Pierre Adolphe Rost - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Pierre Adolphe Rost was a Louisiana politician, diplomat, lawyer, judge, and plantation owner.

Early Life and Emigration to the United States

Born in the department of Lot-et-Garonne, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

in 1797, Rost received his education at the École Polytechnique

École Polytechnique

The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...

in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, where men were recruited into either the civil service

Civil service

The term civil service has two distinct meanings:* A branch of governmental service in which individuals are employed on the basis of professional merit as proven by competitive examinations....

or military

Military

A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...

service. As an artilleryman, he was credited for brave conduct in the defense of Paris on March 30, 1814. Rost applied for a commission in Napoleon's army after the Emperor's escape from Elba

Elba

Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...

, but was too late for the Battle of Waterloo

Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...

.

Escaping from what he thought to be an oppressive régime, Rost emigrated to New Orleans, arriving in the spring of 1816. He became a teacher in Natchez, Mississippi

Natchez, Mississippi

Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...

, and studied law

Law

Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

under Joseph Emory Davis, the brother of Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...

. Rost then moved to Natchitoches, Louisiana

Natchitoches, Louisiana

Natchitoches is a city in and the parish seat of Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana, United States. Established in 1714 by Louis Juchereau de St. Denis as part of French Louisiana, the community was named after the Natchitoches Indian tribe. The City of Natchitoches was first incorporated on February...

, where the majority of the people spoke French, a factor he was confident would bolster the success of his law practice. In 1826 he was elected to the Louisiana state senate, where he served for 4 years. In 1830 he was nominated for Congress, but at the time of the nomination he was engaged to Louise Odile Destrehan [des Tours] (1802 - Feb. 24, 1877), and when they decided to marry before the congressional elections the distractions of marriage caused him to somewhat neglect his political campaign. The unfortunate result of this is that he was defeated by a few votes. Shortly after losing his bid for Congress, near the end of 1830 he moved with his family to New Orleans (his wife already had one or two children from a previous marriage) and commenced practicing law again. Rost continued in his law practice for the next 8 years, until the summer of 1838 when he took his family on a trip to Europe to visit his mother and sisters. He and his family returned to the United States in the autumn of 1838.

Louise Odile Destrehan and the History of Destrehan Manor

In 1830 Rost married Louise Odile Destrehan [des Tours] in New Orleans, becoming her second husband. On April 11, 1839 he bought Destrehan Manor (including its contingent of about 83 slaves), a plantation located in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, which had been associated with the Destrehan family since 1802. Rost purchased the plantation from the executors of its previous owner Stephen Henderson (1773–1838). Henderson in turn had bought Destrehan Manor for the sum of $114,400 on March 23, 1825, not long after its prior owners had both died. Then, he went on to marry (on Oct. 19, 1826) Marie Eleonore "Zelia" Destrehan [des Tours] (1800–1830) who was a daughter of the prior owners and a sister of Rost's wife. The owners of Destrehan Manor prior to Stephen Henderson were Jean Noel Destrehan [des Tours] (Dec. 12, 1759 - Oct. 4, 1823) and his wife Marie Claudine Celeste Elenore Robin de Logny (Sept. 5, 1770 - Sept. 3, 1824). Jean Noel and his wife had owned the plantation since April 12, 1802 when Jean Noel bought it from his brother-in-law Pierre-Paul-Guy Robin de Logny (born June 29, 1764).

Upon his return from a trip to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Rost was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, served in 1839, then resigned to engage in agricultural pursuits. He returned in 1846 when reorganization of the court was effected, serving until 1854. During the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, he sided with the Confederacy

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

. On March 16, 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis

appointed Rost, William Lowndes Yancey

William Lowndes Yancey

William Lowndes Yancey was a journalist, politician, orator, diplomat and an American leader of the Southern secession movement. A member of the group known as the Fire-Eaters, Yancey was one of the most effective agitators for secession and rhetorical defenders of slavery. An early critic of...

(1814–1863) and Ambrose Dudley Mann

Ambrose Dudley Mann

Ambrose Dudley Mann was the first United States Assistant Secretary of State and a commissioner for the Confederate States....

(1801–1889) the first Confederate Commissioners to Europe

Europe

. Rost served as the Commissioner of the Confederate States of America for Spain. Yancey served as the Confederate Commissioner for England and France, and Mann eventually served as the Confederate Commissioner for Belgium and the Vatican. The three sailed together for Europe on March 31, 1861. Rost and Yancey were later replaced by John Slidell

John Slidell

John Slidell was an American politician, lawyer and businessman. A native of New York, Slidell moved to Louisiana as a young man and became a staunch defender of southern rights as a U.S. Representative and Senator...

(1793–1871) and James Murray Mason (1798–1871).

Rost owned the Destrehan Plantation
Destrehan Plantation
Destrehan Plantation is an antebellum Greek Revival house located near Destrehan, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. In the nineteenth century, the house was the center of a bustling slave plantation that produced sugar for export. The site hosted the notorious St...

also known as the Rost Home Colony in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana

St. Charles Parish, Louisiana

St. Charles Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Hahnville. In 2010, its population was 52,780. In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, this was part of the German Coast, an area along the Mississippi River settled by numerous German pioneers in the...

which was owned by the family of his wife, Louise Odile Destréhan, from 1865 until it was seized by the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands

Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands

The Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. federal government agency that aided distressed freedmen in 1865–1869, during the Reconstruction era of the United States....

in 1866. Through that time, it was used to house a self-contained colony of freedmen, complete with a hospital, schools, colony store and police force. Rost then returned with a full pardon from President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...

and successfully demanded for the return of his property.

Rost continued practicing law until he died in New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...

, on September 6, 1868.

Works

Eulogy upon the life and character of George Eustis,: Formerly chief justice of the Supreme court of Louisiana. Pronounced at Lyceum hall, on the 31st March, 1859 (1859)

External links

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