Jean Baptiste Donaben de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, was born in Vendome, south west of Paris, in 1725. His first combat experience was in 1742 during the Austrian War of Succession ; he participated in the Bohemian, Bavarian, and Rhine campaigns. After which he was named advisor to the Duke of Orléans. He distinguished himself again during the German campaign of 1757-1758, and was appointed to the rank of Marshall in 1761. When France sided with the Revolutionaries, Louis XVI and his minister Vergennes, wanted to limit their support to providing more naval assistance. But by the end of 1779, the situation in the colonies had became so difficult that the King agreed to give La Fayette 5,500 men. The soldiers had been chosen from among the best regiments in the kingdom. They were placed under the command of Rochambeau whose own son had joined the expeditionary force. They sailed for America in July 1780. Rochambeau advised Washington to attack Cornwallis in the South instead of Clinton in New York. This decision led to the victory of Yorktown. When he returned to France, Rochambeau became military governor of Picardy, in Northern France. Although he was a noble, he rallied to the cry of the French Revolution, and assumed command of the Northern Armies in 1790. He resigned from his post in 1792, following a disagreement with General Dumouriez. Arrested during the Terror, he was released by Napoléon and received a Marshall’s pension in 1803. He died in Thoré in 1807.
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