Marquis Calmes
Marquis Calmes | |
|---|---|
 Calmes in 1806 | |
| Born | 26 February 1755 Frederick, Virginia, British America |
| Died | 27 February 1834 (aged 79) Versailles, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Buried | Versailles, Kentucky |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | American Continental Army |
| Years of service | 1776-1779 American Revolution 1812-1813 War of 1812 |
| Rank | Captain Brigadier General |
| Unit | 2nd Virginia Regiment 1st Division Kentucky Cavalry |
| Battles / wars | American Revolutionary War |
| Spouse(s) | Priscilla Heale (1759–1821) |
| Other work | Politician General Assembly of Kentucky |
Marquis Calmes IV (26 February 1755 – 27 February 1834)[1] was an American military officer and landowner.
Biography
[edit]Calmes was of Huguenot ancestry. His father was William Waller Calmes, 1727–1773. Calmes' mother was Lucy Neville.[1] Calmes' patrilineal grandfather was Marquis Guillame de Calmes II, who was born in France in 1705. The de Calmes were a Huguenot family from Trèbes who emigrated to the Colony of Virginia in the early 18th century.[2]
Calmes was born 26 February 1755 in Frederick, Virginia. As a young man, he was sent abroad to be educated. When the American Revolution started, he returned to Virginia. He raised and equipped a company at his own expense, and joined the 2nd Virginia Regiment as a lieutenant.
At the Battle of Brandywine, Colonel Thomas Marshall, the commander of the Second Regiment, was seriously injured. Calmes replaced Marshall at the battle. Calmes was then promoted to captain.
Calmes served in the Second Regiment until the conclusion of his term of service in 1779. He married Priscilla Heale in Faquier in 1782. He left Virginia and made his way to Kentucky, where he eventually founded a plantation, Caneland, adjacent to Colonel Marshall's Buck Pond, in Woodford County, Kentucky. Calmes was one of the founders of Versailles, Kentucky. He married Priscilla Hale. At Caneland, Calmes enslaved multiple people, including field laborers, a sawyer, a carpenter, a blacksmith, and a shoemaker.
Calmes was a longtime member of the county court in Versailles. In 1795, he served in the Kentucky State Legislature.
During the War of 1812, Calmes was promoted to Brigadier General and given command of a brigade of Kentucky riflemen. He served under William Henry Harrison.
Following the War of 1812, Calmes returned again to his estate near Versailles, Kentucky. He was widowed in 1821, and afterwards embarked on an lengthy hunting trip in Arkansas. He also briefly hosted the Marquis de Lafayette, who he had befriended during the Revolutionary War, on the latter's American tour in 1825. [2] He died on February 27, 1834.[3][4] He is buried in a plain stone mausoleum on the property of Caneland. It was restored in 1990.[5]
Calmes and his wife and children were painted by Jacob Frymire in 1806.[6][7]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Blakemore, Maurice Neville (1963). The Blakemore family and allied lines. Retrieved 27 October 2014.
- ^ a b Steele, Jno. A. (1906). "GENERAL MARQUIS CALMES of "Caneland," A Revolutionary Hero of Woodford Co., Ky". Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society. 4 (10): 47–51. ISSN 2328-8183.
- ^ The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 18, Issue 53, May, 1920, pp. 77-79.
- ^ The Kentucky Encyclopedia By John E. Kleber, University Press of Kentucky, 1992, p. 153
- ^ "Calmes Tomb". KY Historical Society. Retrieved 2025-05-13.
- ^ "i066132". Chicago History Museum. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
- ^ "The Project Gutenberg eBook of Tea Drinking in 18th-Century America: Its Etiquette and Equipage, by Rodris Roth". www.gutenberg.org. Retrieved 2025-05-14.
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