Louis Marie Antoine de Noailles

Louis Marie de Noailles, Viscount of Noailles (17 April 1756 Paris7 January 1804 Havana) was the second son of Philippe, duc de Mouchy, and a member of Mouchy branch of the famous Noailles family of the French aristocracy. Career He served under his brother-in-law the Marquis de Lafayette in America during the American War for Independence, and was the officer who concluded the capitulation of Yorktown in 1781. He was elected to the Estates-General in 1789. On 4 August 1789, during the French Revolution, he began the famous "orgy" (as Mirabeau called it) when feudalism was to be abolished, and the Duc d'Aiguilion proposed the abolition of titles and liveries in June 1790. As the French Revolution progressed and became more dangerous for nobles, he emigrated to the United States and became a partner in William Bingham's Bank of North America in Philadelphia. He was successful in the United States. He accepted a command against the English in San Domingo, under Rochambeau. He commanded a defence of the Môle-Saint-Nicolas and escaped with the garrison to Cuba, but en route there his ship was attacked by a British schooner. After a long engagement, he was severely wounded, and died of his wounds in Havana on 9 January 1804.