Penot Lombart, Louis-Pierre

PENOT LOMBART, LOUIS-PIERRE. Chevalier de La Neuville (1744–1800). French volunteer. On 25 February 1750, La Neuville became a lieutenant in the Paris militia, and in 1759 he was promoted to captain of the same unit. In 1759 he was made captain and in 1766 became aide-major in the regiment of recruits of the colonies. In 1774 he was appointed major of the Provincial Regiment of Laon. He was bestowed the title of chevalier in the Order of Saint Louis in 1776. On 5 March 1777 the court granted him leave of absence for the alleged purpose of tending to business in Saint Domingue but actually to enable him (and his brother) to fight the British in North America. He wrote Franklin on 16 March 1777 that he was prepared to go to America whether as a colonel or volunteer.

Arriving in America with glowing letters of recommendation and accompanied by his younger brother, René Hippolyte, La Neuville was appointed colonel with rank as of 21 March 1777. On 14 May he was named inspector general of the Northern Army (under Gates) with the promise that he would be promoted at the end of three months in accordance with his merit. A year later he was still waiting for advancement. In May 1778 he was recommended to Congress for promotion to brigadier general, and on 28 June General Parsons signed a eulogistic recommendation regarding his service, but Congress postponed action on 29 July. Congress finally breveted him brigadier general on 14 October 1778, with date of rank of 14 August, and on 4 December accepted his request for retirement. On 11 January 1779 he sailed with Lafayette for France, carrying a glowing commendation from Gates. On 24 June 1780 he received a commission in the French army as a lieutenant colonel. Two years later he asked for permission to return to America, but Ségur refused the necessary authority. In early 1783 he was placed in command of a battalion of colonial auxiliaries at Cadiz preparing to accompany the proposed expedition to the West Indies, but the peace intervened. Lafayette appears to have written a recommendation in his file in 1787 stating that "M. de La Neuville has always shown much intelligence and zeal. He conducted himself perfectly in America" (Lasseray, Les Français, vol. 2, p. 356). He was in New York in 1790 on business when his uncle, Lieutenant General Merlet, sought on his behalf the rank of adjutant general. He returned to France that year. La Neuville retired effective 20 March 1791 and died during the Napoleonic era.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bodinier, André. Dictionnaire des officiers de l'armée royale qui ont combattu aux Etats-Unis pendant la guerre d'Indépendance, 1776–1783. Vincennes, France: Service historique de l'armée, 1982.

Contenson, Ludovic de. La Société des Cincinnati de France et la Guerre d'Amérique. Paris: Editions Auguste Picard, 1934.

Ford, Worthington C. et al., eds. Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789. 34 vols. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1904–1937.

Franklin, Benjamin. Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Edited by Leonard W. Labaree et al. 37 vols. to date. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1959–.

Lafayette, Gilbert du Motier de. Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Documents, 1776–1790. Edited by Stanley J. Idzerda et al. 5 vols. to date. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1977–.

Lasseray, André. Les Français sous les treize étoiles (1775–1783). 2 vols. Mâcon, France: Imprimerie Protat Frères, 1935.

                              revised by Robert Rhodes Crout