did so before Bougainville’s forces could ar-
rive on the battlefield to assist, and both
Montcalm and Wolfe were slain on September
13, 1759. The ensuing fall of Quebec sealed
the fate of France in Canada, although fight-
ing sputtered on for four more years.
As an independent officer, Bougainville
continued to serve with efficiency and dis-
tinction. The French Governor-General
Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil, who had
previously quarreled with Montcalm over mil-
itary matters, dispatched Bougainville to de-
fend the fort at Isle Aux Noir on the Richelieu
River, a key to Montreal’s defenses. He ably
repulsed a British attack there on August 22,
1760, but British reinforcements continued ar-
riving. Finally, deserted by his Indians and
surrounded on three sides, Bougainville skill-
fully extricated himself from the island on the
night of August 27 and proceeded to Mon-
treal. Time had run out for New France, how-
ever, and on September 8, 1760, Bougainville
entered into negotiations with the English for
the unconditional surrender of Canada. Fol-
lowing a brief internment, both he and the
surviving garrison were returned to France.
Defeat, fortunately, did little to diminish
Bougainville’s standing. In 1761, he served as
aide-de-camp to the Duke de Choiseul, and so
distinguished himself in combat that the king
awarded him two captured enemy cannons.
His career took an entirely new turn in 1763,
however, when he accepted a captain’s com-
mission in the French navy. In this capacity he
led an aborted colonizing expedition to the
Falkland Islands but withdrew over the objec-
tions of Spain. Between 1766 and 1769,
Bougainville made history by becoming the
first French naval officer to circumnavigate
the globe. He accomplished this with only two
ships, the frigate Boudeuse(26 guns) and a
supply vessel. Beyond its scientific merits,
Bougainville paid careful attention to the vari-
ous island peoples he contacted and left par-
ticularly useful descriptions of Tahitian cul-
ture and society. Receipt of this information
triggered much intellectual debate as to the
relative advantages of “savage” and “civilized”
worlds. Bougainville subsequently published
his multivolume account of the cruise in 1771,
which excited much interest and was trans-
lated into English and German.
Following French entry into the American
Revolution in 1778, Bougainville, promoted to
rear admiral, was assigned to the fleet of
Adm. Charles-Henri Jean-Baptiste d’Estang
and saw action during unsuccessful opera-
tions off the coast of Georgia. He next trans-
ferred to the fleet under François-Joseph Paul
de Grasse and played a conspicuous role in
the defeat of Adm. Thomas Gravesin Chesa-
peake Bay in September 1781. Bougainville
was also present when the French fleet itself
sustained a disastrous reverse at the hands of
Adm. Sir George Rodney during the Battle of
the Saintes on April 12, 1782. He managed to
save his own vessel and several ships within
his division, but in 1784 a court-martial
nonetheless reprimanded his performance.
Bougainville spent the rest of his military
career dabbling in scientific research and as a
newly appointed member of the French Acad-
emy of Sciences. He declined to accept com-
mand of the Brest squadron in the aftermath
of the French Revolution of 1789. He rose to
vice admiral in February 1792, shortly before
retiring into civilian life. His outspoken Royal-
ist sympathies resulted in a brief imprison-
ment during the Reign of Terror, but Emperor
Napoleon appointed the old soldier-scientist
to the senate and also made him a count of
the empire. Bougainville died in Paris on Au-
gust 20, 1811, one of the most celebrated mili-
tary officers, scientists, and explorers of his
generation.Bibliography
Allen, Oliver E. The Pacific Navigators.Alexandria, VA:
Time-Life Books, 1980; Hamilton, Edward P., ed. Ad-
venture in the Wilderness: The American Journals
of Louis Antoine de Bougainville, 1756–1760.Nor-
man: University of Oklahoma Press, 1964; Ham-
mond, L.Davis.News from New Cythera: A Report
of Bougainville’s Voyage, 1766–1769.Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1970; Kimbrough,DEBOUGAINVILLE, LOUIS-ANTOINE