The New Student's Reference Work/Salaberry, Charles de

Sal′aber′ry, Charles de, the hero of Chateauguay, a member of the old, French, landed nobility, had seen distinguished service under the British flag abroad when the War of 1812 broke out.  He assisted in raising and took command of a regiment of French-Canadian voltigeurs, who saw a great deal of service in Lower Canada through the war.  At Odelltown he resisted Gen. Dearborn with 2,000 men so successfully that the Americans were compelled to retire on Champlain.  Salaberry was in command of the advance-guard, numbering not more than 350 men, at Chateauguay on Oct. 23, 1813, when Gen. Wade Hampton with 3,500 Americans appeared.  Stationing his main force behind breastworks and assigning small parties of men with bugles to posts well-separated through the surrounding woods, by repelling the frontal attack and pressing a counter-attack at the ford of the river he drove the enemy into precipitate retreat and inflicted heavy loss.  For this he was knighted, and his men each received a medal.  A monument to his memory was dedicated at Chateauguay in 1895.