Pierre de Saurel was a captain in the Carignan-Salières Regiment

Carignan-Salières Regiment

The Carignan-Salières Regiment was a Piedmont French military unit formed by merging the Carignan Regiment and the Salières Regiment in 1659. The regiment began their existence in combat against the Ottoman Empire before being reorganized to consist of twenty-four companies before being sent to...

 and a seigneur who was born in Grenoble

Grenoble

Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...

 and came to New France

New France

New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...

 in 1665.

Captain Saurel was immediately sent to rebuild Fort Richelieu

Fort Richelieu

Fort Richelieu is a historic fort in the Canadian La Vallée-du-Richelieu Regional County Municipality, Quebec. The fort is designated as a National Historic Site. Fort Richelieu was part of a series of five forts built along the Richelieu River. Fort Richelieu is at the mouth of the Richelieu...

, the fort having been burned by the Iroquois

Iroquois

The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

 in 1647. The Carignan-Salières Regiment rebuilt the fort on the same site. During Prouville de Tracy

Alexandre de Prouville

Marquis Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy was a French aristocrat, statesman, and military leader. He was the seigneur of Tracy-le-Val and Tracy-le-Mont...

's 1666 action against the Mohawks, he and Alexandre Berthier

Alexandre Berthier

Alexandre Berthier was a captain in the French army who was born Isaac Berthier and a Huguenot; became known as Alexandre after his arrival in New France in 1665. The name change appears to be because of his conversion to the Roman Catholic religion...

 were co-commanders of the rear-guard troops.

In Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

, the modern-day Sorel-Tracy

Sorel-Tracy, Quebec

Sorel-Tracy is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada and the geographical end point of the Lake Champlain Valley at the confluence of the Richelieu River and the St. Lawrence River, on the western edge of Lac Saint-Pierre downstream and east of nearby Montreal. The population as of the Canada 2006...

 and the Pierre-De Saurel Regional County Municipality, where Fort Richelieu is located, are named after him.

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