French general who succeeded Leclerc at the head of the Saint-Domingue expedition and surrendered to Dessalines in 1803
Son of the comte de Rochambeau, he served as his father's aide-de-camp in the American Revolutionary War. In the 1790s he took part in an unsuccessful campaign to re-establish French authority in Martinique and Saint-Domingue, and later held the military command of the Ligurian Republic. Appointed in 1802 after Leclerc's death to lead the Saint-Domingue expedition and restore French control by any means, he waged a war of extermination that massacred thousands of Blacks, and his brutality united Black and free coloured soldiers against the French. After surrendering to Dessalines in November 1803 he was captured by a Royal Navy squadron and interned in England for almost nine years. Exchanged in 1811, he was mortally wounded at the Battle of the Nations in 1813.
Also known as: Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau
Activities and affiliations
Career Timeline
- 1781–1782Aide-de-camp to his father in the American Revolutionary War
- 1790sCampaigns in Martinique and Saint-Domingue
- 1802–1803Commander of the Saint-Domingue expedition
- 1803–1811Interned in England
- 1813Killed at the Battle of Leipzig