NOUVEL, Gabriel Edouard, Chevalier de (noo-vel), French colonist, born in Bapaume in 1636; died in Fort Nelson, Canada, in November, 1694. He was a younger son of a master of the king's horse, and was destined for the priesthood, but ran away from college, and, joining a cousin in the service of the Company of Montreal, was furnished with the means of going to Canada in 1655. But Maisonneuve, the governor of Villemarie, who was a friend of his father, refused him employment, and he entered the service of the Company of the cent associes, and was sent to command the Hurons around Sault Sainte Marie. He learned their language, and repelled, with their aid, an invasion of Iroquois, whom he defeated at Sault Sainte Marie and pursued into their own country. The governor-general, Viscount d'Argenson, rewarded young Nouvel with the brevet of captain, and, informing the father of his son's valor, effected a reconciliation between them in 1660. During the following years Nouvel took a creditable part in a series of actions against the Iroquois, serving afterward in the expedition of De Courcelles, whose influence obtained for him in 1672 the appointment of adjutant-general at Montreal, which office he held for several years. Having received grants of land, he began a settlement and built a fort in 1675 where afterward Fort :Niagara was erected. But his colonization scheme proving unfortunate, he re-entered the service of the Company of New France, took part in the operations at Hudson bay, and fell at the head of a company in the first assault on Fort Nelson.