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Civil War Soldiers - De Trobriand

De Trobriand, Philip R., brigadier-general, U.S. Army, was born in the Chateau des Rochetts, near Tours, France, June 4, 1816. He became a page at the court of Charles X, then king of France, but the revolution of 1830 changed the plans formed for his military education and he was graduated at the University of Orleans as bachelier-es-lettres in 1834 and at Pontiers as licencie-en-droit in 1838. Coming to the United States in 1841, he married the daughter of a New York merchant, and published in New York, in 1849-50, the "Revue de Nouveau Monde," and was joint editor of the "Courier des Etats-Unis" in 1854-61. On Aug. 28, 1861, he entered the service of the United States as colonel of the 55th N. Y. regiment. He was engaged at Yorktown and Williamsburg, commanded a brigade of the 3d army corps in 1862-63 and took part in the engagements at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, where, on the second day, he held the peach orchard, the central point of Gen. Sickles' line. He was then mustered out of the service, but in Jan., 1864, was commissioned brigadier-general, a position which he accepted in May, and in May and June, 1864, he commanded the defenses of New York city. As commander of a brigade in the 2nd army corps he was present at Deep Bottom, Petersburg, Hatcher's run and Five Forks, and he commanded the 3d division of the 2nd corps in the final campaign, ending in the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. He was brevetted major-general of volunteers, April 9, 1865, for "highly meritorious services during the campaign terminating with the surrender of the insurgent army under Gen. R. E. Lee," being the only Frenchman besides Lafayette to hold that rank in the United States army. He entered the regular army as colonel in July, 1866, was brevetted brigadier-general March 2, 1867, and commanded the district of Dakota in August of that year. In March, 1869, he was transferred to the 13th infantry and commanded the district of Montana, and subsequently that of Green river. He was retired at his own request, March 20, 1879, on account of age. Gen. De Trobriand became Baron de Trobriand upon the death of his father, in 1840, and inherited the title of count in 1874, but he never carried the titles in the United States. He spent the last years of his life in New Orleans, spending the summers alternately in France and at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Charles A. Post, at Bayport, N. Y., and he died at Bayport, July 15, 1897.

Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
 


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