View source for Armand Louis de Gontaut

{{Short description|French soldier and politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Armand Louis de Gontaut
| image         = Armand Louis de Gontaut (1747-1793), French nobleman.jpg
| image_size    = 250px
| caption       = Armand Louis de Gontaut, duc de Lauzun, and duc de Biron
| birth_date    = {{birth-date|13 April 1747}}
| death_date    = {{death-date and age|31 December 1793|13 April 1747}}
| birth_place   = [[Paris]], [[Kingdom of France]]
| death_place   = Paris, [[French First Republic]]
| father        = 
| mother        = 
| allegiance    = {{flag|Kingdom of France}}<br/>{{Flag|Kingdom of the French|name=Kingdom of France}}<br>{{Flag|French First Republic}}
| branch        = [[French Army|Army]]
| serviceyears  = 
| rank          = 
| battles       = 
| awards        = [[Order of Cincinnati]]<br>[[Order of St. Louis]]
| laterwork     = 
}}

'''Armand Louis de Gontaut''' ({{IPA|fr|aʁmɑ̃ lwi də ɡɔ̃to}}), [[duc de Lauzun]], later '''duc de Biron''', and usually referred to by historians of the [[French Revolution]] simply as '''Biron''' (13 April 1747{{snd}}31 December 1793), was a French soldier and politician, known for the part he played in the [[American War of Independence]] and the [[French Revolutionary Wars]]. In 1773, he was Grand second warden of [[Grand Orient de France]].<ref>Dictionnaire de la Franc-maçonnerie, page 143 (Daniel Ligou, ed. Presses Universitaires de France, 2006)</ref>

==Biography==

===Early life===
Born in [[Paris]] to Charles Antoine de Gontaut de Biron (8 October 1708 – 25 Octobre 1798) and his wife Antoinette-Eustachie née Crozat du Châtel (25 October 1727 – 16 April 1747), daughter of [[Louis François Crozat]] (1691–1750), granddaughter of banker [[Antoine Crozat]], the first proprietary owner of [[Louisiana (New France)|French Louisiana]], from 1712 to 1717. Armand Louis bore the title of [[Duc de Lauzun]], which had passed, on the death of [[Antoine Nompar de Caumont]], duc de Lauzun (1633–1723), to his niece, the wife of [[Charles Armand de Gontaut]], duc de Biron (1663–1756). It was strongly rumored at the time that duc de Biron's actual father was [[Étienne François, duc de Choiseul]], his mother's lover and close friend of his father.<ref>Benedetta Craveri,''The Last Libertines'', p.10</ref>

In 1788, he succeeded to the duchy of Biron on the death of his uncle, [[Louis Antoine de Gontaut]], duc de Biron (1700–1788).<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Biron, Armand de Gontaut, Baron de|display=Biron, Armand de Gontaut, Baron de s.v. Armand Louis de Gontaut|volume=3|page=989}}</ref> On 4 February 1766 he married [[Amélie de Boufflers]] (5 May 1751 – guillotined on 27 June 1794), only daughter of Charles-Joseph de Boufflers (1731&ndash;1751) and Mary Anne Philippine de Montmorency Logny (1732&ndash;1797). He lived apart from his wife, had no children (legitimate, at least),<ref>Bodinier, Gilbert. Dictionnaire des officiers de l'armée royale qui ont combattu aux États-Unis pendant la guerre d'Indépendance: 1776-1783. Service historique de l'armée de terre; Versailles : Éd. Mémoire & documents, 2005</ref> even though his wife was a young woman described as a paragon of gentle, virginal shyness; a combination of shrewdness and simplicity. Similarly the Duke was a popular companion and house guest.<ref>Gaston Maugras, ''The Duc de Lauzun and the Court of Louis XV.'' Osgood, McIlvaine & Company, 1895, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Bx8sAAAAIAAJ&q=Amelie&pg=PA123 de Boufflers%2C&f=false pp. 129&ndash;130].</ref>

He served in the guards as early as 1761, and in 1767 made the expedition of Corsica as aide-de-camp of de Chanvelin. On 29 June 1769, he was made chevalier of the order of Saint Louis. Traveling throughout Europe, engaging in idle frivolity, and – according to his Memoirs – various love affairs, he wasted his fortune, which in 1777 forced him to transfer his estates to [[Henri Louis, Prince of Guéméné]] (grand chamberlain and captain lieutenant of the gendarmes of the king's ordinary guard), upon the payment of an annuity of 80,000 livres. The prince, however, became bankrupt and the annuity was reduced more than half. Around that time he attracted attention by an essay on the military defenses of Great Britain and its colonies (État de défense d’Angleterre et de toutes ses possessions dans les quatres parties du monde), leading to his appointment to a command against the British in 1779, in which he had some success. That in turn lead to his being sent with some ships under the command of [[Louis-Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil]] on an expedition to Senegal and other coast possessions of the British, de Veudreuil capturing [[Senegal]] in January 1779, shortly before sailing to North America in aid of [[Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau|Rochambeau]] in 1780. Though the fortress at Cape Blanc he seized on 30 January 1779 was recaptured directly after his departure during the same year, de Vaudreuil was awarded the Grand Cross of St. Louis in 1789, whereas Lauzun received the title of colonel of hussars, and became {{sic|?|proprietory}} colonel of a [[5th_Hussar_Regiment_(France)|foreign regiment named after him]]. Appointed brigadier on the first of March, 1780, Lauzun decided to take part in the [[American Revolutionary War|War of American Independence]].

===American Revolution service===
[[File:Général ARMAND LOUIS DE GONTAUT DE BIRON (1747-1793).jpg|thumb|left|Armand Louis de Gontaut]]
Following his appointment to a command against the British in 1779, commanding the troops that captured [[Saint-Louis, Senegal|Fort St Louis]], in Senegal, from the British,<ref name=Cincy>Asa Bird Gardiner, ''The Order of Cincinnati in France,'' Rhode Island State Society of Cincinnati, 1905. [https://books.google.com/books?id=J_hl5NVWljwC&pg=PA32 p. 74]</ref> Lauzun raised an army of volunteer [[hussar]]s and infantry, subsequently known as [[Lauzun's Legion]], for service in [[North America]]. He arrived with 600 of his men in [[Rhode Island]]; the remainder were in France, prevented from leaving. Despite having only a portion of his force, he engaged in several active skirmishes, including one near Gloucester, Virginia on 4 October 1781.<ref name=Cincy/>

In 1781, he took an important part in the [[American War of Independence]] by being the advance party of the main French army of [[Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau|Rochambeau]] sent to reinforce General [[George Washington]] at the [[Siege of Yorktown]] in 1781. [[Lauzun's Legion]] left their winter quarters in [[Lebanon, Connecticut]] on 9 June 1781 and marched south through Connecticut known as the [[Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route]]. Their main function was to be an advance party but also to remain ten to fifteen miles south of the main army to protect the flank against any British troops located in the many [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalist]] towns in lower [[Fairfield County, Connecticut|Fairfield County]]. While in Connecticut, the French made camps in Middletown, Wallingford, North Haven, Ripton and North Stratford. They arrived at North Stratford, now [[Nichols Farms Historic District|Nichols]] on 28 June and stayed for two days.<ref>Life and Letters of Samuel Holden Parsons, Major General in the Continental Army and Chief Judge of the Northwestern Territory 1737–1789, Charles S. Hall 1905, page 364 [https://books.google.com/books?id=mc4EAAAAYAAJ&dq=lauzun+revolution+north+stratford+ct&pg=PA364]</ref> From the hilltop in North Stratford, now Abraham Nichols Park, one could easily see for seventy miles past [[Long Island Sound]] to New York and beyond. The French used this time to conduct reconnaissance on British ships in New York harbor.<ref name=EB1911/>

De Lauzun received the order to sail for France on 11 March 1783. On 24 October 1781, after the [[Siege of Yorktown]], [[French frigate Surveillante (1778)|''Surveillante'']], under [[Jean-Marie de Villeneuve Cillart|Villeneuve Cillart]], brought Lauzun to France to bring the news of the victory. She arrived at Brest on 15 November. {{sfnp|Contenson|1934|p=159}} Lauzun had a hero's welcome and was made ''[[maréchal de camp]]''.<ref name=EB1911/>

On the death of his uncle, [[Louis Antoine de Gontaut]], in 1788, he took the title of the duke de Biron. In 1789 he was returned as deputy to the States General by the noblesse of Quercy and attached himself to the revolutionary cause. He entered the party of the duke [[Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans|Philippe d'Orléans]] and later was accused of being the confidant and his secret agent. He several times mounted the tribune to exculpate him and in the proceedings of the Chatelet, relative to the crimes of 5 and 6 October 1789, he was accused of having appeared with him in the midst of the assassins.

===French Revolution service===

In 1789, he was returned as deputy to the [[Estates-General of 1789|Estates-General]] by the ''[[French nobility|noblesse]]'' of the [[seneschal]]ty of [[Quercy]], and affiliated with the [[French Revolution|Revolutionary]] cause. In 1791, he was sent by the [[National Constituent Assembly (France)|National Constituent Assembly]] to receive the oath of the army of [[Nord (département)|Flanders]], and was subsequently appointed to its command. In July 1792 he was named commander of the [[Army of the Rhine]], with the duty of watching the movements of the [[Habsburg monarchy]] troops.<ref>Stevenson, Cornelius. "A Biographical Notice of the Duc De Lauzun, Commander of the [[Troop of Cavalry]] Which Became Known as 'Lauzun's Legion' in the Revolutionary War." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 47, no. 4, 1923, pp. 298–306.</ref>

In May 1793, he was transferred to the command of the [[French Revolutionary Army]] on the [[La Rochelle]] front, the [[Army of the Coasts of La Rochelle]], operating against the [[War in the Vendée|Vendéan insurgency]] against the [[Reign of Terror]].<ref>Secher, Reynald. A French Genocide: The Vendée. Notre Dame, Ind: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003. pp.2-3</ref> He gained several successes, among them the capture of [[Battle of Saumur (1793)|Saumur]] and the victory of [[Parthenay]] ([[:fr:Bataille de Parthenay|Bataille de Parthenay]]), but the insubordination of his troops and the suspicions of his political supervisors made his position intolerable and he sent in his resignation, ending his command on 16 July 1793.<ref name=EB1911/>

===Execution===
He was accused by the notorious [[Jean-Baptiste Carrier]] of ''incivisme'' ("lack of [[civic virtue]]", the equivalent of [[treason]]{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}} under the [[Reign of Terror]]) and undue leniency to the insurgents, deprived of his command (July). The public prosecutor [[Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville]] accused him of "having conspired against the unity and indivisibility of the Republic and the tranquility of the interior and exterior security of the French Empire and betraying the interests of the Republic ("conspiré contre l'unité et l'indivisibilité de la République et la tranquillité de la sûreté intérieure et extérieure de l'Empire français et trahir les intérêts de la République en abusant de sa qualité").<ref>Stevenson, Cornelius. "A Biographical Notice of the Duc De Lauzun, Commander of the Troop of Cavalry Which Became Known as 'Lauzun's Legion' in the Revolutionary War." The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 47, no. 4, 1923, p. 303</ref> Imprisoned in the [[Prison de l'Abbaye|Abbaye]], [[Death sentence|sentenced to death]] by the [[Revolutionary Tribunal]] and [[guillotine]]d.<ref name=EB1911/> His wife, [[Amélie de Boufflers]], was herself executed on 27 June 1794.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

==Works==
His ''Memoires'', which come down to 1783, were published under his name in 1822 (and reprinted in a new edition of 1858), and letters were published in 1865, said to have been written by him in 1789 to friends in the country, describing the Estates-General.<ref name=EB1911/>

==Legacy==
* An American warship was named after Armand Louis de Gontaut: {{USS|Duc de Lauzun}}.
* [[P Street Bridge]], a bridge over [[Rock Creek Park]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], was renamed Lauzun's Legion Bridge in 2006. 
* The Duc de Lauzun, was portrayed in the book, ''Mistress of the Revolution'' by [[Catherine Delors]]. He also is portrayed as the main character in the play ''Fortuna'' by [[Marina Tsvetaeva]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

'''Bibliography'''
* {{cite book |last1=Contenson |first1=Ludovic |authorlink1=Ludovic de Contenson|title=La Société des Cincinnati de France et la guerre d'Amérique (1778-1783) |date=1934 |publisher=éditions Auguste Picard |location=Paris|url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65709399/f319.item.r|oclc=7842336}}
*Hall, Charles S., ''Life and Letters of Samuel Holden Parsons'', Ostenigo Publishing Co., Binghamton, NY, 1905

==External links==
{{commons category|Armand Louis de Gontaut de Biron}}
*[http://www.lauzunslegion.com/ Web site "of the Volontaires-ètrangers de Lauzun, also known as Lauzun’s Legion"]
*[http://www.americanrevolution.org/lauzun.html "The Duc de Lauzun and his Legion: Rochambeau's most troublesome, colorful soldiers," by Robert A. Selig]
*[http://www.ctgenweb.org/county/cofairfield/pages/trumbull/trumbull_index.htm The USGenWeb Project, Fairfield County]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gontaut, Armand Louis De}}
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