Chapter One
Château de Bellecombe, near Brest, north-western France, 1782
As Moïse served coffee to General Guillaume de Bellecombe and his guests, he listened to their conversation. In the de Bellecombe household, no-one minded talking about important matters in the presence of servants. De Bellecombe treated his staff well and they repaid kindness with loyalty. Moïse had seen what the the life of a slave was like. He was grateful to de Bellecombe for his freedom. Guillaume de Bellecombe had received a messenger from Paris that morning and rumours were flying around the château. Moïse was eager to discover whether the rumours were true.
One of the maids was the mistress of a lieutenant in de Bellecombe’s regiment, a regiment of men who had been inspired to enlist by the General’s reputation. The maid whispered that she had heard of unrest in Paris. Perhaps King Louis was asking the General to send the regiment to the capital to help restore order? De Bellecombe’s regiment had a reputation for courage and discipline, surely they were the men who the King would summon in a crisis. The cook had another idea, saying that the British were losing their war against their American colonies and France. Perhaps King Louis had begun to negotiate peace with the British? As Governor of Pondichéry in south-eastern India, de Bellecombe had been forced to surrender the port, the capital of French India, to the British. The cook had served with de Bellecombe in Pondichéry. He remembered proudly the siege of Pondichéry, telling the story of how de Bellecombe, with just 1,100 men, held off a British army of 20,000 men for ten weeks. “After the surrender, we marched out proudly with our Colours held high,” remembered the cook. “Perhaps, now the British have lost this war, French soldiers will return to India? Maybe the King has asked the General to become Governor of Pondichéry again? We could soon be boarding a ship for India.”
Neither the maid nor the cook had guessed correctly. Moïse watched as Guillaume de Bellecombe explained the King’s letter. Moïse noticed the way that his master’s fingers kept making slight adjustments to his red sash, the sash indicating that the wearer was a Knight Commander of the Order of Saint Louis. Was de Bellecombe anxious or afraid? Moïse could not tell.
Moïse was one of the first people to learn that the King had given de Bellecombe the post of Governor-General of Saint-Domingue, a French colony on the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies. Moïse noticed the reactions of the people around the table. They were family members, officers from the de Bellecombe regiment and friends. There were smiles on some faces but others showed signs of uncertainty and concern.
Henri de Bellecombe, the General’s cousin and a wealthy merchant, smiled. He observed said that the colony of Saint-Domingue supplied almost half of the sugar and more than half of the coffee consumed in all of Europe. “King Louis has given you the jewel in his imperial crown,” said Henri, “this colony is the reason that France has greater power than any of her rivals.”
Brother François, the tutor for the General’s son and a Jesuit monk, was concerned about the dangers which this new appointment might bring. “The pirates of Tortuga are long gone,” he said, “but surely there are other dangers. The current governor of Saint-Domingue is General Jean-Baptiste de Vimeur, the comte de Rochambeau. He will not be pleased that he must hand over this rich colony to us.” Moïse was fascinated. Go on, ask him why, he thought. Joseph Mercier, a captain from the de Bellecombe regiment, asked “Why? Won’t the King give Rochambeau a position of equal distinction somewhere else?”
The General replied, “It is partly because the colony is so wealthy, as Henri said. But there is something else.” The General hesitated before continuing. “The comte de Rochambeau and I were friends, once. We served together in Quebec during the Seven Years’ War. At the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in ’59, I commanded a company in the Royal Roussillon regiment. General Montcalm ordered our regiments to form columns and advance towards the British line – the usual opening move.” In his mind’s eye, General de Bellecombe remembered the columns’ march.
“This was supposed to be an easy victory. The British line was pitifully thin – just two men deep! We thought that the British would fire at long range and panic, seeing that their shots were ineffective. But General Wolfe, the British commander, did something new. He ordered his men to hold their fire until our columns were very close, just 30 yards away. Their first volley was a devastating blow. Our men were close together, packed in the columns. Many men fell. The survivors were stunned. Having reloaded, then the British infantry marched calmly towards us for a few paces and fired again. Our soldiers were falling back.” De Bellecombe paused and sipped his wine. “It sounds like a disaster,” said the captain. “But didn’t many of General Montcalm’s army survive? How did they escape?”
“British soldiers were pursuing our fleeing men. I rallied my company on the edge of a line of trees. Some militia companies joined us. Our volleys held back the enemy for a while. There was no hope of victory but, at least, we could prevent a defeat turning into a slaughter. I saw Rochambeau’s men approaching – he was a company commander then, like me. I urged him to form his company up alongside mine. Another company of regular soldiers would have made a big difference. But he refused. I told him that I would report his cowardice to General Montcalm. Since then, Rochambeau and I have been enemies.”
The young captain wanted to know more, “Sir, did you report the cowardice of Rochambeau to General Montcalm?” The General continued, “After the battle, I discovered that Montcalm was dead.” The General replied, “Our new commander was Rochambeau’s uncle. Rochambeau was his favourite nephew. Our new general’s first act was to appoint Rochambeau to his personal staff. Reporting Rochambeau to his uncle would have been pointless.”
Historical Note |
Source for the image of the chateau: this image came from a postcard of the Château Boisclaireau, licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – here
In our history, the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order) was abolished by Pope Clement XIV in 1773 (the Jesuit Order was reinstated in 1814). This story exists in an alternative history, in which the Pope did not abolish the Jesuit Order.
This chapter uses real events, such as the Siege of Pondicherry (I use the French spelling, Pondichéry, in the chapter) here and the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, here .
Historically, Guillaume de Bellecombe and Jean-Baptiste de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, both served as generals in the French Army. De Bellecombe served as Governor-General of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti). In this AAR, I have changed the history to suit the story which I would like to tell. There are links to more information about the historical characters in the list of characters, in the opening post.
While Haiti suffers from poverty today, Saint-Domingue was a wealthy colony in the 1780s (as described in this chapter): here.
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