The American Revolution had more
than its share of bold warriors and badasses—tough men who, once committed to
a Cause, remained undaunted and steadfast. This first patriot is unique among
them as he fought for two causes, although he would only succeed with one. Armand
Charles Tuffin, Marquis de La Rouërie, was a son of Brittany, that ocean-washed corner of France that shared its heritage with the
Britons across the sea.
Young Blood
Born to a noble Breton family in
1750, the Marquis went to Versailles at an early age and became an Ensign in
the elite Garde Francaise, the Horse Guards, and earned a reputation
as impetuous and hot-tempered nobleman—this among a society of impetuous and
hot-tempered noblemen. His exploits included wooing a notorious young actress
(unsuccessfully) and dueling (successfully) with the comte de Bourbon-Besset, a
cousin of King Louis XVI, in 1775. The latter was, of course, over a woman and
got him cashiered in disgrace (the Code Duello was forbidden).
A New Cause
His opponent lived and the young
Marquis fled to an abbey in Brittany where he sought solace among the Trappist
monks. At one point he tried to poison himself. Talked out of it by friends, he
did the next best thing. He abandoned France for the American cause, which he
had admired from afar. His journey began in a tempest when his ship, Morris,
was pursued by three British frigates. Armand and the other officers and men
fought their way into Chesapeake Bay. Rather than provide a prize ship to the
British, they ran Morris aground, torched the vessel, and fled inland. A
fiery start for a firebrand. It was April 1777.
A New Commission
Founder Robert Morris had penned a letter of recommendation to George Washington. The desperate nobleman trekked on foot to Philadelphia to deliver it and other correspondence from France to the Continental Congress. The Marquis de La Rouërie was commissioned under the name Armand—the name he was known by to the Americans. He soon came to General George Washington’s notice and was authorized to raise a corps of eighty riflemen who would function as rangers. Most of the contingent were Germans, and Armand led them in their first combat at Short Hills, New Jersey, in June 1777. Armand’s rangers took horrific casualties, some thirty men, but boldly retrieved a captured cannon from the enemy. He was promoted to colonel for his exploits and proved his mettle a few months later at the Battle of Brandywine, where he took some sixty Hessian infantry prisoners.
Raising a Legion
His success granted him authority
to raise a legion—independent units with a mix of infantry and cavalry called
the “Free and Independent Chasseurs.”. Chasseur was the French word for
hunter—something similar to riflemen or rangers in French military parlance. Armand
was soon deploying his Chasseurs in guerilla warfare around New York City.
Night Raid in New York
One of Colonel Armand’s most
significant exploits during this time was a daring night raid. His target, a notorious
Loyalist officer Major Bearmore. A member of Delancey’s brigade, Bearmore was
known for his harsh treatment of Whigs in Westchester. Working his way through
Westchester and around the King’s Bridge, with 100 infantry and thirty horsemen,
his “hunters” reached William’s Bridge undetected by a nearby regiment of Hessians.
He left his infantry to provide security for their withdrawal and led twenty dragoons to Bearmore’s headquarters three miles south. At around nine o’clock, his men swept in, seizing Bearman and five others. Armand is said to have thrown Bearman’s six-foot frame across his
saddle and galloped off with him. The legion returned with no losses.
New Theater, New Command
Upon the death of Continental
cavalry commander General Count Casimir Pulaski at Savannah in October 1779, Armand’s
Chasseurs were transferred to the Southern Department and merged with the remnants
of Pulaski’s Legion aptly renamed Armand’s Legion. The year 1780 saw Armand’s
Legion in action, notably at Camden, where he helped cover what he could of General
Horatio Gates’s Army when it routed.
French Interlude
Armand sailed back to France in
early 1781, where he received King Louis’s forgiveness and the Order of St.
Louis. He used his time in France to support the Cause by raising funds and
gathering supplies. Although brooding over the lack of promotion in the Continental
Army, he returned to America in time to partake in the final major campaign
against the British.
The Road to Yorktown
While he was in France Armand’s Legion had
been sent north to Virginia where it was employed trying to check General (and
traitor) Benedict Arnold’s raids across the Old Dominion. Although whittled
down in number through battle losses and illness, Colonel Armand took command
of the Legion as it entered the siege works around General Charles Cornwallis’s
Army at Yorktown. Not wanting to be denied glory, he and a handful of his Legion joined Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton’s storming party at Redoubt Number 10. Armand
was the first officer to breach the parapet and helped force the defenders to surrender.
Commended for his bravery, Congress finally promoted Armand to brigadier
general in 1782.
Cavalry Commander
The war did not end for Armand with
Yorktown’s fall in October 1781. Instead, he rode south at the head of the newly named 1st Partisan Corps to assist General
Nathanael Greene’s campaign to sweep the British from South Carolina and
Georgia. Forcing outposts into surrender and seizing towns and territory was
crucial as the British strategy in Paris to bargain for possession of what they
held. To that end, they failed, although it took scores of small engagements
and lots of hard riding and marching to foil them.
Laurels at War’s End
Armand and his Legion were sent
north and reached the New York area in December 1782. In March of the following
year, Congress promoted the bold Breton to brigadier general. Brigadier General
Armand was also named chief of all the Continental Army’s cavalry—a title that
once belonged to Casimir Pulaski. The two would share the honorific, “Father of
the Cavalry.”
Home to Fame and Rebellion
Brigadier General Armand
returned home a hero in 1784—not of the Lafayette caliber but highly celebrated. Settling back home in Brittany, he married a noblewoman (who got
ill and died soon after) and threw himself into local politics—championing the
liberties of his fellow Bretons. He joined several other Breton noblemen in a petition
of Breton grievances to the King in 1787. He turned down a military command to protest the loss of Breton liberties. This snub of the monarch got him tossed
from the Army and into the Bastille, the notorious prison whose storming was one of the sparks of the violence that would come during the French Revolution.
French Revolution
He was released from prison and
later attended the Estates General but soon became disenchanted as he saw even a revolutionary France as a threat to Breton rights. When France broke into
revolution and chaos. Armand tried to stay above the fray. Most of it concerned
Paris, not his home in Brittany. However, as the Jacobins seized power and began their excesses and repression, the Royalist and conservative Catholic
western France rebelled against the rebellion. This area, known as the Vendee, stood
up the revolutionaries of Paris and their anti-Catholic policies. Armand formed
the Breton Association, which raised troops. When the Austrians and Prussians declared war on France in 1792, they were ready to join them with 10,000 men.
Defiant Fugitive
But the French victory at Valmy
sent the Austrians and Prussians reeling, and the French central government
turned on the Vendee. Armand went on the run when revolutionary dragoons raided
his estate. He wandered Brittany accompanied by a few faithful companions for the
next year. One of his companions caught a fever, and it eventually spread to Armand, who died of pneumonia on 30 January 1793, right after reading of the execution
of King Louis XVI by the revolutionary government.
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