Charles Henri Hector, Count of Estaing Papers (MS D'Est)

Letters and documents primarily in French related to Jean-Baptiste-Charles-Henri-Hector, Comte d'Estaing, the commander of a French fleet sent to aid American forces in the Revolutionary War. The collection covers 1778 through 1779, during which time d'Estaing's fleet sailed to the West Indies and fought in the Battle of St. Lucia and the Battle of Grenada against British forces, following which d'Estaing sailed to Georgia to take part in the Siege of Savannah in September-October 1779. Material in the collection includes extensive correspondence and documentation for prisoner of war exchanges between the French and British forces in the West Indies, orders regarding the formation and maintenance of volunteer regiments including the Chasseurs-Volontaires de Saint-Domingue for soldiers of color, and notes on a journal kept by an officer in d'Estaing's service during the Siege of Savannah.