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François de Gaston, Chevalier de Lévis (August 20, 1719 – November 20, 1787), born in Ajac, Aude, was a French noble and a Marshal of France. He served with distinction in the War of the Polish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession, and served as a second in command to Louis-Joseph de Montcalm in the defense of New France during the Seven Years' War. Following the surrender of New France in 1760, he served in Europe. After the war he was appointed Governor of Artois, and in 1783 he was made a Marshal of France. ==North American military service== In 1756, the Marquis de Vaudreuil was informed that King Louis XV of France was sending the Marquis de Montcalm to take over the French forces in North America, with Lévis as second in command. Vaudreuil wrote back to the king stating that there was no need to send another general, as Vaudreuil disliked the tactics of most "municipal" French generals. When Montcalm arrived in spite of Vaudreuil's protest, the two men developed a dislike for each other. Lévis diplomatically cultivated good relations with both men, and managed to avoid getting dragged into the feuds between the two leaders. Lévis led the vanguard of the French expedition to Fort William Henry in 1757, and established the siege prior to Montcalm's arrival. French planning for the 1758 campaign in the French and Indian War continued the disputes between Vaudreuil and Montcalm. Vaudreuil prevailed, and Montcalm was sent to Fort Carillon to defend against an expected British attack, and Levis was initially slated to lead an expedition to the western forts, leading about 500 French metropolitan troops and then a large force of seasoned French-Canadian militia. Vaudreuil, however, had second thoughts, and dispatched Levis and his metropolitan troops to support Montcalm at Carillon. Lévis arrived at Carillon on the evening of July 7, as a British army was arriving before the fort. The next day, in a stroke of good fortune for the defenders, the 16,000 strong British army under the command of General James Abercrombie decided to frontally attack the French defenses manned by about 4,000 men, without the benefit of artillery support. In the Battle of Carillon, the British were decisively defeated, with Lévis leading the defense on the French right flank. When the forces of James Murray arrived to begin the Siege of Quebec, Lévis participated in the early defenses, including the Battle of Beauport. He was then sent to organize the defense of Montreal, and was not present when Quebec fell. Following Montcalm's death at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, Lévis was appointed commander of French forces in North America. Wintering at Montreal, Lévis managed to rally his troops and train them for a spring offensive aimed at recapturing Quebec in 1760. Marching downstream with the first breaking of the ice, Lévis met the forces of James Murray at the Battle of Sainte-Foy, where Lévis' army won a victory in one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on Canadian soil.〔Stephen Brumwell ''Redcoats: The British Soldier and War in the Americas, 1755-1763'' (NY: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 259〕 This forced Murray to retreat behind Quebec's walls. The lack of artillery and siege equipment precluded any assault on the fortifications of Quebec and Lévis held back, awaiting reinforcements from Europe. With the arrival of a British squadron which then destroyed his support ships on the Saint Lawrence, Lévis was obliged to retreat to Montreal, where Vaudreuil eventually surrendered New France to Amherst's army, which had advanced down the Saint Lawrence River that summer, in early September. Lévis, unhappy with the terms of capitulation, which did not include the traditional "honors of war", decided to burn the regimental colors rather than turning them over to the British. His various letters for this period were later collected and published by Beauchemin in 1889;〔(gallica.bnf.fr: "Lettres du chevalier de Lévis concernant la guerre du Canada (1756-1760)" )〕 letters to him for this period were published by the Abbe Casgrain, a professor at Universite Laval, in 1895;〔(gallica.bnf.fr: "Lettres de divers particuliers au chevalier de Lévis / publ. sous la dir. de l'abbé H.-R. Casgrain" )〕 Casgrain had already published in 1891 ''Les français au Canada : Montcalm et Lévis''.〔(gallica.bnf.fr: "Les français au Canada : Montcalm et Lévis / par l'abbé H.-R. Casgrain" )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Francis de Gaston, Chevalier de Levis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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