The collection is made up of papers relating to the military career of French admiral Charles-René-Dominique Sochet Destouches.

Charles-René-Dominique Sochet Destouches (1727-1794) was second in command to Chevalier de Terney the head of the fleet of Expédition particulière, the French expeditionary army under the command of Rochambeau. The expedition arrived in Rhode Island in July 1780 and was stationed in Newport. Destouches assumed command of the fleet during de Terney's journey to the Hartford conference in the latter part of September 1780. On the death of de Ternay (December 15, 1780), Destouches was temporarily put in command of the French squadron. He commanded the squadron during the British blockade of Newport (January 1781) and the action at Chesapeake Bay (May 16, 1781). In May 1781, Destouches was replaced by Admiral Barras de Saint-Laurent. In 1781-1782, he took part in the siege of Yorktown and the attack on St. Kitts. He then returned to France and in 1792 received the rank of rear admiral.

4.4 Linear Feet (2 boxes, 1 volume, 1 oversize folder)

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