Nicolas-Louis d'Assas

Who was Nicolas-Louis d'Assas?

Nicolas-Louis d'Assas, also known as Louis d'Assas du Mercou and Chevalier d'Assas, was a captain of the French Régiment d'Auvergne, whose celebrity depends on a single act of defiance.

He was born in Le Vigan, Languedoc, France.

Having entered a wood to reconnoitre it the night before the battle of Kloster Kampen in 1760, he was suddenly surrounded by the enemy English soldiers, and defied with bayonets at his breast to utter a cry of alarm; "To me, Auvergne! Here is the enemy!" he exclaimed, and fell dead on the instant, pierced with bayonets, to the saving of his countrymen.