Philippe Régis Denis de Keredern de Trobriand was a French aristocrat born near Tours, France, in 1816. He came to the United States in his 20s in 1841. He married a well-to-do heiress and became a part of New York City’s social scene. De Trobriand published novels and he provided newspaper and magazine articles in French for both American and French publications.
In 1861, de Trobriand became a naturalized United States citizen and he enlisted in the volunteer army. De Trobriand wrote in his memoir that he was not a “Frenchman who had taken part in a foreign war, but as an American who has fought for the country of his adoption and the institutions of his choice.” The French nobleman said that the states of the South had rebelled to achieve “the maintenance and perpetuation of slavery.”
Below is the grave of Philippe Régis Denis de Keredern de Trobriand.
On the night before the Fiirst Battle of Bull Run, his regiment elected de Trobriand commander before they had left New York. The regiment, the 55th New York, was originally supposed to be a French immigrant unit, but as with several other “ethnic units,” it incorporated men from a variety of backgrounds. The colonel wrote later:
This was the organization of the Fifty-fifth New York. Its composition was of a very mixed kind. The recruiting had opened its ranks to men of all nationalities. The French were a majority in six companies. The sojourn in a strange land had not altered their character. Their merits and their defects were the same in America as in France. Only they were less subject to discipline, and the performance of what was required of them in service depended less upon their sense of duty than upon the national vanity which led them to exalt themselves and to underrate others. In reviews and in brigade drills, where they attracted attention, they made a fine appearance, and manoeuvred together and with precision. Under fire, where nobody saw them, they did neither better nor worse than the others.
After the French, the Germans were the more numerous in the Fifty-fifth. Nearly all the companies had more or less of them in their ranks. Company H was entirely composed of them. Good soldiers, prompt in obedience, animated with good-will, and conspicuous for their fine bearing, they always did their duty well upon the field of battle as in camp.
Company K was composed entirely of Irishmen, commanded by three American officers, drawn from the nursery of the Seventh New York militia. The Irish have two prevailing faults, uncleanliness and a tendency to drunkenness. On inspection, their uniforms were seldom without spots or their bearing without fault. When whiskey was introduced into the camp clandestinely, it was in the Irish quarter that the officer of the guard first found it. The most severe punishments availed nothing. But, on the other hand, they were fine fighters. When they were under fire, the spots on their uniforms disappeared under powder or blood;—good fellows, after all, indefatigable, enthusiastic, and always ready for a joke or a fight.
I had, besides, in my regiment a small number of Spaniards, young men, intelligent, sober, reserved, of fine bearing and of good conduct; and a few Italians, poor soldiers. Finally, the tenth company, which had not yet joined us, was composed of Americans. Recruited at random, poorly commanded, not disciplined, very little drilled, we found it much behind the others. We had to furnish it with instructors; both officers and non-commissioned officers needed instructors as much as the soldiers, and the company never emerged from its relative inferiority. This is, however, a special instance, which is of no value for judging the American soldier. Experience has proved that he was not inferior to any other, and in certain respects he has shown himself superior to many, having accomplished the greatest results, without enjoying the advantages which are reserved to military nations, to whom peace never ceases to be a preparation for war. If the United States had had in 1860 a regular army of one hundred and fifty thousand men, the rebellion would not probably have lasted six months. [De Trobriand, Regis. FOUR YEARS WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC (pp. 88-89). Lex De Leon Publishing. Kindle Edition.]
The 55th was attached to the IV Corps and saw service under fire during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign under Major General McClellan. In the late spring, de Trobriand was laid low by “swamp fever.” When he returned to his regiment, it was reassigned to the III Corps. After the Battle of Chancellorsville, he was named commander of a new brigade.
The brigade was assigned to the III Corps, First Division, Third Brigade. In his first battle as a brigade commander, de Trobriand’s men defended the Wheatfield at Gettysburg, holding off Anderson’s and Kershaw’s brigades. Afterwards, Gen. David Birney wrote:
Colonel de Trobriand deserves my heartiest thanks for his skillful disposition of his command by gallantly holding his advanced position until relieved by other troops. This officer is one of the oldest in commission as colonel in the volunteer service [and] has been distinguished in nearly every engagement of the Army of the Potomac, and certainly deserves the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers, to which he has been recommended.
The French immigrant was promoted to Brigadier General on April 10, 1864, to rank from January 5, 1864. In his memoirs he complained about the time it took brigade commanders to be given their appropriate rank as Brigadier Generals after the Battle of Gettysburg. During his last year of war, de Trobriand at times commanded a division. After the war he was given a brevet promotion to Major General.
De Trobriand wrote of the Confederate evacuation from Petersburg and Richmond in 1865:
The pursuit began immediately, so that the occupation of the two cities was left principally to the Twenty-fifth Corps, composed of colored troops. The division placed temporarily under the orders of Parke was put in charge of Petersburg, and the two others, under Weitzel, took possession of Richmond. The last and supreme humiliation of these arrogant despisers of humanity! At the very seat itself of their overturned government, their property and their lives were under the protection of the black man, to whom they had refused a place in the great human family. At this last hour of the great iniquity, the characters of both the oppressor and the oppressed were made manifest without disguise. The associates of Jefferson Davis delivered to the flames the city they could no longer defend, and which the flames would have utterly devoured but for the colored soldiers of Weitzel, who saved two-thirds of it. The whole business quarter, the richest and most thickly inhabited, was reduced to ashes. Its piled-up ruins will for a long time tell what were the men who sacrificed their country to their depraved ambitions, with the sole object of perpetuating their barbarous rule over a soil torn from American civilization. [De Trobriand, Regis. FOUR YEARS WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC (p. 706). Lex De Leon Publishing. Kindle Edition.]
In 1867, his memoir Four Years with the Army of the Potomac came out in France. Two decades later it was issued in English. He continued on with the army both on the frontier and protecting the freedmen in Louisiana after the war. He also took up painting.
The cemetery where his body was laid to rest is an Episcopal cemetery in Sayville in Suffolk County, New York on Long Island. The general retired to New Orleans after his military service ended in 1879. He made summer trips to visit his daughter in Bayport, on Long Island in New York. Even today, this a a popular summer resort as well as a ferry port for those going to Fire Island. De Trobriand died in July 15, 1897, the height of the summer season, at age 81.
The grave is in St. Ann’s Episcopal Cemetery at 257 Middle Rd, in Sayville, NY 11782. I went to the church and an entrance to the cemetery is in the back of the parking lot. After I went into the cemetery, I made the first left in the small cemetery to go to the grave.
In 2022, a New York State Historical Marker was placed outside of another entrance at 23 Foster Ave., in Sayville. According to Newsday’s coverage of the unveiling of the marker:
Islip Town now has a New York State historic marker that honors a soldier who local historians say is “one of the town’s most famous veterans.”
The new marker was unveiled Friday on Foster Avenue in Sayville following a two-year effort by town historian George Munkenbeck and members of the Society of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Civil War educational nonprofit. The marker honors Major General Philippe Régis Denis de Keredern de Trobriand — commonly known as Régis de Trobriand — a French aristocrat who became an American citizen in 1861 and led troops into battle during the Civil War.
“He went from a French nobleman, and a man around town at every famous restaurant and every party, to a person who became a plain old soldier and an American,” Munkenbeck said.
University of Virginia history professor emeritus and a Gettysburg Foundation’s Historians Council member Gary W. Gallagher said that while Trobriand’s performance was not any better than other Union brigade commanders, his performance was “solid” and his men mounted “a firm defense.”
Even when Trobriand’s troops ran out of ammunition, they continued to hold their ground, said Thomas Badamo, director general of the Society of the Grand Army of the Republic. Today, the roadway beside the wheatfield is named “De Trobriand Avenue.”
A short auto ride (20 Minutes) away is White Cap Seafood at 120 Main St, Islip, NY 11751. If the weather is nice, you can sit outside next to the Great South Bay and enjoy seafood for under $20! Here is where I sat eating bay scallops.
All color photos were taken by Pat Young. To see more sites Pat visited CLICK HERE for Google Earth view.
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