Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur Rochambeau

Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur Rochambeau (1725-1807), French general, who commanded French forces in the American Revolution (1775-1783). Rochambeau was born in Vendôme. He entered the army in 1742 and distinguished himself at the siege of Maastricht in Holland during the War of the Austrian Succession from 1740 to 1748 and in the French expedition against Minorca in 1756, during the Seven Years' War. In 1780 he was sent in command of an army to support the American Revolution. After being blockaded by the British fleet at Newport, Rhode Island, for about a year, in June 1781 he marched with his army to Yorktown, Virginia, where he cooperated with American forces under General George Washington in winning the victory.

Returning to France early in 1783, Rochambeau was appointed governor of the provinces of Picardy and Artois and in 1791 was made a marshal of the army. He was in sympathy with the French Revolution at the outset and for a time was commander of the northern army. The excesses of the revolutionary leaders became so offensive to him, however, that he retired in July 1792. He was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror and was saved from the guillotine only by the fall of the revolutionary leader Maximilien de Robespierre in 1794. Subsequently he was released, and his rank and estates were restored by Napoleon.