François Gaston de Lévis, né le 20 août 1719 à Ajac (Languedoc, auj. dans le département de l'Aude), mort le 26 novembre 1787 à Arras1, chevalier, puis duc de Lévis, était un militaire français qui s'est notamment illustré en Nouvelle-France et qui a obtenu la dignité de maréchal de France.
François Gaston de Lévis descend de la Maison de Lévis, une ancienne famille noble des Yvelines, du village de Lévis dans le Hurepoix dont l'origine remonte au xiie siècle. Installée dans le Languedoc du temps de la croisade contre les Albigeois. Son cousin Gaston Pierre de Lévis, duc de Mirepoix sera, lui aussi, maréchal de France. Il naît au château d'Ajac le 20 août 1719.
Au début des années 1760, il épouse Gabrielle Augustine Michel (1744-1794), fille de Gabriel Michel, armateur nantais issu d'une famille de petite noblesse.
Il entre en qualité de lieutenant au régiment de la Marine en 1735, à l'âge de seize ans. Durant vingt ans, il participe à toutes les opérations militaires qui ont lieu sur les frontières orientales du royaume : il combat sur le Rhin, participe à la guerre de Succession d'Autriche, traverse la Saxe et défend le comté de Nice sous les ordres de son cousin le marquis de Mirepoix. Blessé de nombreuses fois, il est promu capitaine, puis colonel en 1746. En 1748, le roi Louis XV le fait chevalier de Saint-Louis. Il est alors connu sous le nom de « chevalier de Lévis ».
En avril 1756, il est nommé brigadier et commandant en second de l'armée française au Canada. Responsable de la défense du lac Champlain jusqu'en 1758, il soutient Montcalm dans l'attaque du fort William Henry et la défense du fort Carillon. Fait maréchal de camp, il participe d'abord à la défense de Québec en 1759 mais est envoyé s'occuper de celle de Montréal à partir de la mi-août. À la suite de la mort de Montcalm et de la prise de Québec, le 13 septembre, il prend le commandement des armées. En 1760, il marche sur cette ville avec l'armée française et remporte la bataille de Sainte-Foy, près de Québec. Il assiège la ville mais ne peut la reprendre, l'arrivée de renforts britanniques rendant toute tentative en ce sens illusoire. Il se retranche sur l'Île Sainte-Hélène, près de Montréal, et brûle les drapeaux français lors de la capitulation de 1760.
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Le buste en bronze de Lévis repose sur un bloc de granit carré mesurant approximativement 5 pieds de haut. Lévis a les cheveux en boucles au niveau des oreilles et attache ses cheveux avec un ruban en tissu derrière la tête. En plus d’un foulard de soie autour de son cou, il porte un chemise et une veste militaire munie de quatre boutons de chaque côté. Il maintient un regard fixe et semble contempler ce qu’adviendra de son armée dans les jours et les mois à venir.
François-Gaston de Lévis, Duc de Lévis (20 August 1719 – 20 November 1787), styled as the Chevalier de Lévis until 1785, was a French noble and a Marshal of France. He served with distinction in the War of the Polish Succession and the War of the Austrian Succession.During the Seven Years' War, he was second-in-command to Louis-Joseph de Montcalm in the defense of New France and then, after the surrender of New France in 1760, he served in Europe. After the war, he was appointed Governor of Artois, and in 1783 he was made a Marshal of France.
n 1756, the Marquis de Vaudreuil was informed that King Louis XV of France was sending the Marquis Louis-Joseph de Montcalm to take over French forces in North America, with Lévis as second in command. Vaudreuil wrote back that there was no need to send another general, as Vaudreuil disliked the tactics of most "municipal" French generals. When Montcalm arrived despite Vaudreuil's protest, the two men developed a dislike for each other. Lévis diplomatically cultivated good relations with both men, and managed to avoid getting dragged into the feuds between the two.[citation needed]
Lévis led the vanguard of the French expedition to Fort William Henry in 1757, and laid siege to it until Montcalm's arrival.
During French planning for the 1758 campaign in the French and Indian War the disputes between Vaudreuil and Montcalm continued. Vaudreuil prevailed, and Montcalm was sent to Fort Carillon to defend it against an expected British attack. Lévis was initially slated to lead an expedition to the western forts, leading about 500 French metropolitan troops and a large seasoned French-Canadian militia. Vaudreuil, however, had second thoughts, and dispatched Lévis and his metropolitan troops to support Montcalm at Carillon. Lévis arrived at Carillon on the evening of July 7, as a British army was arriving before the fort. The next day, in a stroke of good fortune for the defenders, the 16,000 strong British army under the command of General James Abercrombie decided to frontally attack the French defenses manned by about 4,000 men, without the benefit of artillery support.[who?] In the Battle of Carillon, the British were decisively defeated, with Lévis leading the defense on the French right flank.
When the forces of James Murray arrived to begin the Siege of Quebec, Lévis participated in the early defenses, including the Battle of Beauport. He was then sent to organize the defense of Montreal, and so was not present when Quebec fell. Following Montcalm's death in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, Lévis was appointed commander of French forces in North America. Wintering at Montreal, Lévis managed to rally his troops and train them for a spring offensive to recapture Quebec in 1760. Marching downstream with the first breaking of the ice, Lévis met the forces of James Murray at the Battle of Sainte-Foy, where Lévis' army won a victory in one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on Canadian soil. This forced Murray to retreat behind Quebec's walls. The lack of artillery and siege equipment precluded any assault on the fortifications of Quebec and Lévis held back, awaiting reinforcements from Europe. With the arrival of a British squadron which then destroyed his support ships on the Saint Lawrence, Lévis was obliged to retreat to Montreal, where Vaudreuil eventually surrendered New France to Amherst's army, which had advanced down the Saint Lawrence River that summer, in early September. Lévis, unhappy with the terms of capitulation, which did not include the traditional "honors of war", decided to burn the regimental colors rather than turning them over to the British.
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The bronze bust of Lévis rests on a block of square grey granite measuring approximately 5 feet high. Lévis's hair is curled at the level of his ears and tied behind his head with a ribbon. In addition to a silk scarf around his neck, he wears a shirt and a military jacket with four buttons on each side. He looks straight ahead and seems to be contemplating what will happen to his army in the days and months to come.