Matthias Alexis Roche de Fermoy

Matthias Alexis Roche de Fermoy (c. 1737 – after 1778) was a French volunteer soldier who served as a brigadier general in the Continental Army. Born in the West Indies, he was one of several foreigners given command positions in the army in 1776 (the Marquis de Lafayette being one of the more famous of these). Fermoy's tenure as a brigadier general was marked by disgrace. Although he performed competently leading a brigade during the December 26, 1776 Battle of Trenton, he abandoned his brigade while it occupied a forward defensive position opposing the British advance prior to the Battle of the Assunpink Creek. In July 1777 his force was occupying Mount Independence, part of the defenses around Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York, prior to General John Burgoyne's advance. When the decision was made to secretly abandon the works on the morning of July 6, Fermoy endangered the operation by setting fire to his quarters at 2 am. After he was rejected for promotion to major general, he resigned in January 1778, and returned to the West Indies.

References

• Leiter, Mary Theresa. Biographical sketches of the generals of the Continental army of the revolution
• Broadwater, R.P. (2012). American Generals of the Revolutionary War: A Biographical Dictionary. McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7864-9173-5. Retrieved 2018-07-02. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• United States. Continental Congress (1823). Journals of the American Congress from 1774-1788: In Four Volumes. Journals of the American Congress from 1774-1788: In Four Volumes. Way and Gideon. Retrieved 2018-07-02. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Griswold, R.W.; Simms, W.G.; Ingraham, E.D. (1858). Washington and the Generals of the American Revolution: With Finely Engraved Portraits. J.B. Lippincott. Retrieved 2018-07-02. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

• Storozynski, A. (2009). The Peasant Prince: and the Age of Revolution. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1-4299-6607-8. Retrieved 2018-07-02. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)