- Louis de Watteville
Louis de Watteville (1776 – 1836), whose name was sometimes germanicised to Abraham Ludwig Karl von Wattenwyl was born in
Switzerland but became a Major General in theBritish Army , and fought in theNapoleonic Wars and theWar of 1812 .Dutch and Austrian service
His father was an officer in a Swiss mercenary regiment in the service of the
Netherlands . No doubt through his influence, Louis fought as a junior officer in the same regiment againstRevolutionary France in 1793 and 1794. When the Netherlands were defeated by France, Louis gained a commission in a similar Swiss corps in theAustria n army in 1799. When Austria was defeated in turn, the various Swiss units were disbanded, and they regrouped under British command atMalta and various other posts in the Mediterranean. Louis's uncle Frédéric was appointed Colonel and gave his name to the regiment.British service
Louis fought with the regiment at the
Battle of Maida , in 1806, and at the Siege ofCadiz . He was appointed Colonel of his regiment in 1812. In the following year, he and the regiment were transferred from Cadiz toUpper Canada . By this time the regiment was a mixture of nationalities, including German, Italian and Hungarian, many of whom had been takenprisoner of war by the British while serving in the French armies inSpain .War of 1812
On arrival at
Quebec , de Watteville immediately struck up a friendship with the Governor General of Canada, Lieutenant General SirGeorge Prevost , himself of Swiss origin. He received promotion to Major General onAugust 11 ,1813 , although for a time held no appointment. OnOctober 17 he was appointed to command the district ofMontreal , which at the time was threatened by American armies approaching on two fronts. De Watteville immediately called out the militia and began strengthening his defences, but onOctober 26 , his collected outpost units under Lieutenant ColonelCharles de Salaberry defeated the nearest American army at theBattle of Chateauguay . De Watteville was present and gave full credit to de Salaberry in his dispatch. Unfortunately, Prevost, who was also present, belittled both de Watteville and de Salaberry in his own dispatch, which took precedence over those of his subordinates.In June 1814, de Watteville was transferred briefly to the
Richelieu River sector, but onAugust 8 , he was appointed to command the "Right Division" on theNiagara River in Upper Canada (succeeding Major GeneralPhineas Riall who had been wounded and taken prisoner by the Americans at theBattle of Lundy's Lane ). He reported to the siege lines around Fort Erie onAugust 15 . OnSeptember 17 , the Americans made a sortie against de Watteville's lines, leading to a bloody engagement in which about 600 men were killed or wounded on each side.As campaigning wound down over the winter, de Watteville took leave in Montreal to meet his wife and family. Here he learned that the War had ended. After presiding over the
court martial of Major GeneralHenry Procter , he resumed his command, and in late 1815 was nominated Commander in Chief of the forces in Upper Canada. He preferred to retire from the army, and lived out the remainder of his life in retirement inTübingen in Switzerland.Although his career was undoubtedly assisted by family influence and the accident of serving under a Commander in Chief with similar background, de Watteville was often given credit as a steady officer, and noted for his fairness to subordinates.
De Watteville's Regiment
Note: De Watteville's regiment, although no longer under his command from the date of his promotion to Major General, suffered heavy casualties at Fort Erie, and also suffered heavily from desertion. As already mentioned, by the time it arrived in Canada it was a motley mix of nationalities with little obvious cause for loyalty to the British cause. On the end of the war, several of its survivors accepted discharge on the spot, and settled in Upper Canada.
External links
* [http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=3718 Biography at the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online"]
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