MAISSIN, LOUIS EUGÈNE (1811-1851). Louis Eugène Maissin, naval officer, born in France in 1811, determined in early youth to spend his life at sea; he remained a naval officer throughout his adult life. He is chiefly remembered as the historian of the French expedition to Veracruz, Mexico, in 1838 and of Adm. Charles Baudin'sqv visit to Texas in May 1839. During this period Maissin was successively second aide-de-camp to the admiral, his chief of staff, and his first aide-de-camp, the last two offices being combined as one at the time of the visit to Texas. The book Maissin wrote closely mirrors Baudin's interpretation of the events of this expedition. It is in the form of a diary that the writer kept from December 26, 1838, to October 20, 1839, and is especially valuable for some colorful word portraits of the Mexican leaders, including Antonio López de Santa Anna, Mariano Arista,qqv and Guadalupe Victoria, with whom Maissin came into contact. The diary was originally published in Paris as an appendix to a large illustrated volume by Pharamond Blanchard and Adrien Dauzats, San Juan de Ulúa (1839). Maissin died in 1851.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Eugène Maissin, The French in Mexico and Texas, 1838-1839 (Salado, Texas: Anson Jones Press, 1961).
James L. Shepherd III
