French naval officer

Admiral Pierre-Louis-Charles Rigault de Genouilly (French pronunciation: ​[ʃaʁl ʁiɡo də ʒənuji], 12 April 1807 – 4 May 1873) was a French naval officer. He fought with distinction in the Crimean War and the Second Opium War, but is chiefly remembered today for his command of French and Spanish forces during the opening phase of the Cochinchina campaign (1858–62), which inaugurated the French conquest of Vietnam. Early career Charles Rigault de Genouilly was born and raised in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France, into a family with naval connections. His father was a naval engineer and his mother, Adélaïde-Caroline Mithon de Genouilly, was the niece and adopted daughter of Claude Mithon de Genouilly, a naval commander during the American War of Independence. Rigault de Genouil...