Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, Pierre de Rigaud, marquis de [key], 1698–1765, last French governor of New France, b. Quebec. He was the son of Philippe de Rigaud, marquis de Vaudreuil (1643–1725), also governor (1705–25). After entering the army he became governor of Trois Rivières (1733) and of Louisiana (1742). In 1755 he became governor of New France. Devoted to those who, like himself, were Canadian-born, he nevertheless failed to check his thieving intendant, François Bigot. During the last of the French and Indian Wars, Vaudreuil sought to discredit General Montcalm with the home government and to hamper his conduct of military affairs. After Vaudreuil's surrender of all Canada to the British in 1760, he was charged with maladministration, tried in France, and acquitted.
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