De Noailles was born in Paris. He served under his brother-in-law the
Marquis de Lafayette in America during the
American War for Independence and was the officer who concluded the
capitulation of Yorktown in 1781. He was elected to the
Estates-General in 1789. On 4 August 1789, during the
French Revolution, he began the famous "orgy" (as
Honoré-Gabriel Mirabeau called it) when
feudalism was to be abolished, and the
Duc d'Aiguilion proposed the abolition of
titles and
liveries in June 1790. As the French Revolution progressed and became more dangerous for nobles, he emigrated to the
United States and became a partner in
William Bingham's
Bank of North America in
Philadelphia. He was successful in the United States. He accepted a command in
Saint-Domingue under
Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau, fighting against Black rebels. He commanded a defence of the
Môle-Saint-Nicolas and set sail with the town garrison for Cuba in 1803 but
en route there his ship was attacked by a British schooner. After a long engagement, he was severely wounded, and died of his wounds in
Havana on 9 January 1804. De Noailles was a member of the
Society of the Cincinnati from France. ==Personal life==