VERMONT, Eloi Lemereier Beausoleil (vair-mong), Marquis de, West Indian soldier, born in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, in 1762; died in Paris, France, 21 September, 1832. He became ensign in the Santo Domingo regiment in 1778, and served in the war of 1778-'83, being at the capture of Tobago and in the division of the Duke de Saint Simon at Yorktown in 1781. He was promoted colonel, commanded the French forces in Guadeloupe from 1788 till 1793, and repressed with the utmost severity the revolutionary troubles in the island. Being besieged in Pointe a Pitre by the insurgents, he sustained their attacks for several months, but when he fell short of ammunition the city was taken. Vermont and his principal officers were to be shot on the next day, when a British squadron appeared off the coast and the admiral demanded their surrender. After much discussion this was agreed to by the chief of the rebels, General Pelagaud ; but, as the feeling of the negroes ran extremely high against Vermont, extraordinary precautions were taken to prevent his murder. He was disguised and placed on board a boat entirely covered with black cloth, which was towed through the French fleet. Armed boats lined the way, and the sentries repeated the cry, "By order of the republic, let the covered boat pass." This dramatic episode has been selected as a subject by both English and French painters and poets. Vermont was transported to England, where lie rejoined the royal family. He returned to Guadeloupe in 1812, was promoted major-general and commander-in-chief of the island in 1815, lieutenant-general in 1826, and appointed governor of Guadeloupe in 1827, but declined, he died unmarried, and his enormous fortune was divided among his numerous heirs, thus scattering one of the largest estates in South and Central America.