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Pierre de Rigaud

Pierre de Rigaud

Male 1698 - 1778  (79 years)    Has more than 100 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.

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  • Name Pierre de Rigaud 
    Birth 22 Nov 1698  Quebec, Canada Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 04 Aug 1778  Paris, Île-de-France, France Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I681337  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 10 Sep 2010 

    Father Philippe de Rigaud de Vaudreuil,   b. ca. 1643, Château Vaudreuil Find all individuals with events at this locationd. 10 Oct 1725 (Age 82 years) 
    Mother Louise-Élisabeth de Joybert de Soulanges et de Marson 
    Family ID F348275  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map Click to hide
    Link to Google MapsBirth - 22 Nov 1698 - Quebec, Canada Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDeath - 04 Aug 1778 - Paris, Île-de-France, France Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Notes 
    • Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal

      Canadian-born French colonial governor in North America. He was governor of French Louisiana (1743?1753) and in 1755 became the last governor of New France (or Canada), during the period when the British conquered it in the Seven Years' War (known in the United States as the French and Indian War).

      Vaudreuil-Cavagnal rose quickly through the New France military and civil service, in part owing to his father's patronage but also due to his own innate ability. Commissioned an officer of the French army while still a youth, in 1733 he was appointed governor of Trois-Rivières, and in 1742 of French Louisiana, serving there from to May 10, 1743 to February 9, 1753 and proving himself a skilled officer and capable administrator. He moved to France in 1753 before being appointed by King Louis XV as governor of New France in 1755, just as the Seven Years' War began.

      The first governor of New France to be born in Canada, his leadership was questioned and some of his orders were ignored by high-ranking officials of the French army such as Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, who judged him to be "too Canadian". Although Vaudreuil-Cavagnal held supreme civil authority in Canada and was technically commander-in-chief of all French forces there, he clashed often with Montcalm, the military commander in the field, who resented his oversight role. The two men grew to detest one another, much to the detriment of the French war effort. Vaudreuil-Cavagnal had excellent relations with the Canadian militia and with the Native-Canadian tribes allied with France; Montcalm looked down on both, preferring to rely upon French regular troops and making poor use of irregular Canadian and pro-French Native-Canadian forces.

      After Montcalm lost to the British forces under Maj. Gen. James Wolfe at Quebec City in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, Vaudreuil-Cavagnal tried to rally resistance to the British, but to no avail. He was forced to surrender Montreal on September 8, 1760 to Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Amherst.

      The Marquis sailed back to France in British custody, and was briefly imprisoned, from March to May 1762, in the Bastille for his role in the loss of Canada. After an inquiry in 1763, he was exonerated and after selling his Canadian seigneuries at Vaudreuil and Rigaud to his cousin, Michel Chartier de Lotbinière, Marquis de Lotbinière, he retired to his ancestral estate near Rouen, although the episode ruined his fortunes.

      The Vaudreuil-Soulanges county regional municipality of Quebec, Canada, is named after him.

      His nephew Louis-Philippe de Vaudreuil was the second in command of the French naval units supporting the Americans during the American Revolution. He was present at the defeat of the British fleet by the French at the pivotal Battle of the Chesapeake during the siege of Yorktown in 1781.



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