prisoner on parole, where he remained interned for almost nine years.



In addition to his legitimate son, Vimeur was survived by an illegitimate son, Lewis Warrington, conceived in Williamsburg, Virginia, when Vimeur was a young officer serving with his father in America during the Revolutionary War.

Motto and Coat of Arms[edit]

Coat of Arms Motto
Heraldique couronne comte français.svg
Blason fam fr Vimeur de Rochambeau (de).svg
(To live and die as a gallant knight)




External links[edit]