Continental Army Colonel. Born in Montauban, France, he joined the Royal French Dragoons at age 15. Like other French idealists Bentalou left for the United States in 1776 to join the Crusade for Independence. He received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant of Cavalry, German Regiment, September 15, 1776, 1st Lt., German Regiment, June 21, 1777 and was also a member of the Baltimore Mechanical Company. He met the famed Polish Cavalry hero of the Revolution, Count Pulaski, at the battle of Brandywine. Pulaski, impressed with the young man, had Bentalou transferred under his command as a Captain of Cavalry and he served the next two years of the war as Aide-de-Camp to General Casmir Pulaski. He fought at Egg Harbor on October 15, 1778, and under the command of General Lincoln they were instrumental in saving Charleston in February, 1779. Considered one of the heroes at the Battle of Savannah, he was wounded and yet it was him who carried the mortally wounded Pulaski from the field on October 9, 1779. Paroled by the British, he spent the rest of the war in Baltimore as a Recruiting Officer and it was then that he met and married Elizabeth Keeports in 1780. Colonel Bentalou retired on June 1, 1781, and settled in Baltimore commanding a company of Volunteer Cavalry in 1798. Bentalou was a successful shipping merchant and U.S. Marshall for the District of Maryland from 1817 until his death in 1826. He wrote a reply to Judge Johnson's Remarks on an article in the North American Review relating to Count Pulaski. Baltimore: J. D. Toy, 1826, because of derisive comments about the late general and a lesser known pamphlet concerning the slave trade effect on the shipping business in Baltimore. There is a street and an elementary school named after him in Baltimore. He died in Baltimore from a fall in a warehouse.
Continental Army Colonel. Born in Montauban, France, he joined the Royal French Dragoons at age 15. Like other French idealists Bentalou left for the United States in 1776 to join the Crusade for Independence. He received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant of Cavalry, German Regiment, September 15, 1776, 1st Lt., German Regiment, June 21, 1777 and was also a member of the Baltimore Mechanical Company. He met the famed Polish Cavalry hero of the Revolution, Count Pulaski, at the battle of Brandywine. Pulaski, impressed with the young man, had Bentalou transferred under his command as a Captain of Cavalry and he served the next two years of the war as Aide-de-Camp to General Casmir Pulaski. He fought at Egg Harbor on October 15, 1778, and under the command of General Lincoln they were instrumental in saving Charleston in February, 1779. Considered one of the heroes at the Battle of Savannah, he was wounded and yet it was him who carried the mortally wounded Pulaski from the field on October 9, 1779. Paroled by the British, he spent the rest of the war in Baltimore as a Recruiting Officer and it was then that he met and married Elizabeth Keeports in 1780. Colonel Bentalou retired on June 1, 1781, and settled in Baltimore commanding a company of Volunteer Cavalry in 1798. Bentalou was a successful shipping merchant and U.S. Marshall for the District of Maryland from 1817 until his death in 1826. He wrote a reply to Judge Johnson's Remarks on an article in the North American Review relating to Count Pulaski. Baltimore: J. D. Toy, 1826, because of derisive comments about the late general and a lesser known pamphlet concerning the slave trade effect on the shipping business in Baltimore. There is a street and an elementary school named after him in Baltimore. He died in Baltimore from a fall in a warehouse.
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