Charles Gabriel Sivert

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Charles Gabriel Sébastien Sivert, Baron de l’Espérance (December 1, 1725 – January 5, 1791) was a French-Canadian noble, military officer and colonial administrator. He began his career at age 10 as a cadet in the Karrer Regiment and fought in the 1745 Siege of Louisbourg. He travelled to France in 1747 with La Jonquière and in 1754 was promoted to lieutenant in the French Royal Navy. He married Anne-Claire Du Pont de Renon in 1755. He briefly returned to Louisbourg in 1755 and left in 1758 after the second siege. In 1763 he was promoted to captain and was stationed at Saint Pierre and Miquelon for about nine years. He received the Cross of St. Louis in 1770. Sivert served as Governor of Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon from 1773 to 1776 and again from 1783 to 1785. During the American War, a British squadron demanded surrender in 1778; with only 31 soldiers and six cannons, he capitulated with honors of war, and the settlement was looted and burned after the inhabitants left. He was promoted to brigadier in 1778 and to brigadier general in 1784, returning to France in 1785 and retiring in 1789. He died in Versailles in 1791.