Hippolyte de Bouchard

Topics: Argentine military personnel, French-Argentines, History of Argentina

Hippolyte de Bouchard, or Hipolito Bouchard , was a French and Argentine sailor and corsair who fought for Argentine, Chile, and Peru.

Bouchard was known for his heated temper, which led to incidents between him and his subordinates, to whom he meted out terrible punishment whenever they disobeyed him.

Bouchard was born in Saint-Tropez in 1780 or 1783. The son of Andre Louis Bouchard and Therese Brunet was baptized as Andre Paul but eventually went by the name Hippolyte. He initially worked in the French merchant fleet, then served in the French Navy in their campaigns against the English, thus starting his life at sea. After many campaigns in Egypt and Santo Domingo, and disillusioned with the way the French Revolution was going, the young Bouchard came to Argentina in 1809 and, in order to aid the May Revolution, became a part of the National Argentine Fleet, led by Azopardo. On March 2, 1811 he fought for the first time under the Argentine Flag by defeating the Spanish Captain Jacinto de Romarate in San Nicolas de los Arroyos, and in July and August of that year he played a major role in defending the City of Buenos Aires from a Spanish blockade. In March, 1812 Bouchard joined the Mounted Grenadiers Regiment led by Jose de San Martin and took part in the Battle of San Lorenzo in 1813, where he captured a Spanish flag and therefore was granted Argentine citizenship. Some months later he married Norberta Merlo.