COUNT ROCHAMBEAU.
Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, marshal of France, was born at Vendome in 1725. At the age of sixteen he entered the army, and served in Germany, under Marshal Broglio. In 1746, he became aid to Louis Philip, Duke of Orleans. In 1780, having been made lieutenant-general, he was sent with an army of six thousand men to the assistance of the United States of America. On reaching the place of his destination, he landed in Rhode Island, and soon after acted in concert with Washington, first against Clinton in New York, and then against Cornwallis, rendering important services at the siege of Yorktown, which were rewarded by a present of two cannon taken from Lord Cornwallis. After the Revolution, Rochambeau was raised to the rank of a marshal by Louis XVI., and received the command of the army of the north. He was soon superseded by more active officers, and being calumniated by the popular journalists, he addressed to the legislative assembly a vindication of his conduct. A decree of approbation was consequently passed in May, 1792, and he retired to his estate near Vendome, with a determination to interfere no more with public affairs. He was subsequently arrested, and narrowly escaped suffering death under the tyranny of Robespiere. In 1803, he was presented to Buonaparte, who in the following year gave him a pension and the cross of grand officer of the legion of honor. His death took place in 1809.—Encyclopedia Americana.