François Gaston de Lévis, Duc de Lévis
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General Lévis encouraging his French army at the battle of Sainte-Foy |
François Gaston, duc de Lévis (
August 20,
1719 â€"
November 20,
1787), born near
Limoux, was a French noble and a
Marshal of France.
He entered the French army in
1735 and distinguished himself in the
War of the Austrian Succession. During the
Seven Years' War, he was appointed second in command to General
Montcalm in Canada under whom he fought at
Fort William Henry and
Fort Carillon. In
1759 he was sent to
Montreal by Montcalm and was thus not present at the Plains of Abraham. After Montcalm's death at the
Battle of the Plains of Abraham, he became commander of the French troops in Canada. Lévis managed to defeat the British in the
Battle of Sainte-Foy, but he had to abandon the siege of
Quebec due to a lack of supplies and the arrival of a British relief fleet.
Although he wanted to continue the fight, Lévis was forced to surrender Montreal in September
1760 on orders of the French governor
Marquis de Vaudreuil. After his return to France, he was promoted to lieutenant general in
1761 and marshal of France in
1783 and created a duke in
1784. He died in
1787 in
Arras.
