YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
IN THE
AMERICAN WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
(1776-1783)

From Yorktown's ruins, ranked and still,
Two lines stretch far o'er vale and hill:
Who curbs his steed at head of one ?
Hark ! the low murmur: Washington !
Who bends his keen approving glance
Where down the gorgeous line of France
Shine knightly star and plume of snow?
Thou too art victor, Rochambeau ! — Whittier.

GENERAL COUNT DE ROCHAMBEAU.
After the painting by Trumbull, in the picture of "The Surrender of Yorktown." This
portrait was posed for in 1787, in Paris, at the home of Jefferson, then Minister of the
United States to France.

Soldiers and Sailors of France
in the
American War for Independence
(1776-1783)

BY
CAPTAIN JOACHIM MERLANT
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF THE FACULTY OF LETTERS
UNIVERSITY 01 MONTPELLIER

AUTHORIZED EDITION

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY
MARY B!US.HNELL COLEMAN

"Without good faith, in politics as in morals, there is
no sure foundation, and he who ignores it is a blunderer."
— Count de Vergennes.

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1920

Copyright, 1920, by
THE CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE

NOTE

This volume in the original French publication was one in a series
entitled Bibliotheque France-Amerique, published by Alcan, Faris.

2S?

o

-\

¦**n*

TO
MONSIEUR J. J. JUSSERAND
AMBASSADOR OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED STATES
AS A TRIBUTE
OF RESPECT AND GRATITUDE
AND SOUVENIR
OF DAYS PASSED IN WASHINGTON
IN 1916 JOACHIM MERLANT

AUTHOR'S PREFACE
From January 6th to May 13th, 1916, in about fifty
American cities where I was welcomed by the Alliance
Francaise aux Etats-Unis et au Canada, from New York
to San Francisco, from Chicago to New Orleans, I felt
the heart-beat of a great nation. At that time the re
public of Washington had already begun to recognize
the fact that our cause was the same as its cause; its
work peaceful, ours hard and bloody: namely, to fill
the world with more compassion, justice, and dignity.
I have seen this country restless, tormented with the
thought of its present happy condition, while France
and her allies were suffering heroically. From sym
pathetic admiration among the most generous, who are
usually the most far-seeing, there were growing signs of
impatience, and a strong desire to come over and suffer
with us.
This is a book of truth and friendship; needless to say,
it lays no claim to erudition. I have simply had re
course to memoirs, campaign journals, and correspon
dence; and as often as possible to original documents.
For the diplomatic part I owe much to the voluminous
work of Henri Doniol : Histoire de la Participation de la
France a V Etablissement de VIndependance des Etats- Unis.
In a book of noble inspiration, With Americans of Past
and Present Days, by M. Jusserand, I have found some
hitherto unedited data; I have found some also in the
vivid descriptions of the Viscount de Noailles: Marins
et Soldats Frangais en Amerique.

viii AUTHOR'S PREFACE
At the mere mention of the name "United States,"
M. Alfred Rebelliau, of the Academie des Sciences Morales
et Politiques, curator of the Bibliotheque de VInstitut de
France, gave me all the privileges of these institutions.
To him as well as to M. Deherain, assistant curator,
nothing appeared too difficult when rendering me as
sistance in my various researches.
Joachim Merlant.
MoNTPELLIER, FRANCE,
December, 19 17.
Translator's Note. — Thanks are due Captain Bal-
densperger for his helpful criticism of the translation
and to Mr. Stephen A. Hurlbut for rendering the
French rhymes into English verse.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Author's Preface, Captain Joachim Merlant. . . vii
Introduction, Captain Fernand Baldensperger . xiii
CHAPTER
I. Why France Sympathized with America —
Opinion — Ministry  i
II. Franklin in Paris — The Equipment of La
Fayette's Ship — Events of the War in
1777 — Saratoga  18
III. Treaty of Commerce and Friendship —
Events of the Winter and Spring of
1778  38
IV. D'Estaing in America — Gerard, Minister
Plenipotentiary to Congress — Difficulty
and Importance of His Role — His Success 58
V. War in 1779  84
VI. Activity of La Fayette in France — Politi
cal Crisis in the United States — Wash
ington's Determination  96
VII. The Expeditionary Corps of Rochambeau —
The Defensive — Co-operation of the
French with the Americans  in
VIII. Winter Quarters — Chevalier de Chastel-
lux Makes a Tour — Campaign of War —
In the Carolinas — Expedition in the
Chesapeake — Embarrassment of the Po
litical Situation in Europe — Fidelity of
France  133
ix

: CONTENTS
HAPTER PAGE
IX. The Offensive— The March Upon Yorktown
— Campaign of La Fayette in Virginia —
Yorktown Attacked by Sea and Land —
Capitulation  150
X. The Army of Rochambeau After Yorktown
— The War Ceases — The Squadron of
Vaudreuil at Boston — Franco-American
Friendship  184
XL A Peace of Reconciliation — Conclusion . 199
Appendix  209

ILLUSTRATIONS
General Count de Rochambeau  Frontispiece FACING PAGE
Captain Joachim Merlant  xiii
The Marquis de Lafayette, Son-in-Law of the Duke
d'Ayen  22
Peace — AnAllegory  196

CAPTAIN JOACHIM MERLANT.

INTRODUCTION
When the war called him to the colors, early in
August, 1 914, Joachim Merlant, professor of French lit
erature at the University of Montpellier, a former pupil
of the Ecole Normale Superieure, was the author of
several valuable books dealing mainly with problems of
"interior life." Works like his doctor dissertation, Le
Roman personnel de Rousseau a Fromentin (1905), or
like a collection of essays on introspective moralists, De
Montaigne d Vauvenargues (1914), subtle studies of the
main apostles of intuition and of self-culture, had made
him, more of less, an intellectual inhabitant of the so-
called "Ivory Tower." Of a rather frail constitution,
moreover, Merlant seemed less fitted for action than
for contemplation, and even for a kind of reverie which,
aloof from daily interests, is more concerned with the
events of the inner individual than with external issues.
But here is the wonderful fact: this "intellectual,"
this devoted reader of Senancour and of many others
who, fokir-like, had taken a supreme interest in the
delicate shades of their interior life, found in the very
trend of his studies the best reason for an admirable
firmness of decision, simplicity of purpose, frankness of
attitude — all the virtues, in fact, which an easy short
sightedness often attributes to so-called "temperaments
of action." A devoted father, a man with strong relig
ious feelings, Merlant had, of course, other resources on
which to rely for his attitude of heroism and sacrifice.
xiii

xiv INTRODUCTION
But it must be pointed out that his very familiarity
with the intricacies of the self, his painstaking method
of analysis, his perception of the essentials of man as a
moral power, were the main support of his wonderful
bravery. How out of place it would be, considering
such an example of activity, to draw any strict line be
tween two fields where a man with a clear head and a
strong will, like this Frenchman, proved to be equally
at home !
After some months spent with a territorial regiment
in the south of France, "along the water-front," as
they humorously said, Merlant joined an active unit,
as an infantry officer, in the Argonne Forest of future
American renown. Optimistic, serene, an immense
moral force to his companions, he showed the best spirit
— a spirit which revives in the sketches he gave of those
days. Severely wounded in 191 5, he was decorated
with the Legion of Honor and mentioned in dispatches.
His recovery was never complete. And, being unable
to fight, he resolved to help with speech and written
word the cause to which he had already devoted so
much of himself.

Following an invitation from the "Alliance Francaise
in the United States and Canada," Merlant came, as
he said, for his "furlough of convalescence," to the
New World. From the 6th of January to the 12th of
May, 1 91 6, from Quebec to New Orleans and from Bos
ton to San Diego, he delivered seventy-nine lectures,
greeted everywhere as a perfect embodiment of those
virtues of sacrifice and enlightened devotion which he
traced and emphasized in French literature. He did
not comment upon the war, upon the present spirit of

INTRODUCTION xv
France: he mainly spoke of the past, of Corneille and
Balzac, of Lamennais and Vauvenargues and Vigny.
But he seemed to continue himself, in such a vivid man
ner, the great examples of a beautiful tradition, that
the underlying lesson was easy to follow: all those who
have, in those months of doubt and anguish, listened
to his words have testified to the deep impression they
left in every soul. Here was, really, a mind which
forced a disabled body and an enfeebled constitution
to obey and to carry on. At the same time, there was
so much distinction and delicacy in the literary and
orational performances of that man, fresh from the
front, that many of Merlant's hearers understood
through him that no coarseness and brutality was
attached, in the best fighters of France, to the frankest
adoption of a state of war. Columbia University was
ready to ask the Montpellier professor to make a longer
stay in its Romance Department. Unfortunately, the
death of his wife called him back to his family and
to his country. But here, too, he was too energetic
to rest or wait for other days to come. Out of his
thankfulness for hospitable America and of his new
interest in war affairs, he decided to inquire into the
Franco- American military co-operation of 1 778-1 783,
and to tell the story of Lafayette and Rochambeau
with a spirit refreshed by the events of the present
moment. * *
Merlant had felt that the real inspiration of the
Franco-American friendship had been in those days — as
it was to be in the Great War — something which tran
scended distinctly the mere material conditions, and
even political combinations, of the age. Of course an

xvi INTRODUCTION
element of "realism" was present in both cases, and
"interests" found to a certain extent their advantage
in the struggle. It was, nevertheless, a sort of national
"oversoul" which, in both cases, carried with it majori
ties of peoples who, otherwise, would have felt little
real concern for each other. A common belief in human
dignity and in progressive political emancipation brought
the French disciples of Montesquieu to the side of the
Insurgents. All the optimism of the eighteenth cen
tury lived again in the enthusiasm of those young noble
men who devoted their swords to a cause which needed
foreign help, if self-determination was not to disappear
early in the struggle. "Listening only to the words of
Justice and Humanity, France loved the nation who
dared to pledge herself to Sincerity, and France's old
honor came to shield the new citizens of the world." In
the same way, Merlant felt, the United States of 1917
discovered the necessity of a new reverence for some old
truths which had to be fought for in the Ancient World.
And so it is not only by a conflict of men, materials, or
political doctrines, but by a clash between ideals where
America and France, however apart, had found much
in common, that those two episodes of Franco-American
relations had been signalled.
Dedicated to the French Ambassador, J. J. Jusse-
rand, a pioneer in the same fields, the book which was
to be Merlant's last work appeared in the fall, 1918.
The author was, when he was writing it, struggling
with a smile against his impaired health; he had been
very active, at the same time, in the camps of southern
France, in the towns and villages, explaining war issues
and bringing closer together his American friends and
his French countrymen. One of his wishes had been
to see his book translated, and he was glad to know

INTRODUCTION xvii
that the work, now concluded so happily by Mrs.
Mary Bushnell Coleman, was being undertaken. He
would have been gratified to hear that his last effort
was to be made known to the American public.
Capitaine F. Baldensperger,
Professeur a la Sorbonne.
Columbia University,
June, 1919.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF
FRANCE IN THE AMERICAN
WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
(1776-1783) CHAPTER I
WHY FRANCE SYMPATHIZED WITH AMERICA — OPINION
— MINISTRY
On December ioth, 1776, Doctor Franklin, American
Commissioner to the Court of France, disembarked
in the Bay of Quiberon, whence through Auray he ar
rived at Nantes; an event which was anything but
pleasing to the English Ambassador. Imagination ran
riot; tongues began to wag faster than the swiftest
post could go. "The emissary from Congress was
still on the banks of the Loire," remarked Lord Stor-
mont in a sarcastic tone, "while many loudly proclaimed
they had already seen him in Paris." He reached there
on the 1 8th, and his friends, at the suggestion of Beau-
marchais, kept him for a while in seclusion.
The presence within the confines of this venerable
monarchy "of the wise and famous rebel" was para
doxical in the extreme. "What an astonishing spec
tacle," says the pamphleteer, "to see at the Court of
a monarch by divine right, a proud insurgent who tells
him that there is a contract between a sovereign and
his people, and when the sovereign breaks this contract,
he necessarily releases his people from their allegiance."

2 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
And Condorcet, some time afterward, recalled the
happy days when under the eyes of Benjamin Franklin
a people "contented with their yoke of ages, were drunk
with joy at the idea of breaking the chains of another
people in a different hemisphere."
Intoxicating really in its effect was this idea of Ameri
can liberty which had taken France by storm. The
Count de Segur, who ardently desired when he was
twenty years old to enroll himself as its defender,
recalled in his old age the reasons for this enthusiasm
which seemed to inspire all hearts alike. For more
than two centuries the youths of France were taught
in college to admire the Republicans of ancient cities
and dream of the fabulous days of liberty; and behold
this sleeping liberty now awakens in the American
forests, "to struggle gloriously against an ancient
domination." Washington, President Hancock, Jef
ferson, Franklin appear to be sages contemporary with
Plato, or Republicans of the days of Cato or Fabius;
Congress the living representation of the old Roman
Senate ; and so in this way the new philosophy attributes
magic to the influence of classic legend.
Into the mind is insinuated a love of democracy; that
is to say, of that state which in promoting man to the
dignity of citizen demands of him all the more courage,
vigilance, and power. Already influenced by the great
Geneva preacher, Jean Jacques Rousseau, emotional
souls are still exalted by the reading of those passages
from Raynal and Mably which develop the theme:
"Even though enlightened and beneficent, despotism
throws a nation into general lethargy." The best of
princes who does good, "but without the consent of
his subjects," is the most dangerous of masters; for
you can extricate yourself from a slavery into which

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 3
you have been thrown "by violence," but not from a
slavery into which you allow yourself to be led "by
time and justice."
Aristocracy hastened to admire this people animated
by an acute, uneasy sentiment of its responsibility;
who persisted in running the risks of liberty ; who would
have considered honor lost had it not been continually
alert in a civic way. In the Observateur Anglais was
published a prognostication of a philosopher of the
Gazette de Cleves, in which he said, in response to carica
tures circulated by the English about the soldiers of
liberty, "that their resistance would astonish our
petty souls, and that they would go far beyond all
brilliant deeds, which have heretofore been considered
great, in their defense of the rights and privileges nat
ural to man."
"History, after the manner of the Essai sur les Mosurs,
shows in our sad annals," said Segur, "so many civil
wars and inhuman massacres, so much persecution,
so many peoples oppressed by the Feudal system, and
the expulsion and spoliation of a million Frenchmen for
a cause of heresy being so recent, and of such revolt
ing absurdity, that the youths of today more favored
and liberal-minded look forward with eagerness to a
near future where 'reason, humanity and tolerance will
reign.'" There was also a wide-spread literature, prin
cipally from travelers and missionaries, who presented
to the French imagination an entrancing picture of
America, inhabited by good savages; a place of abun
dance, of salvation, where the sons of the old civilized
races could, without any difficulty whatever, return to
the primitive days of innocence and joy.
To his brothers still heavily chained to European
sorcery, Hector Saint John Crevecceur, the American

4 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Farmer, in the voice of a proselyte says: "What a deep
flow of energy and happiness must regenerate them as
soon as they plunge into the vast bosom 'of the great
alma mater.' No more unfruitful labor; consequently,
dark passions will no longer afflict and embitter men
who are oppressed; women and children will not have
to ask for their daily bread, but will now be well-fed
and strong, ready to aid the father to plow and enrich
the field; the harvest will be plentiful enough for all
without having to pay a heavy tax to a despotic prince,
a rich abbot, or a powerful noble."
Although fascinated with America, we still continued
in our admiration of long standing for the political status
of England. At first we were satisfied just to lend an
ear (and who did not listen ?) to the eloquent but vain
appeals of a Burke, or, a Lord Chatham, endeavoring
to bring Parliament and the English people to their
senses; but they seemed to be seized with a sort of
"vertigo." "America is almost in open rebellion,"
said Pitt. "I rejoice that America offers resistance.
Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of
liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would
have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest.
It is asked when were the colonies freed? I desire to
know when they became enslaved?" Thus spoke
this English statesman in a tragic meeting when he
was ill unto death. Behold now these great English
ideas of economic and political autonomy, with which
France for thirty years had been infatuated upon read
ing Montesquieu ! Behold old England wounded in
her pride as parent state of the colonies, and through
her "delirious conduct toward the Bostonians" giving
the lie to her philosophy ! France hears it still pro
claimed by the more foresighted Britons, who were

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 5
hoping by their supreme persuasive powers to hold back
their country tottering over "an abyss" !
To quote from Segur: "The gay, brilliant life of the
Court no longer attracts us; even when we think of
the dignity, independence, useful and important posi
tion of a Lord of England, of a member of the House
of Commons, and of the proud peaceful freedom of the
inhabitants of Great Britain, it does not satisfy our
amour-propre." And this is how it came to pass that
the principles of liberty crept into the hearts of the
French nobles, and in the unison of aristocratic and
civic honor both were exalted. The nobles of France,
weary of a monotonous life, wished to play a r6le, to
have a mission. It was this vague and powerful aspira
tion toward the strong moral qualities of liberty, under
the generous tutelage of the aristocracy, that brought
to the New World the young lords of the Queen's circle:
Segur, Noailles, the Dillons, La Fayette. They had
grown tired of "the gilded servitude" of the court.
Their new ideas were mingled with some very ancient
ones. These philosophers, these anglomaniacs, dreamed
of chivalry. All that there was of brilliant adventure,
disinterested idealism, in the heroes of old France, from
the time of the Crusades to the epics of Henry IV, and
even beyond, was glorified in novels and dramas. For
some it was only a fashion; they amused themselves
with a pretty appearance of secrecy, in order to create
orders of chivalry, which were no more than exclusive
social circles; they restored the ceremonial of the an
cient customs of chivalry: tournaments, oaths, and rib
bons; this, however, led to no consequence. But for
others, the ardent admirers of Voltaire, the chivalric
traditions still lived. As Segur says: "Like Paladins
we became philosophers . . . and this was according

6 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
to the authority of long usage, and through the remem
brance of our ancestors. When our Kings were at peace
their officers often sought war and adventure elsewhere,
and made brilliant records of bravery; sometimes in
the Spanish or Italian camps, other times fighting the
Saracens, again with the Austrian armies repulsing the
invasions of the Turks: in like manner we sought the
means of crossing the ocean, individually, and ranging
ourselves under the flag of American liberty. The
sword in the service of the ideal ! The example of
Pulaski, and that of Kosciusko, spoke eloquently. And
it happened quite simply that our youth, 'who first
declared themselves through a purely bellicose humor
the partisans and champions of liberty,' ended in as
good faith as they had begun, and fervently loved
this liberty."
But ideas alone do not move the world. It is cer
tain that France loved American liberty because it was
liberty; neither was she displeased that England did
not meet it with good grace. The more England strug
gled against it, the more our honor was interested in
winning for her maltreated sons that gift which she was
reluctant to surrender. Besides, England and France
did not love each other at that time. The humiliations
of the treaties of 1763 were insupportable to us. And
since 1713 the presence at Dunkerque of an English
commissioner, kept there at the expense of the King,
to prevent us from rebuilding our torn-down fortifica
tions, was a continual insult to our national dignity.
And the people were irritated against the Ministry for
not having remedied the matter. On the day of Saint
Louis (a fete day), in 1777, the Parisians tore down an
Elogium upon the Chancellor de 1'Hopital composed by

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 7
Guibert, and put up in its place the following resentful
lines: "Like that Roman ambassador who traced a
circle of sand around Antiochus, speaking these threat
ening words; 'You do not leave this circle until you
have answered me ! ' . . . every day they say to us :
'We shall punish you if you raise a stone upon this stone.'
Oh, L'H6pital! Oh, L'Hopital! thou wert magistrate
and philosopher, and thou wouldst have raised all the
forces of the Kingdom against such intolerable affront.
It is before thy Manes that I denounce these guilty
Ministers ! They call themselves pacifists, and they
are nothing but weaklings."
So much for the Ministry. And the partisans of a
national war found the public not worth any more than
the Ministry. They liked to agitate the question,
but they did not act upon it. The intrepid Du Couedic
told them so in verse:
"Well done, Insurgent rebels ye,
Winning your war for liberty !
Your ideas bring to birth
One more nation on the earth.
Firm, courageous, patient, bold,
Of lofty mien and noble mold,
And really free, the men for me !
And yet, be it said in confidence,
How could you offer such defense
And fight with such philosophy,
Unblessed by an Academy ?
But we, philosophers, alas !
Scarce bring our actions to the pass;
Our minds alone are full of life,
Our arms are useless in the strife.
With satisfaction we see in action
Our Piccinists and our Gluckists,
(Say nothing of the Economists)

8 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Who with pamphlets bravely fight,
With diatribes defend the right :
These brochures, we must confess,
111 console for your success."*
But if the truth were told, the nation really wanted
war. For two years mutual grievances between France
and England increased. It was occasioned by the con
tinual trading between our islands in the West Indies
and our Atlantic ports with the insurgents. Not only
did the English cruise on the open sea but approached
our coasts to intercept the commerce of our ships.
They even came under the very cannon of our forts.
For example: March 26th, 1776, Count d'Argoult, then
Governor of Martinique, complained that Captain
Keeler, commander of the English frigate The Lynx,
anchored at the mouth of the harbor of Saint- Pierre, and
caught a brigantine coming from the Carolinas freighted
with rice and honey just as she was about to cast an-
* "Bravo, Messieurs les Insurgents!
Vainqueurs dans une juste guerre,
Vous donnez par vos sentiments
Un peuple de plus a la terre.
Fermes, courageux, patients
Doues d'une franchise altiere,
Libres surtout ! voila mes gens.
Cependant, soit dit entre nous,
Avec tant de philosophie
Comment diable vous battez-vous
N'ayant pas une Academie ?
Nous qui pensons, a peine helas !
Conservons-nous quelque energie.
Nos esprits seuls font du fracas,
Nos armes sont en lethargic
Heureusement, on voit sur pieds,
Sans compter les Economistes,
Des Piccinistes, des Gluckistes,
Qui se battent par des pamphlets,
S'escarmouchent par des injures;
Et nos valeureuses brochures
Nous consolent de vos succes."

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 9
chor. There were stories continually told ; some tragic,
others amusing, like that of La Rosier e d'Artois, for in
stance, whose crew the English retained prisoners at
St. Augustine, Florida. The sailors were told they could
roam wherever they pleased; even go out of the town
if they liked; but the English had promised 120 pounds
to the Indians for each Frenchman's scalp. On January
24th, 1777, the Correspondance Secrete* gives this story,
which shows very clearly, if not the exact truth, our atti
tude toward the colonists and toward Great Britain:
"Two vessels, one English, the other Philadelphian, met
in sight of Port Royal, Martinique, and fought from
early morning until night. Then, the English ship
started for the port; its adversary followed. The
French commander of the place welcomed both cap
tains, and required them to keep the peace according
to the laws of the King of France, and invited them to
sup with him. The two vessels remained in port eight
days for repairs, the captains always eating and playing
cards together. On the ninth day, after supper the
Englishman said to the Philadelphian: 'Tomorrow,
put out to sea. . . .' 'I'll be there,' was the brief
response. But the combat never took place. The
English captain learned, upon returning to his ship, that
a great number of Frenchmen in the village were ar
ranging to go aboard the Philadelphia ship to give assis
tance. Before day-break the English decided to sail
away; the next morning they had disappeared."
There was a large party of traders and negotiators
who regarded the war as a fine business ; this party was
intimately connected with the Economists, men of ideas
* Correspondance Secrete inidite sur Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, la
Cour et la Ville, published from the manuscripts of the Imperial Librarv at
St. Petersburg by M. de Lescure, Paris, 1866.

10 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
whose influence was valuable. At the house of Madame
Helvetius, in Franklin's circle, a Le Ray de Chaumont
met Morellet, Mably, Raynal, Condorcet, De Gebelin,
Turgot, who undoubtedly did not desire the war; but
it was sufficient that he should want the freedom of the
seas, so that from their relations with him these men of
large business interests could derive advantage. In
November, 1776, a ship coming from Rhode Island,
carrying a cargo of 200,000 pounds of sugar and rice,
had brought to the merchants of Nantes a letter signed
by some members of Congress, "inviting the French
to trade regularly and unite in a common interest."
Thereupon, according to the memorandum of the
Nantes merchants who asked permission to do this, M.
de Sartine made them a verbal reply to the effect that
he would close his eyes to their negotiations, but could
not grant them any authorized relations with the in
surgents. Trade, however, was bolder than the govern
ment. The officials tried in vain to hold down trade
and public opinion; speculation spread, opinion was
freely expressed; everything was interpreted in the
sense of war. In January, 1777, "for fear we would
come to grief with our rivals, we spread the report that
the English had blocked Belle-Isle." The Correspon
dance Secrete noted a little later: "The American cause
has so many partisans and enthusiasts in Paris and our
maritime provinces, that if we abandon the insurgents
to the mercy of the English, there will be a terrible
fermentation in the heads of many Frenchmen." Why
then did Beaumarchais court the favor of M. de Ver
gennes by urging the friends of Doctor Franklin to keep
him well in the background (tenir sous clef) ?
The Count de Vergennes, Minister of Foreign Affairs,
was a man of surpassing ability, and one of the greatest

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE n
Ministers that ever served France. His constant care,
from 1774, date of the accession of Louis XVI, the
twenty-year-old King of France, was to make the mon
archy strong enough to stop "brigandage" in Europe,
and to restore a "magnanimous" political state founded
on the "sacred rights of justice and propriety." Was
the time ripe for this restoration? A thoughtful man
in charge of the government had reasons for hope and
doubt : the destiny of France depended upon the party.
In the point of view of a statesman and the King's
Minister, the Bostonians were regarded as rebels. The
American colonies had given an example to all the
colonies of the old countries of Europe of establishing
within their own boundary manufactures of all kinds;
of doing without their mother countries; of refusing
taxes when they had no votes; of objecting to draw upon
Europe for what they could obtain from their own soil,
so as to enrich her and ruin themselves. But there was
nothing in this movement that could frighten the eco
nomical liberalism of a Vergennes; however, politically,
through a spirit of monarchical solidarity, Vergennes had
to mistrust the insurgents: "There are moral as well as
physical ills in this condition of things; both can be
come contagious." In presence of "so terrible an ex
plosion" which was brought out by the spirit of inde
pendence in North America, the Minister was looking
"at the excesses that enthusiasm could encourage and
fanaticism operate."
And, besides, these colonists were English; the French
were idolizing American liberty; but Vergennes knew
(and we will have many occasions to prove it) that the
Americans had all the English prejudices against France.
It is dangerous to interfere in family affairs, and a wise
man hesitates to do so. To Vergennes this quarrel be
tween England and her rebellious sons looked like a

12 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
family affair, and he was not mistaken. If France,
therefore, should intervene, would it not lead, as if by
magic, to a reconciliation of the brother-enemies against
an old adversary "who was trying to increase the cool
ness between them" ?
Lieutenant-Colonel Kalb, German officer in the ser
vice of France, on a commission from Choiseul to Amer
ica, well said in 1768: "It would not be a sane policy
for any power whatsoever to meddle in this quarrel,
even at the requests of the Colonists (which is not prob
able) unless there were acts of hostilities between Amer
ica and Great Britain; unless the Colonists published
their independence everywhere; or united themselves
under a general federation, armed themselves, and in
vited, by a unanimous and public declaration, all na
tions to come into their ports and deal commercially
with them." No doubt since 1768 the irreparable had
already taken place. But Vergennes wished to be doubly
sure. An old monarchy upon the point of uniting itself
with a new government without any tradition must not
cede to a burst of enthusiasm, nor trust implicitly to
the future. And the principal scruple of Vergennes was
that the colonists, once they had gained their liberty,
might separate and the pledges of Congress come to
naught. He knew what a strong tendency there was
among the Americans for state independence.
On the other hand, there was fear of English aggres
sion. England armed and desperate at the loss of Amer
ica could avenge herself upon the French for her de
ception; her Ministers, responsible to the nation for a
political disaster, could be tempted ("in order to save
themselves from the scaffold") to offer a glorious diver
sion, for which France would have to defray the expenses.
Vergennes then prepared for war; he mobilized the army.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 13
He did not conclude that it was necessary at the time
to make any decided engagement with America. Why
not let England destroy herself ? His policy was very
circumspect; he assumed an attitude of expectancy.
Beaumarchais, the most stirring and active of the men
of affairs, whose post was at London, kept the French
Ministry continually harassed with his information.
On September 22d, 1775, he dared to write to the King:
"The Colonists will triumph over England. . . . The
end of the crisis will lead to a war with France. . . .
Our Ministry seems to have a stagnant, passive air in
regard to these events which so vitally concern us."
Vergennes let this red-hot enthusiast say what he
would, and then he calmly took his pen and wrote these
words: "All sleep is not lethargic." His manner of
suppressing these questions made them all the more
persistent. So thought Lord Stormont as he came each
week to notify the Minister of Foreign Affairs (who knew
well what, was transpiring) of the Boston ships ready to
leave our ports laden with guns and cannon from our
arsenals; or of the negotiations for supplies going on
between them and the French merchants. In August,
1775, nearly a year before the Declaration of Indepen
dence, Vergennes was about to decide to treat America
as a sovereign nation: "At the first hostile act of Eng
land, all her vessels at sea and in our ports were to be
seized with the exception of those belonging to North
America with cargoes to be sent there. And perhaps it
would be more convenient to make a reciprocal declara
tion, thereby making them equal to a free and inde
pendent people, so that they could be invited to come to
our respective ports, and be assured of the freedom and
advantages of our commerce."
About this time De Vergennes sent to America M. de

14 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Bonvouloir, a gentleman well versed in the affairs of
the colonies, with a mission to speak of France to the
Americans, as a friendly nation who admired "the gran
deur and nobility of their efforts," and would be glad
to have them frequent our ports. He also wanted to
reassure them upon the jealous point: "France has
no ambition for conquests; she has no desire to recover
Canada." Vergennes was very careful about this ques
tion; to reinstate the power of the King of France in
the immediate neighborhood of the Bostonians would
have awakened their uneasiness and stirred up their
antipathy to us. It would be much better to leave the
English there, so that the Americans, always feeling their
independence threatened, would turn instinctively to
ward France. He never changed his theory and line of
conduct, in spite of the suggestions of the dreamers of
conquest or the many expressions of public opinion.
M. de Bonvouloir, who passed for a merchant of Ant
werp, played his role well. He was welcomed by the
Committee of Secret Correspondence over which Frank
lin presided. And now we have the result of his visit.
On March 3d, 1776, a few days before the English,
under pressure of Washington's troops, had to evacuate
Boston, the committee gave instructions to an insurgent
of Connecticut by the name of Silas Deane to depart
as a delegate to France.
Deane received a courteous but cold reception, to
which he quietly submitted ; he remembered the recom
mendations of modesty which Franklin cautioned him
to have; he did not present himself as an emissary
of the colonies to the French Government; he allowed
Le Ray de Chaumont and le bon ami Barbeu-Dubourg
to regulate his conduct; he learned how to become a
"Frenchman of Paris." He only spoke of commerce

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 15
with the West Indies; upon everything else silence.
Deane managed, however, to transmit the message to
Vergennes that the monarchy could depend upon prom
ises made to it by Congress. But it was the Declara
tion of Independence more than the discreet eloquence
of Silas Deane and his "republican ingenuity " that
brought about the decision of the Minister.
Vergennes was apprised of this act August 17th,
1776, through a report of our Charg6 d'Affaires at Lon
don. We are not surprised that the diplomats, what
ever may have been their inward thoughts, read with
avidity the following great considerations of political
philosophy which gave to that fine exposition of Ameri
can grievances such a noble background: "We hold
these truths to be self evident; that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with
certain inalienable Rights; that among these are Life,
Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That to secure
these rights, governments are instituted among men,
deriving their just powers from the consent of the
governed; that whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to alter or abolish it." At these words public
opinion was swayed by admiration and hope ; naturally,
they did not sound well to the cabinets and courts
of Europe. Vergennes took note of but one thing: "it
had been pronounced solemnly between two armies and
before a formidable fleet." Where, then, was "that
immediate submission that the English expected as
the instantaneous effect of their threats"? Was there
something unconquerable in this new nation? Was it
true, then, that England had pushed them to despera
tion? And when before the Assembly of Virginia, at
Richmond, March 20th, 1775, Patrick Henry spoke these

16 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
words: "In vain after these things may we indulge
the fond hope of reconciliation. There is no longer
any room for hope. We must fight. There is a just
God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who
will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. ..."
This courageous speech, full of divine inspiration, was
not just the appeal of one hero, but the cry of the soul
of the whole American nation.
Vergennes now declares himself. His decision was
resumed in his famous M4moire read to the King before
a meeting of the King's Cabinet on August 31st, 1775:
"Adhering to the principles of the King whose cherished
wish is to found the glory of his reign upon justice and
peace, it is certain that if His Majesty should seize this
unique opportunity, which perhaps will never recur
again in centuries, he would succeed in giving a blow to
England that would be strong enough to make her with
draw her power into just bounds, and control the peace
of nations for many years to come; he would have the
glory, so near to his heart, of being, not only the bene
factor of his people, but of all mankind." And here
follow words of warning: "Shall we leave our Isl
ands exposed to the discretion of the English, who
will be in a position to take possession of them when
despair will force them to abandon the continent of
America? . . . This would be placing ourselves before
the Kingdom and the entire world as betrayers of our
national interests." Henceforth we will see that Ameri
can independence is found to be closely allied to the
great design of a French Restoration.
But August 27th, 1776, the American army suffered
great reverses at Long Island. Soon after, New York
was evacuated. Not by any means in despair, how
ever, at their change of fortune, the Committee of

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 17
Secret Correspondence appointed commissioners on Sep
tember 26th to go to the court of France: Silas
Deane, who was already there ; Arthur Lee, then in Lon
don, and Benjamin Franklin. But again the French
Ministry fell back in an attitude of scrupulous precau
tion. Beaumarchais could repress himself no longer.
"Poor France," he said, "a thousand years will not give
back to thee the one moment that thou hast lost!"
On October 28th the Americans were again defeated
at Chatterton's Hill.* But on the 27th Franklin had
already sailed on the sloop of war Reprisal. This cour
ageous old man had left in Paris, in his sojourn there in
1 767-1 769, the remembrance of a great mind and of a
charming Epicurean. His book The Science of Good
man Richard was full of deep and artful thoughts. His
friend Barbeu-Dubourg edited, in an elegant quarto
binding, a choice selection of the works of this illustrious
insurgent. This Phocion, notwithstanding the personal
risk that he ran, permitted his ship en route to take two
prizes. What a contrast to the timidity of the Min
istry ! Vergennes had to tell Doctor Franklin that on
account of our treaty of navigation with England we
could not authorize the sale of these vessels, and that
they would have to be taken to a port of his own nation.
Upon hearing this, all doors were open to him — at
least they were half open.

X Coh ,te. P/<a. •„ * t fj.y.

CHAPTER II
FRANKLIN IN PARIS — THE EQUIPMENT OF LA FAYETTE'S
SHIP — EVENTS OF THE WAR IN 1777 — SARATOGA
Franklin was very wise; he did not announce himself
as an ambassador, but "as a philosopher," according to
the author of English and American Anecdotes. "Dis
tressed at the troubles in his own country, and turning
his eyes from so many objects of desolation, he came to
make a peaceful sojourn in France." He stayed at
Passy with his friend Le Ray de Chaumont, merchant
and philosopher — "at the gates of Paris, on the road to
Versailles." "In this retreat he saw very few people and was on
his guard. It was whispered abroad that the enmity
of the English Ministers could make it very dangerous
for him." This idea alone rendered his cause most inter
esting. And now for his physical appearance : "Every
thing about him announced the simplicity and innocence
of old fashioned manners. He had taken off the bor
rowed wig which covered his bare head and forehead
while in England. He showed to the astonished multi
tude a head worthy of the brush of a Guido, set upon
a body erect and vigorous, covered with the plainest
clothes; his eyes were shaded with large spectacles, and
in his hand he carried a white stick." He seldom spoke;
he could be impolite without rudeness; his pride seemed
natural. Such a person was made to excite the curiosity
of the Parisians who crowded around him. They would
ask: "Who is this old peasant with such a noble air?"
18

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 19
Three months after his arrival his portrait was every
where; even upon canes and snuff-boxes, with this
inscription by Turgot : Eripuit ccelo fulmen, sceptrumque
tyrannis. Franklin's discretion and his pretended lack of in
terest proved to be infinitely useful. The Correspon
dance Secrete knew the value of it: "Although Doctor
Franklin may say that he no longer pays attention to
American affairs, nevertheless, as an honest citizen of
his country, he cannot help, through respect for the
truth, but make the following statement: 'In regard to
the recent important victory, about which the Court
of England is making such a stir, saying that "the Army
of Washington was forced to leave its intrenchments,
and all the posts and forts destroyed" . . . the real
facts are that the American General wished to draw
the English Army one hundred leagues farther inland,
so as to finish the destruction of it without striking a
blow; for it was already decimated by all kinds of sick
ness and lack of food ; that it did not cost Washington
one hundred men to execute the abandonment of the
intrenchments; that they did not leave a sack of grain
or food of any kind ; all of which proves that the Ameri
cans were not forced to do this. ' " Thus Franklin com
mented on the fine retreat of the Americans at Trenton,
Princeton, and all that campaign where, on each side
of the Delaware, Washington, while retreating, sought
for, and often succeeded in gaining, the mastery. Every
time they spoke to the doctor about some repulse the
insurgents suffered, he would say: "That is all right;
the English will be caught in the end."
Franklin's moderation, the modesty of his demands,
awakened distrust in the mind of Vergennes. He
proposed, after all, only the signing of a pledge, or

20 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
rather of a treaty of commerce and friendship, that the
Assembly of the colonies offered to France first, because
of the consideration that this power had shown to their
ships. The English had given the doctor the reputa
tion of being a Machiavelli, and Lord Stormont was
careful to see that this idea was circulated at the court
of Versailles; it might have been that Vergennes allowed
himself to be influenced somewhat by these reports.
But he was much relieved — almost reassured — when
the American Commissioners, January 5th, 1777, made
so bold as to ask for ships, bayonets, and immediate
aid of an army that would make a strong diversion;
otherwise, forced by a harassing course of conduct on
the part of the English, the Americans would be obliged
to make a settlement with the mother country.
Vergennes did not go so far as that; he refused; but
he softened the refusal with 2,000,000 (livres) francs.
Franklin knew how to play his part admirably; faith
ful to his discipline in regard to older powers, "while
preserving the dignity of character of a young nation,
he accommodated himself to the temperament of the
others." In his words of gratitude, in a dignified, clever
way, he praised the royal magnanimity, and begged his
Majesty to believe that America was far from desiring
to lead him into taking measures that his sovereign
wisdom and justice would disapprove.
Franklin knew that munitions were passed over the
seas continually; while the King, to all appearances,
seemed not to interfere. The orders from the arsenals
were often suspended; they had to take into account
the humor of Lord Stormont. Artillery was put on
board a ship at Havre; they had to take if off at Lorient;
but they took it off on the starboard side and put it
back on the larboard; and the Amphitrite arrived just

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 21
the same in Boston harbor. In March, 1777, ten vessels
of the firm of Hortales & Co.— in reality Beaumar-
chais — sailed toward America. On one of them was
the Chevalier du Coudray, several other officers of ar
tillery, and materials of war. This was the Amphitrite.
Another ship, which dared to bear the name of Count de
Vergennes, had on board a military engineer, the future
architect of Washington, the federal city, Lieutenant,
later, Major L'Enfant. Now engineers and artillery
men were the specialists of which America stood most
in need; "they had courage enough, but lacked science."
The choice was difficult to make, for all kinds of ad
venturers and malcontents "began to frequent the
public places in Paris and the ports, and spent their
time bragging and beseeching to be employed." In the
cafes they would speak openly of having their passports
in their pockets; from time to time a police agent
would go around and tell them to keep quiet. They
besieged Deane, "who was tired to death with their
petitions." After a treaty had been duly signed with
Deane, La Seine, which had on board Colonel Kalb
and the Viscount de Mauroy as major-generals, the
Sennevilles, Chevalier du Buyssons, Du Bois-Martin,
and Amaryton as majors — and a dozen other fine offi
cers — received orders not to sail just as it was about to
leave the port of Havre, in December, 1776. Several
of these officers, in March, 1777, succeeded in escaping
to the Victoire, the famous ship that was fitted out by
the Marquis de La Fayette, which finally took them to
the other side of the ocean.
The Marquis de La Fayette, son-in-law of the Duke
d'Ayen, had barely returned from a trip to London
when he equipped a small frigate at his own expense,

22 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
and set sail from Port Royan with some young men of
his age. "The desire to visit our Colonies (French)
and learn a little of the art of navigation are reasons
enough that he left a charming wife and a family that
adored him; but without these it might be necessary to
ascribe other views to him." These were the guarded
terms used by the humorous correspondent in Paris of
the Courier de VEurope, when he told the story that
caused so much gossip at the court and in the city.
Not the least discontented of the family was M. de
Noailles, our Ambassador at London. The marquis
had played quite a nice little trick on his uncle: " I must
say," wrote the uncle to Vergennes, "that if he had not
taken it into his head to come to London to prolong his
carnival, I would not now be in this awkward position
of having presented him to the King of England just
before he proceeded to carry out this very strange esca
pade. But I do not doubt that His Majesty knows the
profound respect I bear him, and will render to me the
justice that I crave." M. de Noailles was at a loss what
to say later when Lord Suffolk, on April nth, quietly
made the remark to him "that the winds had been
very favorable, for some days, for the English transports
going to America."
His Britannic Majesty had his brother much to blame
for this "escapade" of the marquis, for the Duke of
Gloucester, at a dinner given him by the Count de
Broglie, at Metz, in August, 1775, had taken sides a
little too ardently with the insurgents. La Fayette
was there and heard all he said on the subject; he was
eighteen years old and was deeply moved ; and while to
all appearances he remained cool and indifferent, his
heart was on fire. As an act of heroism this descendant
of an old family of Auvergne would have to do an un-

LE MAR. QUIS IIEI ,A FAYETTE

;#^~j^» *j»j*«a**J^>^^

THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE, SON-IN-LAW OF THE DUKE D'AYEN.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 23
usually brave deed, for dating from his ancestor Jean
Motier de La Fayette, the glorious marshal, killed at
the battle of Poitiers, he counted among his sires "so
many killed from father to son on the. field of battle, that
it became an old saying in the province." As colonel
of the grenadiers of France at twenty-five, his father
was killed "at the bloody little victory of Hastembeck"
the day he was born, September 6th, 1757, on the con
fines of Velay and Gevaudan. "As a child," he said,
"the hope of meeting the beast of Gevaudan enlivened
many of my promenades." At twenty the marquis
wished to kill the hydra of despotism.
How he fled with Colonel Kalb, an older and more
experienced man; with what emotion his father-in-
law heard it; how upon the eve of sailing a lettre de
cachet reached him ordering as a remedy for his taste
for adventure a trip to Itaiy; and the scruples he had
to overcome when he feigned submission, and finally
other ideas which soon obtained the mastery and kept
him from missing the call of liberty; how his father-in-
law was noisily angry, while the court applauded his
generous folly; and how the marquis, in order to make
conventionality and the impulse of his heart agree, per
suaded himself that the order for him not to depart was
but a form of diplomacy; how the formal disavowal of
the Ministry, feebly sustained by the other officials of
the King, ended at last in silent approbation — all this
one reads or divines in his Memoires.
Meanwhile, on the 20th of April, the Victoire turned
straight in the direction of America, and he wrote
this consoling letter to his wife while at sea: "Defender
of that liberty which I adore, more liberal in my own
opinions than anyone else [of what is he thinking?] in
going to offer my services to this interesting republic,

24 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
I only carry with me frankness and good-will. . . .
I hope for my sake that you will become a good Ameri
can; it is a sentiment worthy of virtuous hearts. The
happiness of America is bound to that of all humanity.
It is going to become the respectable, safe asylum of vir
tue, tolerance, equality, and peaceful liberty." Franklin
admired La Fayette, but he was not insensible to the
tears of the marquise; he assured Congress "that the
considerate attention and respect paid to La Fayette
would give pleasure not only to his powerful relatives at
the Court, but to the whole French Nation"; and then
he added: "He has left a very pretty young wife, and
out of consideration for her, we hope that his courage
and ardent desire to distinguish himself will be somewhat
restrained by the discretion of the General, so that he
will not be allowed to run into too much danger."
The Victoire cast anchor June 15th, 1777, before
Georgetown, South Carolina. In spite of their letters
and regulations {capitulations) signed by Deane, the
President of Congress did not receive them. An in
terpreter met them in the street and made them the
following discouraging speech: "Gentlemen, we charged
Mr. Deane to send us four engineers. Instead of that,
he has sent us Mr. du Coudray, who brought with him
some so-called engineers, but they do not know anything
about it; and artillerymen who have never served. . . .
The Frenchmen have come without our asking them.
Last year, it is true we needed officers; but this year
we have many, and some of them very experienced
ones." It was quite evident that the interpreter thought
he had before him some of those troublesome French
officers whom the governors of our colonies had been
in the habit of recommending to the Americans when

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 25
they themselves wanted to be rid of them. Du Coudray
was ill qualified and an intriguer; he claimed that they
were to remove General Knox, commander of artillery,
and put him in his place. Soon after he lost his life by
drowning, and La Fayette, under the guise of a eulogy,
gave you to infer that the loss of this blunderer (broui-
llon) was a happy accident.
Many of these Frenchmen were dismissed with thanks.
Kalb only received his commission at the end of a year;
La Fayette's services were accepted "on account of
his illustrious family and connections." His commis
sion, however, as major-general was purely honorary
at first; Washington, who had urged Franklin to deter
the French officers from coming to America, did not
know, for a while, exactly what to do with him.
At this time the commander-in-chief of the American
army was having untold difficulties in the reorganization
and maintenance of a military force; any one else
would have deemed it hopeless. In the beginning of the
war the soldiers had been enlisted, not by a central
government which did not then exist, but by the respec
tive governments of each colony for a certain length of
time and for a limited object. It was a contract in
which each individual considered himself an interested
party. When, in 1775, they presented to the militia
rules prescribed by Congress for the Continental army,
many refused to subscribe to them. "They had left
their fire-sides," said Jared Sparks, "to fight for liberty,
and they desired, first of all, to procure it for them
selves." These local considerations formed a consider
able disturbance. It was necessary to see that each
colony had its just proportion of officers, according to
the number of men it had to furnish. This discontent
ment and the intrigues of the officers, and the exacting

26 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
disposition and undisciplined habits of the soldiers,
caused no end of embarrassment.
After the repulse on Long Island, August 27th, 1776,
Washington gave this report: "The militia, desperate,
unmanageable, impatient, have returned to their homes;
they have deserted by whole regiments." They were
reduced to offering to these precarious contingents
prizes which they had to increase in value continually;
and the inequality of these advantages caused "grum
bling and jealousy." Washington only rendered him
self justice when, on December 20th, he recalled to Con
gress that he had "always endeavored to suppress the
sentiment of locality, and the distinction of regions, —
giving to all the glorious name of Americans." He
spoke of national honor, of civic virtue, of deliverance
for all, to men who were little accustomed to looking
beyond their own fields. Washington was the most
zealous of the noble-minded men who from that time
forth were conceiving American nationality. If the
indomitable idea of a common country had not existed
in the hearts of a chosen few, who persisted in trans
forming it into an act, America would never have existed.
It is necessary to have men of superior intelligence and
will-power to direct popular activity into the accomplish
ment of great designs which exact tenacity of purpose
and heroic patience in making sacrifices.
The day when La Fayette was presented to Washing
ton, at a dinner-party in Philadelphia, where there
were several members of Congress present, the general
was very much troubled. He felt too weak to give
battle to Sir William Howe; during the month of June
he had manoeuvred successfully to avoid a general
engagement. The English had evacuated the Jerseys;
but Washington knew that Burgoyne, with a strong

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 27
army, was approaching Fort Ticonderoga, at the south
ern end of Lake Champlain, which touched Canada on
the north. On July ist the position was taken by the
English. If they became masters of the course of the
Hudson, and the communication with Canada, their
main object would be attained: the colonies of the East
would be separated from those of the South. The
movements of the English fleet were such that it was
impossible to know whether they would decide to go
up the Hudson in order to act in concert with Burgoyne,
or whether they would aid the designs upon Philadelphia
by Sir William Howe. If the latter case, then the fleet
was to be seen off the Delaware Capes. Washington
had left the army at Germantown, and had just come to
pass a few days with Congress.
"It was at this moment," says Balch, "that his heart
was plunged into the deepest despair; and, according
to his own words, ' La Fayette came to dispel his sombre
thoughts, as the dawn dispels the darkness of night.' "
It is very probable that the marquis pleased him at
once. An intuitive sympathy sprang up immediately
between these two men so different in race, condition,
and age. But needless to say that the first combat
had to take place before Washington could judge the
value of this young enthusiast and the quality of his
courage. On September nth the unfortunate encounter at
the Brandywine occurred. In a letter to the Duke
d'Ayen, La Fayette notes the event as follows: "It
was learned that the English were at the mouth of the
Elk River. General Washington went forward to meet
them, and determined to await their coming on the
heights above Brandywine Creek. On September 1 ith,

28 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
the English came to attack us, and while they were enter
taining us with their cannon and much movement in
front, the larger number of their troops made a detour
in order to pass a ford four miles to our right. The
General detached his whole right wing so as to meet
them there." As the marquis was writing to his father-
in-law, who would show the letter to the marquise, he
did not disclose here an action on his part which would
have shown him too prompt to expose himself to danger;
happily for us, the Memoires, which he wrote in later
years, are not so discreet. His place was near Wash
ington, but since the hardest fighting was to be at the
right, he asked and obtained permission to go there.
We should be thankful to Washington for not being as
careful as Franklin would have him for the safety of
La Fayette. When the right wing had reached the ford
the enemy had passed over it; then it became necessary
to fight in the open plain. According to the Memoires
of Chastellux, "The enemy's left advanced, with as
much order as swiftness and courage. (La Fayette
took decidedly too small a part.) The Americans kept
up a rapid firing, but the English came straight on;
it was not until they were within twenty paces of them,
however, that the Americans gave way and rushed to
the woods. It was there that La Fayette was wounded
in the left leg while he was engaged in trying to rally
the troops that were beginning to disperse." A lucky
wound, for it thereby created so much envy in France
that it decided the vocation of more than one French
man. The Moravian Brothers of Bethlehem gave him
excellent care.
On the evening of September 22d Congress left
Philadelphia. The American army retreated in great
disorder through a blinding storm of rain. General

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 29
Howe took possession of the city; then established his
army near Germantown. Washington attacked him
there on the 4th of October. Meanwhile the marquis
writes pretty letters to his wife; he taught her to sustain
the morals of France against malicious tongues that
would predict worse things from this defeat of the
Americans. "They will say to you: 'Philadelphia is
taken, the Capital of America, the bulwark of liberty.'
You must answer politely: 'Oh, it is only a poor little
town, exposed on all sides, noted because the Congress
was held there; it will soon be taken back again.'"
In the same spirit Franklin said to the Parisians: "The
English have taken Philadelphia ? I think it is just the
other way, Philadelphia has taken the English." By
this same letter to his wife, we can see that La Fayette
has won the heart of Washington, when he adds: "We
live like two brothers — closely united in intimacy and
mutual confidences."
If La Fayette was not at Germantown, the Chevalier
Duplessis-Mauduit was there; and Chastellux, who
made a pilgrimage to all these sacred places, relates with
what daring and gallantry he behaved: "The American
troops advanced up to the English camp; then, they
passed through it under the command of General Sul
livan, without one soldier stopping to pillage; and
finally, they entered Germantown. Washington at the
head of his reserves, had started up the principal street,
when a volley of musketry came from a large mansion
which was within easy gun-range of the street; this made
the advance guard come to a sudden halt. Cannon
was necessary; unluckily they had only six pounders.
Chevalier Duplessis-Mauduit had two pieces placed
near another house, a few hundred yards from the first
one. This cannon had little or no effect ; it pierced the

30 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
walls but did not bring down the house. The Chevalier
then decided to attack this house, that could not be
destroyed by cannon, at closer range. He proposed to
Colonel Lawrens to take with him some trustworthy
men, and go to a barn near by where he would find a
pile of straw, and he was to have that taken to the
door of the mansion and set it on fire. . . . De Mau-
duit, supposing, of course, that they were following him
with all the straw in the barn, went to a window on the
ground floor, broke it and entered a room. He was
received a little like the lover who mounted a ladder to
see his mistress, and found her husband waiting for him
on the balcony. I do not know if they asked him, also,
what he was doing there, and he innocently answered:
'Oh, I am just taking a walk'; but what I do know is
that while a gallant soldier with a pistol in his hand
was ordering Mauduit to surrender, another less gallant,
entered the room brusquely and fired off his gun, and
it struck, not De Mauduit, but the man who wanted
to take him prisoner. After these slight mistakes in
this little skirmish, De Mauduit was embarrassed about
retiring from the scene. On one side of the house he
would have to expose himself to a murderous fire from
the first and second story windows; on the other side,
was a part of the American Army, and he would be liable
to be ridiculed if he ran back. De Mauduit, like a
true Frenchman, preferred to expose himself to death
rather than to ridicule; the bullets, however, respected
our prejudices, and he returned safe and sound; while
Lawrens, who was in no greater hurry, escaped with a
slight wound in his shoulder."
This Mauduit was a droll fellow. Segur relates:
"In his youth he had a dispute, and made the bet of
a crown (ecu) upon the true position of the Athenian

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 31
Army, and that of the Persians, in the Battle of Plataea.
As he was both poor and stubborn, and wished to verify
the fact without too heavy expense, he undertook and
accomplished a trip on foot to Greece." This was
the kind of man to go alone into the night to reconnoiter,
and take the stockades and the enemy trenches. He
carried to excess his love of liberty and equality; he
would become angry when they called him "Monsieur,"
and wished to be known simply as Thomas Duplessis-
Mauduit. We will return to him later.
The battle of Germantown was a serious defeat for
the Americans: 1,000 men killed, wounded, or dispersed;
General Nash, of South Carolina, mortally wounded; a
most unfortunate and bloody day. But the country
was reassured by this demonstration of the ardor of the
troops "and of the energy and confidence of the com
mander which never wavered." The Count de Ver
gennes, the day he received the American Commissioners
to talk about a treaty of alliance, declared "that nothing
was more impressive to him, than to see General Wash
ington attack the army of General Howe, and give him
battle; and that to have accomplished so much with an
army, raised within the year, promised everything for
the future." Chastellux notes "that the English army
found itself in peculiar position; it had bought and
maintained the possession of Philadelphia at the price
of two hard fought battles; but it remained enclosed
between the Schuylkill and the Delaware Rivers, with
the army of Washington holding it in abeyance in front,
and behind it were several forts occupied by Americans,
which blocked its passage to the Delaware in this direc
tion." But it was far from there, on the banks of the upper
Hudson, in a country desolate and almost impossible

32 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
of access, cut with deep ravines and covered with thick
woods, that now occurs the great and brilliant event
which alone, in the judgment of public opinion, decided
the situation of the royal government. Gates, the
American general, had chosen his position well upon
the highlands called Bemis Heights. Burgoyne tried
in vain to take his intrenchments. The militia of New
Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts, under the
command of General Stark, overcame the Germans
under Riedesel. In vain Burgoyne, on October 2d,
without news of Clinton, tried to turn the American
left by his advance-guard. Arnold and Lincoln raised
the enemy trenches; Chastellux saw the place where
Arnold "jumped the intrenchment on horseback. This
was a kind of parapet made with the trunks of trees
piled upon one another. It was a fierce combat; as
the pine-trees torn by the bullets and cannon bear wit
ness." On the 17th of October Burgoyne surrendered
at Saratoga; he had no bread. Gates had already taken
two thousand prisoners. Six thousand men were dis
armed. This troop of gilt-trimmed uniforms defiled
before Gates and his officers who were clad in gray, and
crossed the rebel country to go and take up their winter
quarters at Boston. Gates, undisciplined soldier that
he was, rendered an account of his victory, not to
the commander-in-chief, but to Congress. "If our cause
triumphs," said Washington, "it matters not to me
where or how we gain it."
While this glorious news is carried to the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs in France, arriving there on the
5th of December, 1777, let us remain with the combat
ants. It was upon October 22d that occurred the
heroic defense of Red Bank upon the Delaware by

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 33
Duplessis-Mauduit. He took Chastellux to, see the
place in December, 1780. There, still, within a short
distance of the guns of the fort, lived a Quaker a little
inclined to Toryism; Mauduit had been obliged "to
tear down his barn and cut his fruit trees." He flattered
himself, however, that he would be made welcome on
account of La Fayette. The Quaker, seated near the
fire cleaning some herbs, never deigned to raise his eyes
to his visitors; neither compliments nor jokes persuaded
him to talk. Mauduit consoled himself by telling
Chastellux how, with 300 men and 14 pieces of cannon,
he had held 2,500 Hessians at bay. First, he had to
reduce the earth-works, which the Americans, with but
little knowledge in the art of making fortifications, had
extended too far. The Hessians summoned him to
surrender, warning him at the same time that if he
persisted in fighting, that there would be no quarter
given either to him or his men; Mauduit refused, willing
to take the consequences. "When the enemy troops
reached the abatis, where they had to tear away and
cut the branches, they were welcomed by a hail of bul
lets which caught them on the front and sides." There
chanced to be a part of the old wall of intrenchment
that had escaped destruction, and it formed a salient
where it was cut off; Mauduit had the idea of using this
for a shelter, and he put a number of men in it, who fired
at the left flank of the enemy at close range. :< The offi
cers were seen to rally their soldiers, return to the abatis,
and fall into the midst of the branches and underbrush
which they were forced to cut away. Colonel Donop
could be distinguished by his fine face and courage, and
the order he wore; he was seen to fall with the rest."
Finally, the Hessians stopped fighting and "fled to the
woods in disorder." Mauduit made a sortie, with a

34 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
detachment of troops, to reconstruct the fortifications;
it was then that he saw, "as well as the darkness of
the night would permit," first, twenty Hessians "stand
ing on the berme (a narrow place between a parapet and
a ditch) clinging to the talus or slope of the parapet,"
who had had the courage to go this far, but dared not
retreat; then, he came upon "the deplorable spectacle
of the dead and dying heaped upon one another." From
this death pile came a voice and it spoke in English:
"Whoever you are drag me out of this." It was Colonel
Donop, and his hip was broken. "Very well," muttered
the Americans, "is it decided that there will be no quar
ter?" "I am in your hands, you can take your re
venge," answered the colonel. De Mauduit did not
have much trouble in imposing silence on his men, and
concerned himself only with the care of the wounded
man, who, perceiving that he did not speak English well,
said: "Sir, you seem to be a stranger, who are you?"
"A French officer," replied De Mauduit. "Then I am
satisfied," answered Donop, "for I am dying in the
arms of honor itself." Mauduit conducted, in person,
fifteen wounded officers to Philadelphia, where they
were well received by General Howe. The news of
the battle of Saratoga had just reached them. "Speak
frankly," said the English officers, "you who are a
Frenchman, is it possible?" "I know that it is true,"
responded Mauduit, "you can explain it as you like."
One month afterward, on November 26th, La Fayette,
who had not waited to be cured of his wound before
rejoining the army, reported to Washington his little
"success" of the evening before at Gloucester. The
forts of the Delaware, in spite of the splendid defense
of Mauduit and another Frenchman, Colonel Fleury
of the regiment of Rouergue, had to be evacuated.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 35
Lord Cornwallis with 5,000 men had passed into the
Jerseys, held by as many Americans under General
Greene. La Fayette, who could not remain inactive,
after having passed part of the day watching the enemy,
at nightfall decided to take a little "ride" (se promener)
on the road to Gloucester. He started out with "ten
cavalrymen, about one hundred and fifty riflemen under
Colonel Butler, and two piquets of militia commanded
by Colonels Hite and Ellis: all told there were hardly
three hundred men."
We find La Fayette in good company, for he had with
him Mauduit, Gimat, Colonel Lamoy, and Colonel
Armand. The latter was the famous Marquis de la
Rouerie, who had taken the name of Armand after
his duel with the Count de Dreux-Breze, that had
cost him his rank in the French Guards. Since May
10th, 1777, Congress had conferred upon him the rank
of colonel, with the commission to raise a force of 200
French sympathizers. Chastellux met him later, at
Monticello, Jefferson's home, with his wolf — a young
wolf with glossy fur, almost black, and as gentle and
playful as a puppy — which he amused himself training,
and which even had the privilege of sleeping in bed
with him ; then there was Chateaubriand, who rivalled
Lauzun in conquests and unfortunate love-affairs, and
More de Pontgibaud, whp asserted that he would join
the Trappists because of his despair at his non-success in
winning the heart of Mile, de Beaumont of the Opera.
About two and a half miles from Gloucester, the
marquis, with his goodly company of French compan
ions and his American escort, suddenly ran into a troop
of 350 Hessians with cannon. The marquis and his
company attacked them so vigorously that they were
forced to retreat, in spite of being reinforced by the

36 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
English who came up and joined in the fight. Result:
twenty of the enemy killed or wounded and fourteen
taken prisoners. A small engagement of not much im
portance, but La Fayette had never seen men "as
gay and eager to get at the enemy, no matter what his
strength, as were our soldiers in this little clash of arms."
The American militia was much pleased with this ex
ploit. Upon the same day that the report of the marquis
about the skirmish was received, Washington requested
Congress to give him the command of a division, and
immediately La Fayette was made commander of the
division of the Continental army, "which had been
previously commanded by General Stephen, who had
been dismissed. ..." The campaign was ended and
the British plan had failed: the colonies of the East
remained in communication with those of the South,
while Burgoyne's army was imprisoned and maintained
at the expense of the republic. And now we find
Clinton calmly holding the garrison at New York,
and General Howe paying court to the belles of Phila
delphia, while the American army, with its forces much
weakened, nearly naked, living in huts made of branches
of trees, its only shelter against the cold, hard winter
of Pennsylvania, was trying to re-form, recruit, and find
clothing. The misery that was endured in the camp at
Valley Forge can never be forgotten. The soldiers,
unshod, left bloody traces in the snow, and barely
escaped dying of hunger. Washington, their heroic
commander, a man of tender heart, gave the following
account to Congress of these troops: "Their extreme
patience and fidelity cannot be too much admired;
it is astonishing that their sufferings have not made
them all rebels and deserters."

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 37
France had her eyes fixed on the victorious Americans
of the battle of Saratoga; and she was also watching
the man whom La Fayette says now, "is worthy of
the adoration of his country."

CHAPTER III
TREATY OF COMMERCE AND FRIENDSHIP — EVENTS
OF THE WINTER AND SPRING OF 1 778
Let us pass over many incidents and pause only at
this one: that at the end of October, 1777, Vergennes
realized the necessity of declaring his intentions. No
more concessions to Lord Stormont. Against the in
sinuations of English diplomacy he had to raise a wall
of steel and keep himself strictly behind it. In order that
attention should be drawn to the requisitions of the
English Ambassador, who again presented, on Novem
ber 3d, at Versailles, an enormous list of ships that
were being freighted for America clandestinely, it was
not necessary that Lord Sandwich should go before the
English Parliament and threaten the near approach
of the time when England would exact reparations for
all the insults she had received from France and Spain.
"Let us engrave this fatal oracle in indelible characters,"
said Vergennes. "Let us try not to be taken unawares,
. . . not to be surprised."
On the other hand, Vergennes began to feel the im
patience of the Americans; he knew that the modera
tors — those that governed this new nation — had need of
"much art and even artifice" to uphold its enthusiasm,
and that the most effective means had been to repre
sent France and Spain as engaged in aiding its cause.
Now this means was about worn out. To tell the
truth, Spain was indifferent to the fate of America.
If France did not dare (restrained by the Family Com-
38

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 39
pact) to take sides with her first, and alone, America
would think that the house of Bourbon had no other
interest in this war but the ruin of Great Britain; and
America would therefore fall back in despair into the
arms of the mother country. All these considerations
appeared more important when it was learned that
Saratoga had capitulated. Would not England con
cede independence to such robust sons? And then
France would not have the glory, before any other
power, of recognizing this new nation, of introducing
American sovereignty into the league of nations. There
was not a moment to lose.
On December 18th Gerard, Chief Secretary of Foreign
Affairs, carried to Franklin, Deane, and Arthur Lee,
in their house in Passy, a royal message: "It must be
recalled to Franklin, this monument of wisdom, of
unostentatious generosity, that, united to the senti
ment of Royal and National dignity, there was a sense
of justice about the present state of affairs, and a strong
feeling of sincerity." His Majesty "did not intend to
take advantage of the present condition of the Ameri
cans to obtain from them covenants that it would not
be agreeable for them to make with any other country.
. . . Consequently, he intended to have the terms
such as we [the Americans] would consent to volun
tarily, as if we had been established a long time, and
were in the full possession of our power." France had
resolved to sustain American independence by every
possible means, the only condition being "that America
could not, in concluding any peace with England, re
nounce her independence and return to the domina
tion of the English." The commissioners replied that
his Majesty would find true allies in the New World;
and as they observed that republics were generally

40 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
faithful to their engagements, Gerard remarked that
the King was accustomed, also, to keep his treaties with
republics : witness the Swiss cantons, with whom he had
just renewed an alliance two centuries old.
Negotiations were proceeding marvellously well, when
the Elector of Bavaria died. Was France now going to
be engulfed in the affairs of Germany? No, for Ver
gennes took good care to keep away from them. Of
course France could not see without displeasure "her
dear ally," Joseph II, take a menacing position, and
seize the course of the Danube and the better part of
Bavaria. But it was necessary to make a choice. Ver
gennes refused to grant the wish of the King of Prussia,
who would have liked to form an alliance with us (se
combiner avec nous). At Teschen, Vergennes reconciled
Austria and Prussia. He had eyes only for America.
Frederick II gained what he wanted; and afterward
he was greatly praised by Bancroft, an American his
torian, strangely inspired and better metaphysician
than historian. Bancroft's idea was "that there was a
pre-established harmony between the greatness of Prussia
and that of the United States; and Frederick was quite
right not to subordinate to the ' conveniences of another
hemisphere' the immediate interests of Prussia. The
United States would win at last." Happily for America,
Vergennes did not reason like Doctor Pangloss, whom
Bancroft was emulating.
Of the harmony that France applied herself to es
tablish in this discordant world, she had a more positive,
and at the same time a more disinterested, notion. The
fundamental principle of the Treaty of Alliance and
Friendship signed February 6th, 1778, was, according
to the preliminary articles, "that of the most perfect
equality and reciprocity. The commercial and other

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 41
privileges are mutual, and not one of them is accdrded
to France that we [the Americans] would not be at liberty
to grant to any other nation." The American Commis
sioners were authorized by Congress to make exclusive
concessions to France. But Vergennes said "that the
King wished to make a substantial treaty that would
last for all time, . . . pass on to posterity." As Doniol
well expresses it: "This was an open compact wherein
all nations could join," even England herself. The atti
tude of France ruled that of Europe. And this attitude
was demanded by her for a people of a government
born but yesterday, "temporary, without rules, and
much more besides." Louis XVI knew what he was
doing. Vergennes does not lead us to believe that he
yielded to his ministers. "The evidence of the facts,
his own convictions were the sole reasons that prompted
him to do it: the King gave courage to all of us," said
the Minister. "In the future, by our making closer al
liances with the King of Prussia, and by so doing, open
ing "relations with such countries as Russia, England
would soon be surrounded by a league of neutrals against
her maritime domination, and France would be giving
to her allies the support of those governments that were
the most capable of taking care of the cause and serving
in its success."
On February 14th, 1778, for the first time in French
waters, in the harbor of Quiberon, the flag of the fleur-
de-lis received the salute from the starry banner. It
was Paul Jones, the commodore, who saluted La Motte-
Piquet. To his thirteen salutes, according to the usage
established in regard to the admirals of Holland, the
royal squadron returned nine. "The French officers,"
writes Paul Jones, "are extremely kind and polite;
they have visited my ship and say that she is a perfect

42 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
jewel. They themselves received us on board their
ship with every mark of pleasure and consideration,
and welcomed us with illuminations. Their attentions
were carried to such an extent that if they were not
sincere, then they surely knew well how to dissemble."
On Thursday, March 19th, the American deputies
were presented to the King by Vergennes, with a cer
tain amount of etiquette, but not with the same pom
pous ceremonial of accredited Ambassadors. "Doctor
Franklin," as the Anecdotes state, "appeared at Ver
sailles before the King. He was accompanied and fol
lowed by a number of Americans, and all kinds of per
sons who were attracted by curiosity." Madame du
Deffand wrote to Walpole: "There were about twenty
insurgents, two or three were in uniform." The doctor's
age, simplicity of his costume, his whole appearance, as
Madame du Deffand describes it — "a coat of reddish
brown velvet, white stockings, hair flowing, spectacles
upon his nose, and his hat under his arm" — all that
was unusual and peculiar in the life of this American,
attracted the attention of the public more and more.
He was continually applauded, and everything done in
connection with him showed that enthusiastic imagina
tion that the French have more than any other people,
and that politeness and kindliness which magnify the
charms of the person who is the object of their adulation.
His Majesty said to him: "Assure the United States
of America of my friendship; I am particularly well
satisfied with the way that you have conducted yourself
in my kingdom." The deputies dined at the table with
Vergennes. In the evening, at cards, Marie Antoinette
asked Franklin to be seated near her, and was very
gracious to him.
The King desired the terms of the treaty, if not the

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 43
treaty itself, to be published, and to reach America
as speedily as possible. The last of February the text
of the treaty became known in Boston; and one of our
most ardent and clever friends, Pastor Samuel Cooper,
read the preliminaries from his pulpit. Congress re
ceived it, officially, at York, Pennsylvania, on the other
side of the Susquehanna, where it had retired after
Philadelphia was taken by the British. We quote the
memorable words here used upon the occasion of its
reception by the Committee on Foreign Affairs and ad
dressed to Franklin and Deane:
"We admire the wisdom and true dignity of the
Court of France, on their part of the construction and
ratification of the treaties between us. They have a
powerful tendency to dissolve effectually that narrow
ness of mind, which mankind have been too unhappily
bred up in. Those treaties discover the politician
founded on the philosopher, and a harmony of affections
make the groundwork of mutual interest. France has
won us more powerfully than any reserved treaties could
possibly bind us, and by one generous and noble act has
sown the seeds of an eternal friendship."
Washington could not be informed except through
Congress. It is on May 6th that he refers to it in his
order of the day: "The all-powerful Sovereign of the
Universe having desired to protect the cause of the
United States of America, and to procure for us a formi
dable ally among the sovereigns of the earth, so as to
found our liberty and independence upon a durable
basis, it is our duty to set aside a day to render thanks
to Divine Providence, and celebrate the important
event that we owe to heavenly intervention. . . ."
Joy was intense at the camp of Valley Forge: bon
fires, firing of musketry, salvoes of artillery, concerts

44 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
and toasts, hurrahs and chocrings in honor of the
King of France. The rejoicing was as great as it pos
sibly could bo in the spring, and with an army ready to
go on a campaign. And the white scarf of La Fayette
could be seen passing from bonfire to bonfire.
With La Fayette at Valley Forge we perceive Cheva
lier More de Pontgibaud, who at nineteen had just
escaped from the donjon-tower of Picrre-en-Cise, a
most perilous exploit. His family had incarcerated
him there because he had "a violent and ferocious tem
per, and would not apply himself to any vocation."
He was really incorrigible; and tired of contending with
him, they put him on board a ship — the Arc-en-ciel—
at Nantes which was bound for America. This was
his dream ; he could not have been better pleased. The
ship ran into a frightful storm off the Bermudas; then
she was chased by an English corsair, and finally ended
in running aground at the mouth of the James River,
near the I sis, an English ship, which pillaged her com
pletely. Pontgibaud saved ten louis d'or, and set out in
the direction of Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia,
feeling sure that with the army, at least, he would not
starve. "My path led me through forests; I did not
know what I would find there, whether bear, panthers
or rattle-snakes. I had this perspective in view from
the travels I had read while I was in prison." (Did
Pontgibaud know that the flag of the Union had borne, for
some time, the emblem of a snake with thirteen rattles?)
At Williamsburg he learned that La Fayette was at
Valley Forge. He had to walk eight)- miles, "with a
sort of passport" given him by Jefferson, then Governor
of Virginia, in which he was "recommended to the kind
ness of the persons he would meet on his way." He did

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 45
not know a word of English; but the forest was alive
with little beings with whom he soon made friends ; there
were no wild beasts, but birds whose shining plumage
he admired; and especially thousands and thousands
of little squirrels (those lively little squirrels, who are so
familiar, like the swallows in Paris; they abound in the
public gardens of Richmond, Little Rock, and many
other Southern cities). And here is a last touch to
Pontgibaud's character. He adds: "They seemed as
though they were accompanying the triumphal prog
ress of a young warrior marching to glory. I imagined
I saw the entrance of the Ballet at the Opera." This
shows a foolish imagination, still childlike, but beneath
it all there is a deep courage and a flow of spirits that
is going to end in heroism and win the hearts of the
Americans. Our handsome chevalier is also going to discover to
what extent we were unknown and misunderstood.
One day, at the home of a farmer, he had this peculiar
dialogue: "I am very glad that I have a Frenchman in
the house," said the farmer. Pontgibaud pleasantly
asked him the reason for this preference. He replied:
"Well, the barber lives a long distance from here, and
you can shave me." "Eh! I do not know how to
shave myself. My servant does that for me; but he
can shave you too, if you like." "That is strange,"
said the farmer again, "we have been told that all
Frenchmen are either barbers or fiddlers." There
upon the man noticed that with the chevalier's rations
there was a large piece of beef. "How glad you must
be, Monsieur, to come over and eat beef in America!"
"I assure you we have just as good in France; in fact,
most excellent meat." "That is impossible, sir," he
continued; "if that were true, then you would not be

46 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
so thin." Admiral d'Estaing also claimed that it was
difficult to convince the Puritans of New England that
we were not "a thin people always dancing."
La Fayette graciously welcomed this charming ad
venturer. He did well, in spite of Washington, who
rather reproached him, at the time, for not being able
to refuse the way to his heart to any of his compatriots.
While Pontgibaud is waiting to be admitted, with the
brevet of major, to the rank of Washington's aides-de
camp, he observes this astonishing army, with its bi
zarre equipment. However, he has not yet suffered
with it. "How strange they look, these soldiers, who
wear, instead of cloaks or overcoats, blankets of coarse
wool which actually resemble those for the sick in the
hospitals of France, and I notice some who put under
their hats a night-cap." A little later he will recognize
these men as officers.
All of these officers are pointed out to him, and he
learns their names. ' ' They surround Washington, a man
of tall stature, superb figure, kind language, benevo
lent expression. These are the officers: Gates, the vic
tor at Saratoga, a simple, quiet man who already be
longed to history; the farmer who had become a soldier,
and with his wool cap upon his head, surmounted by a
farmer's hat, had recently received the sword of the
brilliant General Burgoyne in full dress uniform, and
coat decorated with English Orders: — Arnold, who
remained lame for the rest of his life from a wound he
received at the Battle of Saratoga: — Sullivan, lawyer
before the war: — Colonel Hamilton, Washington's friend,
who, when the war was over, opened an office in Phila
delphia and practised law, — the strong and intelligent
mind [Pontgibaud forgets to add] who put into execu
tion and maintained the salutary doctrine of Federal-

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 47
ism: — General Stark, a free-holder who distinguished
himself: — The brave General Knox, a man who had had
a book store before he became a general of artillery.
He passed, suddenly, from a simple citizen to the diffi
cult duties of a military chief and fills this position
equally as well." Chastellux, a wiser man, judges more
justly: "These generals certainly have been improvised,
but they are not 'the workmen and shop-keepers' that
far-away Europe imagines: Knox was prepared for
his position through the importance of the negotiations
that he had organized and directed for some years; he
was not 'a Boston bookseller'; books were a small
part, perhaps, of his vast business." Those whom
Pontgibaud called "farmers " were gentlemen free
holders, and through their previous education they were
able to read with profit (the experience of war aiding
them) the best works on tactics; notably, the famous
treatise by Guibert, dedicated to the nation, of which
General Heath made particular use.
Again, the good Pontgibaud deceives himself, un
fortunately, in regard to the simplicity or the greatness
of certain of these men. Arnold was much more than
a "horse-dealer" (maquignon) ; but in two years he be
trayed his country. And Gates had such a high opinion
of his own merits, he made so bold as to try and usurp
the place of Washington. And Lee could not be trusted.
La Fayette knew it well. Loyal and devoted to
Washington, he followed the intrigues of the cabal Gates-
Mifflin-Conway. " I wish," he writes to the commander-
in-chief with tender admiration, "that you could be
able to judge, as I do, the difference between you and
all other men; you would then see clearly that if you
were lost to America, no one could hold the army and
maintain the Revolution for six months." Washing-

48 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
ton's last campaign had not been successful. But
Gates, on the contrary, infatuated with his success,
impressed Congress "by his manner and promises, and
his European acquaintances." And then there was
Lee (still held prisoner by the English, but was going to
be exchanged with General Prescott) , who had the pres
tige of his service in Europe — "an English colonel, a
Polish general, companion in arms of the Portuguese
and Russians, Lee knew all the countries, had seen all
service, and could speak several languages." "Ugly,
sarcastic, ambitious and mercenary," is La Fayette's
report of him; "he hates the General." Mifflin, the
quartermaster-general, had joined the Gates party.
Among the deputies who adhered to this party, and
distinguished themselves for their bitter persecution ot"
Washington, were such persons as the Lees, like himself
Virginians, and the two Adamses of Massachusetts.
They had to have an agitator, so Conway, an Irishman,
formerly in the service of France, was selected.
This same Conway, who later left the army, but still
continued to do all in his power to injure the character
of Washington, was provoked to a duel by General
Cadwalader, and so seriously wounded that he thought
he was going to die. It was then that he wrote to the
great man: "I am about to die. Through justice and
truth I am forced to declare my last sentiments. In
my eyes you are a great and excellent man. May you
enjoy for a long time the love, esteem and veneration
of those States whose liberty you have won by your
virtues." But he survived; we like to believe that he
did not change his opinion.
La Fayette felt that honor obliged him to remain in
America at his post; and there cannot be too much said
of the beneficent and conciliatory influence that he exer-

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 49
cised, together with a scruple of modesty, about making
himself "ridiculously important" not only in the army
but in Congress. Now, in January, 1778, it was de
cided to invade Canada, and La Fayette was appointed
commander of the expedition, with Conway and Stark
under his orders. The War Office, without consulting
Washington, "ordered him to await his instructions at
Albany." In this proceeding he felt that there was an
underhand attempt "to elate him" (V enivrer) , so as to
render him manageable, and worse than all, to offend
his commander-in-chief. He rushed to York and
told them he would accept only on condition that he
would be still under the command of Washington, even
though at a distance. Then, notwithstanding the snow
and ice, from the 3d to the 17th of February, he quickly
moved from York to Albany. He had started
full of hope, but he was doomed to disappointment.
Nothing had been prepared. Out of 3,000 men prom
ised, he found only 1,200; and most of them were
"poorly clad even for a summer campaign." From
General Stark, who was to have joined him there with
a considerable body of troops, he received but one letter,
in which he asked: "How large a number, for what
place, at what time, and what rendezvous am I to make
recruits?" Generals Schuyler, Lincoln, and Arnold had
persuaded Conway that the enterprise was foolish;
and so it was, without provisions, magazines, sleds, or
snow-shoes. The resources, however, were not lacking;
for General Schuyler said later to Chastellux, that in a
month's time, between the Hudson and the Connecticut,
they could easily have brought together 1,500 sleds,
2,000 horses, and an equal number of cattle. But no
order was given. Save a few Canadians, under Colonel
Hazen, more accustomed to sleep in the woods by a

50 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
big fire than in a tent, even in the most intense cold, the
troops were "little disposed to undertake an incursion
into such a cold country." An extreme discontentment
reigned among the officers and soldiers who had not
received their pay "for a great length of time."
La Fayette had the good sense not to make this ven
ture, as enthusiastic as he was about running after a
mirage of glory; and also on account of "what was
expected of him both in America and Europe." But
the failure of this expedition was not entirely useless.
One fine day, while the snow still covered that dark
earth that resembled "iron ore," where grew the cypress
and pine, he left the sheltered hospitality of Albany.
It was comfortable there in winter on the banks of the
frozen Hudson; and not defiguree by the cold as Chas
tellux saw it, but, vigilant and peaceful, on the con
fines of the country of the savages. La Fayette went
to see these savages on the Mohawk River. He was
just the person to awaken their old love for France.
He was present at their councils, or powwows, and was
much amused "at their five hundred faces painted in
various colors; and their feathers; and their ears cut,
and their noses adorned with jewelry." Upon their
request, he sent Colonel Gouvion, as far as the Oneidas,
to construct a fort for them. Henceforth, to all these
savages (Messieurs les Sauvages) the marquis was known
by the name of one of their dead warriors, Kayewla.
Kayewla's only desire was to return to Washington,
and he finally reached him on April nth. In his ab
sence the commander-in-chief had had a tiff with Con
gress. This did not affect the marquis, because of his
youth and inexperience, which sometimes proves useful :
La Fayette had the advantage of his twenty years. Even
with the anti-French parties he nearly always gained
his point, and it was by reason of his personality; as

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 51
soon as they saw him they would grant him everything
that he wanted. But the rude work of maturity hung
heavy upon the shoulders of Washington, though it
did not bend them. He knew what it cost to be en
cumbered with humble and heavy burdens, and with the
innumerable cares of a commander; and to have to
realize an ideal, with the imperfect and rebellious matter
that men are made of, in spite of their selfish demands,
in face of their ingratitude, and cruel reproaches for
having abandoned this ideal, while they themselves
were passionately determined to destroy it. He had
to contend with carping critics, who, seated in their
comfortable homes, were scandalized because his army,
without clothes or munitions, in midwinter, felt that
they could not blockade the English in Philadelphia.
The distrust of Congress of the military power, and par
ticularly the distrust of the legislatures of each colony,
became most offensive to Washington, for he had to sub
mit to having committees of these agitators and fault
finders in his camp. Officers were constantly giving in
their resignations, and the general had infinite difficulty
in obtaining from Congress, in their favor, the com
pensations necessary to retain them in the service. The
President of Congress said: "Suppose that love of
country alone influenced some men to give up the com
forts of life, while their friends were peaceably amassing
great fortunes; now this is not what human nature is,
but is it not what it should be?" The deputy, John
Banister, answered: "You can have all the theories
you want . . . you can also cite some examples of
ancient history; but, whoever fights with this ideal
alone in mind in order to sustain a long, bloody war, is
going to find deception for himself in the end. Patriot
ism can influence men to act, and to endure much; but
this will not last long if interest is not its object."

52 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
About the middle of April, conciliatory bills, which
had been presented by Lord Northcote to Parliament
on the 17th of February, reached America: the taxations
were to be revoked, the King of England was sending
plenipotentiaries to Congress to offer peace. Although
the Treaty of Alliance with France was not yet certain,
Washington did not hesitate an instant. He saw clearly
that a peace established on any other basis than that of
absolute independence would be "a peace of war";
that is, if America accepted a treaty with England upon
any other condition than that of a sovereign or free na
tion, she would be at the mercy of the mother country;
she would be dishonored and would forfeit the sympathy
of the world: "France, in coming to our aid, has helped
to remove us from this yoke of slavery; it is now our
duty, through a wise and meritorious perseverance, to
free ourselves entirely from it."
Later we will understand better what he meant by
that, and how he clung to the thought that America
herself should win this liberty. He urged a union in
his distracted country; he wished each state to be
represented in Congress by clever, honest men. "All
the wisdom of America," he said, "with its magnificent
simplicity, is necessary to us. Whether members of
Congress or soldiers we are one people, engaged in a
single cause for a single object, acting on the same prin
ciple and with the same purpose in view." The time
is now drawing near when France, in the midst of dis
sensions, injurious to the cause of American liberty,
will make this solid, constructive truth prevail.
We can imagine the satisfaction of Washington when
the text of the treaty, signed with France by the com
missioners, reached him. Operations became active
again. The British thought of evacuating Philadelphia.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 53
In order to have news of their movements, the general
confided 2,400 picked men to La Fayette, with the mis
sion to watch them and cut off all communication from
Philadelphia. "Any mistake or precipitation would
have the most disastrous consequences."
The marquis passed over the Schuylkill, and on May
1 8th stationed himself on the heights called Barren
Hill. As ill-luck would have it, in spite of all his pre
cautions, and perhaps through the fault of certain mili
tia, who neglected to guard one of the three roads
through which La Fayette could have outflanked the
enemy, he was not able to prevent the English — 7,000
men and 14 pieces of cannon — from forcing a night
sortie, and on the morning of the 20th La Fayette dis
covered that they had escaped him. In his turn,
General Howe was sure that he had caught La Fayette
"and had boasted of inviting women to sup with him
the following night." But La Fayette, also, gave him
the slip. Let us have the account from Chastellux:
"General Howe was not long in marching to the ad
vance-posts of La Fayette: the result was rather a
comical adventure. The fifty Indians that had been
given to the marquis had been stationed in a woods;
and, as was their custom, they had formed an ambus
cade; that is to say, they were lying close together,
flat on the ground like rabbits. Fifty English dra
goons, who had never seen savages, entered the woods
where they, who likewise had never seen dragoons,
were hidden. Suddenly the Indians arose with a ter
rific yell, threw down their arms, fled to the Schuylkill
and swam across; while the dragoons frightened out
of their wits turned and ran with such speed, that they
could not be stopped until they reached Philadelphia."
La Fayette, finding himself outflanked, "judged that
the column marching toward him would not attack him

54 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
first, but would wait until he was in line." He there
fore changed his position; but he had hardly done so
when he discovered that General Grant was marching
toward the ford of the Schuylkill, and was already nearer
than he was to it. He had to retreat or run the risk of
being attacked in front by Grant and in the rear by
Howe and Grey. La Fayette knew that "you lose more
men than you gain time if a retreat is turned to a flight."
He, therefore, beat a retreat so quietly and in such an
orderly manner that General Grant did not doubt but
that he was supported, at the end of the defile, through
which he was making his retreat, by all of Washington's
army. Finally, he retired, "as if by enchantment, and
crossed the river with all his artillery, without losing a
single man." The English had been tricked.
On the 1 8th of June the British abandoned Phila
delphia and started toward New York. The American
army went after them; but when they had passed the
Delaware, General Lee said that it would be necessary
to let them have great advantage, for he had never
seen an army with the troops so well disciplined; that
the best thing to do was to let the English cross the Jer
seys unmolested, while they remained at White Plains.
La Fayette replied that such a proceeding would be a
disgrace to the commanders and a humiliation to the
soldiers; and so the attack was decided. At Mon
mouth Court House, on the 28th of June, the English
held a strong position ; their right flank was on the edge
of a little thicket, their left protected by a dense
forest, and the rear-guard by a marsh. General Lee,
whose whole attitude was suspicious, was giving way;
and Washington who had come to his aid with his
troops of assault, relieved of their blankets and knap
sacks, had the mortification of meeting his advance-
guard beating a retreat without having opposed the

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 55
least resistance. He gathered the fugitives together and
arrayed them again for battle. La Fayette declared
that Washington was never so great in war as in this
action; his fine appearance on horseback, his bravery,
his coolness, soon restored confidence to the troops. He
re-assembled about 700 or 800 of the men and some can
non, with which the marquis, himself, endeavored to
retard the enemy; and the American army was then re
formed on a second line. They cannonaded all day long,
the English giving way a little. The heat was over
powering; some of the men, worn out by the long
march through a sandy soil, and without water, died
before they could go into battle. Night came, and
General Clinton took advantage of this to retreat. He
did it in such perfect silence that the advance-guard
of the Americans, commanded by General Poor, did
not perceive his movements. Resting under the same
cover, surrounded by the sleeping soldiers, Washington
and La Fayette talked of Lee. Court-martialled and
suspended, Lee quit the service, "and was not regretted."
Once more fortune favored them. They marched toward
White Plains, leaving Clinton to extricate himself from
the defiles of the hills near the Shrewsbury River. Mon
mouth Church was full of wounded Englishmen ; every
thing possible was done for them; and Chevalier de
Pontgibaud could not see, "without being deeply moved
to compassion, the amputation of the limbs of the young
officers of the Guard; their colonel, sixty years of age,"
a man of distinction with a noble face, died of his wounds
after suffering twenty-four hours.
On July 8th a squadron appeared at the mouth of
the Delaware. Admiral d'Estaing had arrived.
He would have arrived sooner had it not been for
Spain. The Family Compact bound the court of Ver-

56 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
sailles to that of Madrid. However, Louis XVI, tired
of controversy on the subject, had acted without the
consent of his Catholic Majesty. Although Charles III
was advised of the intentions of France as early as
January, 1778, in forms of the utmost respect, neverthe
less, he resented this action. His Prime Minister,
Florida-Blanca, was furious; his policy would have been
to keep the United States, a dangerous neighbor to the
Spanish colonies, in a state of anarchy. He was a
strange character: sometimes keeping a constrained,
bitter silence ; at others, breaking out into extraordinary
vehemence. When he was in one of these moods,
Vergennes would exhort De Montmorin to employ all
the resources of his ingenuity upon him so as to draw
him out of it. On the 10th of April he compared the
American deputies, before our unmovable Ambassador,
"to the Kings of the Orient who came to beg assistance
of the Roman Consul"; he treated the declaration of
our alliance with them as Don Quixot-ism.
"Do they take the King of Spain for a Governor of
a Province, from whom they ask advice, only to send
their orders to him afterwards !" And then he secretly
paid court to England, without taking into account,
however, that it was due to our vigorous conduct that
Spain retained the "precarious regards" of the court of
Saint James. In a vague and indifferent sort of way he
attempted to become the mediator between France and
Great Britain. But this haughty Minister, although he
still continued to express himself violently, let it be
known upon what conditions Spain would follow France.
War was not yet declared; but Lord Stormont had
left Paris the end of March, 1778. On the 19th of
that month De Chaulieu, commandant at Dunkerque,
had notified the English Commissioner that the salary

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 57
paid him from the funds of the Department of Foreign
Affairs would be withdrawn from the ist of April.
This was a dismissal. Our fleet was made ready for war,
our arsenals filled. In our ports there was a feverish
anxiety to equip the ships with the hope of reaping fabu
lous profits. April 13th, D'Estaing appeared at Toulon.

CHAPTER IV
D'ESTAING IN AMERICA — GERARD, MINISTER PLENI
POTENTIARY TO CONGRESS — DIFFICULTY AND
IMPORTANCE OF HIS ROLE — HIS SUCCESS
The admiral's destination was a secret; but every one
knew that he had on board the Languedoc Gerard, the
Charge d'Affaires of the King to Congress. It was not
until the night of the 17th of May that the squadron
cleared Gibraltar. Many of the vessels sailed slowly.
The Languedoc, the Cesar, and the Tonnant were obliged
to regulate their speed to the Guerrier and the Valliant.
The object of their voyage was not revealed until the
morning of the 20th of May. Then the admiral sig
nalled to each captain to open the sealed letter contain
ing his mission. Two frigates were to set full sail and
chase any ship carrying the English flag. A solemn mass
was celebrated on board the admiral's vessel; the great
flag was hoisted; the admiral read in a loud voice the
instructions declaring the opening of the war and the
order to run down any ships belonging to Great Britain.
And for the first time for many years a powerful French
squadron spread out upon the ocean.
D'Estaing lost time on the way hunting for prey.
Certain pamphlets pretended that this old musketeer
who had entered late in the navy, a former governor-
general of San Domingo, vice-admiral of the seas of
Asia and America, had acquired a taste for filibustering
in the West Indies; that like a cat, metamorphosed
into a woman, who returns to her old nature upon seeing
a mouse, so he, metamorphosed into the commander of
a great naval force, could not sight a corsair-enemy
without pouncing upon her. 58

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 59
Like La Fayette, he was a Franc-Auvergnat. A tra
dition says that his ancestor, Deodat, saved Philippe
Auguste at Bouvines, "and took from the enemy the
shield fallen from the royal hands." The Chamber of
Agriculture of San Domingo passed good judgment upon
his qualities and his faults: "Wide-awake mind, full
of activity; less judgment. The heart of an Auver-
gnat, good and honest. Subject to violent spells of
anger; impenetrable secrecy; peculiarly fitted for office
work which was a recreation for him." Instinctively he
felt that his force lay in a sudden blow; and putting his
conviction to the test, he believed that all depended
"upon the first moment of arrival, when you take your
adversary by surprise" — as he, wrote De Sartine — "and
where in most cases nothing resists you." Now he is
going to lose this first moment. When he arrived at
the Delaware, on July 8th, 1778, Clinton, whom he
counted upon surprising in Philadelphia, was no longer
there; and Admiral Howe, whom he wished to strike,
like a thunderbolt, at the mouth of the Delaware, was
waiting at Sandy Hook to transport Clinton's troops to
New York. In Europe, also, the face of things was
changing. The brave Chaudeau de la Clochetterie,
commander of the Belle Poule, after his victorious com
bat of the 17th of June with the English frigate Arethuse,
was triumphantly received at Brest. The nation wel
comed with enthusiasm the commander and crew which,
before an enemy squadron, had just given proof of the
resurrection of the French navy. On July 10th the
fleet of Admiral d'Orvillers set out to sea; war was de
clared. But France* remembered that Cook, the Eng-
* Author's Note. — M. Andre1 Beaunier has kindly assured me that this
pretty page from the Anecdotes, of which he has the original copy, is from
the hand of Joubert.

60 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
lish navigator, who had left Plymouth two years before,
must be upon the point of returning; she gave orders
to spare him wherever they should meet him. Cook
was never to know of the unusual honor that France was
the first to show him. He was massacred at Owyhee, in
the seas of another hemisphere, on February 12th, 1779;
and when De Sartine expedited from Versailles, on the
19th of the same month, orders to all of our naval officers
to put no difficulties in the way of this great man wher
ever they met him upon the high seas, and to let him go
in peace, alas ! the celebrated explorer had been killed
seven days before. France loved him. " Because he had
lived, from that moment and henceforth, death and suffering
would be more rare." Rodney, the English admiral,
was detained in France for debts; Marechal de Biron
paid his debts for him so that he could go and fight.
Those were the fine old days of courteous manners !
While a smaller boat, the Chimere — a name which
was not symbolic — bore the Minister Plenipotentiary
to Philadelphia, D'Estaing offered to the "sublime
liberator of America" — to Washington — "the frank,
warm homage of his friendship and entire devotion."
"It has been prescribed in my orders," he said, "but
my heart also inspires me to say these words." Then,
without delay, on July nth, he appeared off Sandy
Hook with his twelve ships, which were much superior
to the nine of Admiral Howe.
But the majestic French ships drew too much water
to pass the bar. D'Estaing offered 150,000 livres to
the American pilots if they would steer his fleet safely
into the harbor, but they refused. Then he cast an
chor some few miles from there off the coast of New
Jersey, near the mouth of the Shrewsbury River. The
admiral had the pleasure of taking on some fresh water,

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 61
of which he was in great need, right before the eyes of a
group of English cavalry. A corvette, 30 merchant
ships, 1,600 recruits were the booty of eleven days of
blockade. It was costing D'Estaing too much to re
nounce destroying the English fleet in the bay of New
York. For the second time, on the 22d, he appeared
off Sandy Hook; he feared to undertake it, however —
he scented an obstacle and withdrew. If he had only
remained ! The ships of Admiral Byron that were
being brought from Plymouth to reinforce the English
fleet were scattered by a heavy storm and came in one
by one, up to the 30th; he lost an easy prey.
Washington sent to him at once his aide-de-camp,
Colonel Laurens, son of the President of Congress;
and, a little later, on this same day, July 17th, when
Major Chouin, the admiral's emissary, arrived at the
General Headquarters on Haverstraw Bay, Colonel
Hamilton, with Colonel Fleury, was despatched to
D'Estaing to concert with him about an attack by sea
and land upon Newport, the capital of Rhode Island.
La Fayette, most eager to distinguish himself, dreamed
of the great happiness of fighting with the soldiers of his
King, and D'Estaing gave him credit for having "in
fluenced public opinion and gained assistance." Skirting
the Sound, passing through a pretty expanse of country
covered with villages, from White Plains to Providence,
a distance of 240 miles, the marquis rode joyfully along,
escorted by 2,000 troops of the Union ; he rushed into the
arms of D'Estaing, who, in his turn, was delighted to
see him, and overwhelmed him with attentions. On
July 20th, in fact, while France was celebrating the
battle of Ouessant, our fleet arrived off Rhode Island.
Sullivan, under whom La Fayette had orders, not being
so quick as the marquis, failed to appear at the appointed

62 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
place. Three frigates, at the first onset, forced the east
passage; with two vessels Suffren occupied the west
channel and reduced to silence the batteries of the island
of Conanticut. Four English frigates, two corvettes,
two galleys that carried cannon along their sides were
burned. D'Estaing reserved for himself the task of
forcing the third passage (that of Newport) with eight
ships. He forced it, passing under fire of the batteries
to which he could not respond; the English had sunk
the ships which were defending the approaches to it.
This was August 8th.
The night following, General Sullivan landed on the
north of the island with 10,000 men and field-artillery.
On the 9th, in the morning, D'Estaing had landed 4,000
men on Conanticut. It was then that Sullivan made it
known that the English, frightened at the sharp attack
of the French, had fallen back en masse on the Ameri
can army; he asked for aid. D'Estaing would have
joined him immediately, and the order had been given,
when suddenly, with the addition of several ships from
Admiral Byron, Howe's fleet was discovered on the
horizon. The French admiral had to save his vessels. He could
not remain at anchor under fire of the land batteries
while having to fight against a naval force now superior
to his own. The wind filled his sails; D'Estaing cut
his cables, and with the same boldness that he had forced
his entrance, he escaped from the harbor of Newport, and
hurried in the direction of the English fleet, which was
awaiting him. It would have been a magnificent com
bat had it not been for a terrific wind-storm which sud
denly dispersed the two fleets. On the 12th, at three
o'clock in the morning, the admiral's ship, the Languedoc,
had her jib broken and her foresail and mizzenmast

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 63
"came down at the same time." In its turn the main
mast fell, and finally the rudder broke. "After forty
hours of stormy weather," on the 13th the Languedoc
found herself separated from the rest of her fleet, when
she met the Renown, a vessel of fifty cannon perfectly
intact. The Renown manoeuvred so that her cannon
would "enter at the back of the Languedoc, run the
length of her batteries and -finally lodge in the front
of the vessel." The French admiral, with his rudder
broken, was not able to use but six of his cannon.
Nevertheless, his resistance was so energetic and skilful
that the Renown soon became disabled herself, and
hardly had fired three volleys before she set sail and
fled. On the 14th the fleet came together again, and
D'Estaing anchored to repair his damages. On the
17th she again set sail, and anchored on the 20th off
Rhode Island. The first part of the encounter was lost.
Sullivan was waiting for us so as to begin the attack on
Newport, but our fleet was in such ill condition that
immediate naval co-operation was impossible. On the
2 ist all the captains and their general staff of officers were
of the opinion that it would be necessary to go to Bos
ton for repairs. We went there on the 27th, and when
Admiral Howe came on the 30th to reconnoiter our
forces, he found the defense already so complete that he
retired. Unhappily, General Sullivan had to beat a retreat,
painfully disengage himself from the Hessians and Eng
lish, and regain a place of safety during the night of
August 30th. His rage knew no bounds; but his bitter
feeling against D'Estaing was unjust. On August 22d
he yielded to a bad impulse and sent to the admiral
(whom his messenger found no longer at anchor) a
solemn and abusive protestation, wherein he treated his

64 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
actions as derogatory to the honor of France, "pernicious
to the utmost degree to the prosperity of the United
States of America, and an eternal outrage to the alliance
which then existed between the two nations." This
protest was signed by twenty American officers, among
whom was the former President of Congress, Hancock,
then major-general, commanding the militia of Massa
chusetts. La Fayette was distressed and indignant.
His wounded honor caused him to lose his temper; he
loudly proclaimed "that what France did was always
right." "At each word that I spoke," he wrote
D'Estaing, "I thought I saw before me the one whom I
had to avenge." On the 25th he wrote to Washing
ton: "I, the friend of America, the friend of General
Washington, am upon a footing of hostility within
our lines." His heart was wounded to the quick "by
the very people he had come so far to love."
He alone could make such a complaint; he alone
could say to Washington that the true reason for this
bitter disappointment was that "the commanders of
the expedition were a little ashamed of going back to
their families and friends and secret enemies after hav
ing boasted in such grandiose terms of their success at
Rhode Island"; he alone, the confidant of Washington,
could dare to recall to him the weakness, hardly a secret,
of several American officers, "who would not sacrifice
a little time and money, nor the fatigue of remaining a
few days longer in camp, when they were only a short
distance from their homes." He alone could do this,
because he only had the right to say that all these
quarrels grieved him "both as an American and as a
Frenchman." The heart of Washington understood the heart of
La Fayette. The same day that he received the mes-

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 65
sage from La Fayette he answered it and reproved Sulli
van. To the latter he pointed out the influence of first
impressions, which would fix the opinion of France upon
the national character of America: "In our conduct
toward the Frenchmen we must remember that they are
a people experienced in the art of war, that they are
strict in the observance of military duties, and are quick
to fight where others would be barely getting ready."
He soothed La Fayette's feelings by saying that he him
self felt "personally distressed at the light, imprudent
reflexions made upon the French fleet in the first heat of
excitement over their blighted hopes." Finally, D'Es
taing offered to put himself in the field at the head of
a regiment, as he had done under the orders of Marechal
de Saxe, he, an admiral of France, and fight under
Sullivan — formerly a lawyer, as he confided to De
Sartine two months later, and no doubt fort incom
mode to his best clients. Washington gently spoke
to him in this manner: "It will be a consolation for you
to remember that enlightened minds do not form their
opinion upon results, and that their justice will attach
as much glory to actions worthy of success, as to those
that success has crowned." In its turn, Congress, after
having conferred with Gerard, rendered homage to the
zeal of D'Estaing and the bravery of the French.
As great battles were not being fought, the marquis
dreamed of combats single-handed. At this time Eng
lish Commissioners were trying to induce Congress to
listen to propositions of peace. They spoke of the " un
generous" motives of French policy. When La Fayette
read this word he felt his national honor outraged:
"Lord Carlisle is acting as the head of this party; he
has been well appointed; he is clever, and his fortune,
rank and birth give him a high position in England;

66 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
I am going to write to him, and propose an exemplary
correction before the English and American Armies.
I flatter myself that General Washington will not dis
approve of this proposition. ... I must admit that
I am most eager to shed some drops of blood for my coun
try. ... It is a good fortune that my war compatriots
will grant to me, and I shall use all the accomplishments
of a petit-maitre." Thus wrote the marquis to D'Es
taing, on the 13th of September, on a day when he was
weary and annoyed. The note was sent; we have the
answer; and although it comes from a diplomat, we
must acknowledge that it is none the less good; it is
not a thrust, it is simply a parry. Lord Carlisle declined
the challenge, and no one blamed him.
A fever of unrest and dissatisfaction was spreading
among the American people. At Boston there was
still great prejudice against the French. On the 8th
of September an unfortunate thing happened: there
was a quarrel with the French soldiers. De Pleville
and De Saint-Sauveur tried to act as mediators; the
result was that both were wounded; De Sauveur died.
But these same people who were distrusting the French in
September, welcomed us with loud cheers in November.
The Bostonians were grateful to our squadron, not only
for having put their city in a state of defense — a work
that was done by Bougainville — but for having cleared
their coasts of English corsairs. Commander de Senne-
ville rendered account of it to the Minister of Marine
at a banquet, given on the 5th, to the French who were
then present in Boston. The frankest cordiality seemed
to reign there. The host of the occasion expressed
his regret, in advance, for not being able to conform to
good usage — "for the lack of ceremony, but begged
them to excuse it as the ignorance of a poor farmer."

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 67
Another person fell upon the neck of De Senneville,
congratulating him "that his vessel was the first to be
seen at Boston (but in this he was mistaken; he had
come from the country), telling him that such an event
was an epoch in the life of any man." The action of
this farmer who embraced the French nobleman teaches
us more about the real condition of things than the mis
conceived analysis of others. In a more formal manner
Gerard and Congress embraced each other. Let us join
them while D'Estaing, on November 4th, leaves Nan
tucket harbor and sails toward the West Indies, "in
cloudy weather, with a heavy sea."
"First of all, on July 18th, Congress offered to Gerard
a welcome, preparing a banquet 'with the choice pro
visions that the English commissioners sent as a present
to the members to bribe them': turtles and excellent
French wine. Gerard had felt that three-fourths of the
Philadelphians (reduced, it is true, to a third of the
normal population) were opposed, 'with insolence,'
to French intervention. But several members came to
him and expressed their admiration for the royal mag
nanimity and protested that the objectors were already
silenced: nearly all assured me that the people of the
different colonies showed a most favorable disposition
toward us. In fact, the inhabitants on the banks of
the Delaware gave evidence of great joy when they
learned that we were French. Officers and civilians
alike said to us: ' You have come to help us, and we will go
to help you when you want us.'" How significant these
words are to-day !
On August 6th the Plenipotentiary was received by
Congress in solemn session. The formulary, discussed
at length, finally adjusted the customs of monarchy

68 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
to that of republican simplicity. Then "the Honor
able Richard Henry Lee, Esquire, member from Vir
ginia, and the Honorable Samuel Adams, Esquire,
member from Massachusetts Bay, went to the house
of the French Minister in a carriage drawn by six
horses, furnished by Congress. Upon arriving at the
State House, the two members of Congress, placing
themselves on the left of the Minister, conducted
him to his chair in the Hall of Congress, all the mem
bers being in their places. The Minister seated, gave
his letters of credit into the hands of his secretary,
who advanced and presented them to the President.
After which the Secretary of Congress read and inter
preted them; the reading concluded, Mr. Lee presented
the French Minister to the President and to Congress.
At the same time, the President, Congress, and the
Minister arose; the Minister bowed to the President
and to Congress, and they returned his salutation; then,
they were all seated again. A moment later, the Min
ister arose and addressed a discourse to Congress
seated; the speech being finished ..." But let us
pass on: " inside of the railing of the room, Congress
formed a half circle, on each side of the President and
the Minister: the President was seated in the midst of
the circle in a chair placed upon a platform raised two
steps; the Minister was seated in an arm-chair on the
other side of him on a level with the members. . . .
Such was the new and noble spectacle that took place
in this New World." The two godfathers (parrains)
who had escorted our Minister Plenipotentiary on Au
gust 6th were typical of the difficulties that were going
to cross his path. Samuel Adams and Richard Lee
were not the least among the disturbers in the hostile
faction against Washington and France. It was in

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 69
this circle that credence was given to the "information"
that Arthur Lee expedited from Paris against Franklin.
Upon what terms these two commissioners will stand
henceforth, and what opinion the doctor had of his
colleague, is clearly put forth in the letter that he wrote
to him, April 4th, 1778. Notwithstanding the jealous,
suspicious, malevolent, quarrelsome character of Arthur
Lee, Franklin managed to get along with him very well,
"while their important business was in suspense." He
received his "insults in silence," and contented himself
"with burning his furious letters." Franklin was not
judged guilty by Congress, since Lee was finally ap
pointed Commissioner to the court of Spain, where,
however, he did not go, and Franklin was given the
position of the Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of
France. It was a lucky thing for Franklin that this
compromising person was no longer his assistant.
Thanks to Lee, the English court was not left long in
ignorance of the negotiations between the American
Commissioners and the French Minister. In America
the intrigues of the anti-French party became more
and more noticeable. Silas Deane, however, created
quite a sensation when, in the Gazette of Philadelphia,
December 5th, 1778, he published, under the title of
"Address to the Citizens of America," a denunciation of
Berkenhout and Temple, citizens of Massachusetts and
agents of England.
In nearly all of the colonies, people of prominence,
"those accustomed to the distinction of authority,
rank, honor, birth, and riches," although favorably in
clined to the Revolution, were repulsed "by the vulgar
ity of a democratic state," and gradually retired, or re
mained away from Congress altogether. There was
more interest taken in personal questions and ambitions

70 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
than in the general welfare. Duels were frequent.
"The obsession to fight mounted to a scandalous and un
believable height. . . . 'They made a senator leave his
seat,' said Gerard, who was astounded at such manners,
'where he exercised sovereign right, to force him to
sustain at the peril of his life, the vote that his duty
dictated to him.' " Antagonism between the Americans
of the South and those of the North was plainly per
ceptible; the former already conforming themselves
to a public life, the latter still imbued with extreme
Presbyterian individualism. A provincial spirit, in
capable of submitting itself to general interest; a con
stant susceptibility in regard to the spectre of the
central power, always suspected of aristocracy; an ex
treme fear that the authority, hardly organized, would
usurp the prerogatives in its assemblies which belonged,
according to the pure democratic dogma, to the people
alone; a defiant mistrust of the commanders of the
army — all these causes tended to destroy and disarm
the Union. And, to crown it all, the new members
of Congress, "ignorant of that which had been done
previous to their arrival, unacquainted with the senti
ments that had inclined the former members toward
France," were ready to take the opposite side from all
anterior decisions.
However, in spite of the traditional English prejudice
against us; the remembrance, kept constantly in mind by
the Puritan sect ; the Catholic persecutions ; the Quakers,
who represented as "unnatural" an alliance formed
with "the enemies of all civil and religious liberty,"
our connection with the American Government still
continued to remain "honest and faithful." The effect
produced by the treaty was excellent: the proof was
made public that we would not impose on the United

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 71
States any burdensome conditions, that we had no hostile
feelings toward England, no desire for conquests, and
no pretensions to any commercial privileges. And all
Americans learned that they need not make either peace
or truce without our aid. Cleverly, Gerard dwelt upon
the happy impression produced in America by the re
newal of our alliance with the Swiss cantons. He had
some medals distributed which were struck off for this
occasion, and he transmitted to Versailles the desire
expressed in Philadelphia, that the King of France
would celebrate his treaty with the United States by a
medal of a similar order. But that which quieted our
timid friends, and spoiled the objections of the Presby
terians, was the financial assistance that came from
France. American finances were in a ruined condition;
waste, monopoly — all kinds of fraud had accelerated
the fall of the public credit. Paper money was worth
less. Washington, in a letter to Gouverneur Morris,
October 4th, 1778, tells us "that a horse, and such a
horse ! costs not less than 200 lbs. sterling, and a saddle
from 30 to 40 lbs. ; that flour was from 5 to 15 lbs. sterling
a barrel, according to where you bought it; hay from 10
to 20 lbs., beef in proportion." In December, in order
to raise the value of American paper money, Vergennes
announced to Gerard that the King "favored the
establishment of a private firm of bankers, who would
have in charge the acquitment, for a stated sum, of the
interests that Congress had to pay for those of its
notes upon which it had borrowed money, and for which
it had drawn upon its Commissioners residing in Paris."
Congress owed 42,000,000 pounds, Tours currency, at
six per cent. The service was infinitely more valuable
than a subsidy.
America had not yet been informed of it that day of De-

72 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
cember when Gerard was solemnly honored at a banquet
given for the elections of the Assembly of Pennsylvania; it
was that much more impressive because in this colony the
popular committees were all powerful. " Monseigneur,"
wrote Gerard to Vergennes, "there could not have been
shown more joy and appreciation than in this assembly,
composed of two hundred and fifty-six persons, every time
there was a question of France and the Alliance. When
they drank to the health of the King, the whole place
resounded with their acclamations. The new President
having shown one of his neighbors the portrait of the
King, with which His Majesty had honored me before
my departure, it made the tour of all the tables; all
those in their places at table, and all those present capa
ble of thinking, felt, in spite of their national prejudices,
the value of the friendship and proceedings of His
Majesty." President Laurens, irritated by the public
denunciations of Deane, had failed, however, to convince
Congress that they were offensive to the honor of na
tional representation, and he had to give in his resigna
tion; Temple had been invited to leave Philadelphia;
Congress, taken as a sovereign political body, felt more
than ever its solid union with France. Under the new
presidency of Jay, at the request of Gerard, he offered
the following resolutions, January 14th, 1779: "Whereas
it has been represented in this chamber by the Honora
ble Mr. Gerard, the Minister Plenipotentiary of France,
that it has been asserted that these United States have
reserved the right to treat with Great Britain separately
from their ally, be it unanimously resolved that, neither
France nor these United States have the right to conclude,
and these same United States will not conclude, either
truce or peace with the common enemy, without having
first obtained the formal consent of their ally, and that all

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 73
matters or things that will intimate or advance the con
trary to the above, will tend to the detriment of these
United States."
Before entering into a period of difficulties let us take
farewell of La Fayette. He went away for a while;
he returned to France, and Gerard knowing the hot-
brained reputation he had had at the court when he
fitted up his ship and escaped to America, gave a writ
ten testimony to Vergennes "that his conduct equally
prudent, courageous and kind, had made him the idol
of Congress, the army and the American people." But
before this, on the 21st of October, there was a more
brilliant testimony given to him; Congress had decided
to charge the Minister Plenipotentiary of the United
States at the court of Versailles to offer in their name
to the Marquis de La Fayette, as an acknowledgment
of services rendered, "a sword of high value ornamented
with emblems recalling his fine actions"; and on the
22d, Congress had written a letter to the King of
France, recommending "this noble young man to
him," for having seen him "wise in counsel, brave on
the field of battle, and patient in the midst of fatigues
of war." And then was added: "The devotion to his
sovereign has always guided his conduct, which con
formed as well to all the duties of an American." This
expression of their sentiments consecrated in La Fayette
the living figure of the Alliance.
He carried with him to France a regret and a hope;
he would have liked to organize, for the following sum
mer, an attack upon Canada. A committee from Con
gress had examined a plan with him about the co
operation of three American divisions (which would be
directed toward Detroit, Niagara, and the Connecticut

74 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
River) and the French fleet, which would carry an ex
peditionary corps up the Saint Lawrence to Quebec.
In the course of the conferences La Fayette conducted
himself both as an American and a Frenchman: when
they asked him if he thought that France had the design
of transferring to America the theatre of war with Eng
land, and of conquering Canada, he answered that he
did not believe it, that the war could be carried on in
Europe with much less risk and expense; he pretended
not to understand that the committee had ascribed to
France a mental reservation, entirely personal, of re
covering her Canadian possessions; he would have
been very unskilful and undignified to have entered
into contention and controversy; he preferred to say
that the best attitude for America would be not to
disguise from a friend as loyal as France "either her
actions or her views, and to make the effective resolu
tion of helping herself, and not to allow the whole burden
of the war to fall upon her ally."
We touch again upon a jealous point. America de
sired our aid but she feared it. She did not wish to
owe us too much. Washington demanded that American
blood be the price of American liberty. President
Laurens dreaded the humiliating state to which "the
growing independence" would be reduced if its fate
was to be put "into the hands of a powerful creditor."
He was opposed to the decision that they had reached,
to borrow from France so as to pay the interest on the
public debt. "Each million of pounds sterling that you
borrow is a new lien upon your property." And to
whom did he say this ? To Washington, who, confining
himself in an official letter to considering under a mili
tary point of view the projected expedition against
Canada, in a confidential letter of November 14th, 1778,

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 75
he developed at length his political reasons for his dis
approval ; they were dominated by the fear that France
would establish herself in Canada and that, already
possessing New Orleans "over the right" of the United
States, she would become a tyrannical neighbor. " Even
though France welcomed this project with the purest
intentions, there would be a fear that, in the course of
affairs, influenced by circumstances, and also, perhaps,
by the solicitations and wishes of the Canadians them
selves, she would not change her mind." And so be
fore his departure, La Fayette was not able to receive
the letter from Congress, of the 29th of December,
which declared that the expedition was too difficult for
American resources, but if France would take the initi
ative, America would second her; this meant nothing.
How Washington was deceived ! The sentiment and
resolution of the French Ministry never changed: no
conquests; above all, no conquest of Canada. As
such it maintained its doctrine and its conduct; as such
it was outlined in a letter from Vergennes to the Am
bassador of Spain, on April 6th, 1777: "If France has
felt the loss of Canada, she ought to regret it that much
less, since, because she was forced to give it up, it has
become the signal for the revolt of the English Colonies
in America. If we should try to get it back again, we
should awaken the old uneasiness and jealousy which
made these same Colonies pledge fidelity and submis
sion to England. . . . They would not try to throw
off the yoke of the mother-country in order to throw
themselves into that of another power. And besides,
France has enough Colonies in proportion to her indus
tries and population."
Spain did not have the same scruples. And on this
account the difficulties of France were not simplified;

76 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
we were obliged, while waiting for the court of Spain to
declare itself with us, to sustain her pretensions before
Congress. The Americans desired an alliance with
Spain; they considered it certain that if France and
Spain united, their naval superiority over England
would make them the arbiters of the situation. But,
as we have seen, it was not easy to make Spain take a
position. Her manoeuvre, ever since July, 1778, was
to negotiate, with very little result, a reconciliation be
tween London and the court of Versailles; but this office
of mediator only served her as a pretext to remain on
the expectative. Montmorin saw clearly that Charles
III had become timid through the remembrance of his
past misfortunes. "It would be necessary, in order to
make him come to a decision, to present to him some
brilliant success, which would flatter his vanity. . . .
Although a religious fanatic, the love of glory was near
to his heart, and he wished to make his reign illustrious."
If he made war, he need no longer fear that England
would put a heavy hand upon the treasures of India:
in August, 1778, the naval division of Admiral Casa-
Tilly had brought to Cadiz 1,500,000 piastres. But
while his own scruples were paralyzing him, the im
petuous and choleric Florida-Blanca was holding him
too, through fear which hurt his pride: he maintained
that the house of Bourbon was not yet strong enough
"for a great spectacular war." This Minister would
not hear of mediocre results: "If we make war against
the English it must be carried on like the Romans
against the Carthaginians." To satisfy this gigantic
appetite for glory, in December, 1778, he asked France
to guarantee him, through an agreement with the
United States, Jamaica, the two Floridas, which en
tered into the plan of the conquest of the Americans,

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 77
the two sides of the Mississippi, from which the English
and Americans would be driven, the coast of Honduras
and Gibraltar. And he further asked for an assault
upon England. To which Vergennes replied by a plan
of war much more practical: "Let the two fleets unite
and simply enclose the English fleet in the Channel
and destroy it." The excited imagination of the Span
ish Minister could not be contented with such an in
significant operation.
Meanwhile, so as not to displease Spain, on August
20th, it was necessary to give the order to Admiral
d'Orvillers, who had gone out to sea, to return to Brest.
Public opinion became violent, and Vergennes at
tempted to cope with it, declaring that if the Family
Compact was broken it would be harmful to the prestige
and the true power of France. Against the monarchical
prejudices of the court of Spain, against the fear of the
old King of giving birth in the United States to a race
of conquerors, he held to this idea and constantly re
turned to it: that the condition necessary to an agree
ment between London and Versailles was the ac
knowledgment of American sovereignty. Our honor
was at stake; and it was all the more urgent that
we should not allow the allusions of Spain upon the
subject, since the English Commissioners were repre
senting us to Congress as seeking a secret treaty of
peace. While Gerard is bargaining for large benefices for
Spain, he does not give up the hope absolutely of an
understanding with England. France wished to get
back her rank in the world, but refused to view with
complacency the humiliation of England. It was suf
ficient that her power should be recognized and her
dignity restored by the accomplishment of a great act

78 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
of human justice. This was to be seen when Charles III
proposed a medium term, which was nothing but an
expedient, the way he conceived it: "To obtain for the
Americans a truce which they could keep on prolonging,
until they could put themselves in a situation to arrange
things alone with the mother-country, and gradually
acquire independence under the auspices of the two
Crowns." The good sense and justice of Vergennes
immediately discerned the danger: they would run the
risk of authorizing the suspicion that the King of France
was disposed to abandon his allies; but his generous
heart intelligently perceived at the same time what a
noble thing it would be to attempt this way of pro
ceeding. "The King," wrote Vergennes to De Mont-
morin, December 24th, 1778, "conceives the idea that
it would cost too much to England's pride for France to
force her to recognition of this independence. . . . He
knows what great powers owe to themselves and to
each other." On the 19th of February Vergennes rec
ommended to Gerard the plan of a truce: "In view of
the almost unconquerable repugnance" that England
would feel toward recognizing, under pressure of French
arms, American independence, "it is a prudent and wise
policy to moderate the bitterness by proposing a happy
medium . . . mezzo termine." Franklin entered into
these views. Attention, however, was turned away
from such suggestions by the events that followed.
When Gerard read these lines of Vergennes, he was
playing a difficult part before Congress, whence he was
going — I mean to say, whence the young American
Union was going, to come out victorious. We must
repeat the words here, full of justice, which were pro
nounced in June, 1779; there is a fine feeling of truth
that lies in them.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 79
Gerard had then become the counselor, almost the
guide, of the Federal Assembly, and his salon seemed to
be a sort "of ante-chamber to it." One day the dele
gates from Maryland and those from Virginia came to
expose their differences to him; they said that they had
not one thought in common, no rallying-point. The
French Plenipotentiary simply observed "that since the
two States were federated with the King of France, they
were necessarily federated with each other" "My re
mark," he added, "was seized upon and approved by
all present."
In fact, Gerard seemed in Congress to win the victory
of good sense from the month of March to October,
1779. The faction of agitators were recruited mainly
from the Eastern States. Completely forgetful or in
different as to the conditions of the Alliance, they tried
hard to obtain the consent of the representative of France
to some annexations and American claims which had
never been heard of at Versailles. And these same
agitators, these "petulant" fault-finders, that Gerard
found in his path, obeying a secret thought of making the
rules of war impossible, of prolonging the duration of it
by their unreasonable ambitions, of spreading among the
people (by challenging the representations and the ener
getic opposition of our Plenipotentiary) the suspicion
that France was not going to do very much, and that
she undertook war through a spirit of domination,
suzerainty, and of demonstrating, at last, in creating em
barrassments without end, that their only resource was
to throw themselves back into the arms of England.
During the first days of May Gerard went to pay a
visit to Washington at his General Headquarters, at
Middlebrook, to discuss the conditions of an operation
in Georgia, combined with the fleet of D'Estaing, which

80 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
is soon going to appear on the scene again. " The moder
ation and patriotism of the General, the power of his
intellect and his virtues" were a great consolation to
the Ambassador. "General Washington and several
officers of his staff assured me that if the army received
information that Congress wished to do anything against
the Alliance, that they would be disposed to revolt. . . .
The principal officers of all the Colonies hastened to
give me the most positive and satisfactory assurance of
the opinions of the people in their States." Gerard in his
diplomatic relations never expressed himself in flowery
language, but he addressed to his court an exact account
of all things with which he was connected. "A cav
alry company of Philadelphia composed of distinguished
citizens" conducted him to the frontier about thirty
miles distant; two officers of high rank awaited him at
Trenton to conduct him to the camp; Washington had
had a guard of honor, equal to those of major-generals,
placed at the door of the house reserved for him, the
Minister Plenipotentiary, near his own; and Gerard,
having asked that they withdraw the guard, "the cap
tain who commanded them showed so much disappoint
ment" that he decided to accept the honor; finally 1,600
soldiers also showed themselves jealous to manoeuvre in
perfect unison before the Minister of the King of France.
Upon his return to Philadelphia, he had the chance to
observe the excellent indications of the loyal attach
ment of the United States, in accord with the assertions
of the officers at Middlebrook, of the faithful spirit of
the colonies. In the sitting of Congress, May 16th,
1779, Mr. Penn, of South Carolina, arose and thanked
the King for the splendid proofs of his friendship, to
which was added another and new demonstration in the
projected return of D'Estaing: "I have always been the

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 81
guardian of my honor," he continued, "my compatri
ots have confided theirs to me, and I will, equally,
guard the honor of our ally; I declare enemy to my
country any one who dares to attack the honor of the
King in this room, and I will protect it in my position
as senator, citizen and man." Nearly all the other
members, "with more or less emphasis according to
their characters," manifested the same sentiments.
Those who were opposed kept silent. Gerard author
ized different members of Congress to represent to the
governments of their respective States the nature of
the attacks and the convincing force of his answers.
He knew that a desire for peace, but not a peace that
should be an act of ingratitude was general : through the
opinions of the political bodies in each State, based
upon the manoeuvres of the opposing parties, influence
was brought to bear upon the Federal Assembly.
Samuel Adams was obliged to defend himself in Boston ;
and Richard Henry Lee, in full Assembly of Virginia,
was accused of having sacrificed the interests of America
and the Alliance. Let us recall the admirable words
of Gerard: "You are federated among yourselves
(bound to be united) because you are federated with the
King." The enthusiasm for France was again awakened
in the spring of 1779; and at the same time, and by
this means, the national unity, the sentiment of a com
mon destiny, where antagonisms and enmities melted
away, triumphed over the narrow, egotistical tendencies
of a destructive idea of independent States.
We can understand that in such a situation Gerard
saw clearly the danger of a truce; he did not receive,
until July 6th, the dispatch from Vergennes relative to
this subject. Like Washington, he thought that an ar
mistice would be fatal to the federation. Once the peo-

82 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
pie would feel the joy of peace, "nothing could plunge
them again into a situation of war, whence they believed
themselves free." "It seemed as though the military
spirit of the nation was extinct." Gerard wrote on July
1 8th: "The Americans often seem to wish to be only
spectators of the quarrel between France and England.
Far from favoring this indolence, this lassitude so nat
ural to men's hearts who do not think clearly and
strongly enough to keep up their enthusiasm, strenuous
efforts must be made to push on the war. It could be
done by supporting a few men of indefatigable energy
and intelligent foresight. In Virginia, ' where the credit
of Lee is entirely lost,' are they not forming the project
of having arms and munitions come from France, and
of holding an army themselves capable of repulsing the
incursions of the enemy? The surging of this volition
caused by the great public danger must be directed into
the right channel under the guidance of France, around
the object, kept always steady and bright, of national
deliverance." On July 4th, 1779, the anniversary of their declaration
of independence, Congress, the magistrates, the mili
tary commanders were present at a religious service —
a Te Deum — requested by the Minister Plenipoten
tiary. Congress expressed the wish that in the Assem
bly Hall would be placed the portraits of the King
and Queen of France. In August the news was circu
lated that France and Spain had finally come to terms;
this report was true. In September they learned of
the taking of St. Vincent and Grenada by Admiral
d'Estaing. The enemies of the Alliance were obliged
to hide themselves. "There is general rejoicing among
the Whigs," wrote Washington to La Fayette, "while

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 83
the poor Tories are withering like flowers that fade in
the glow of the sunset."
Gerard, exhausted by his duties, had asked for his
recall; De la Luzerne, his successor, landed in Boston
on September 3d, 1779. The portrait of Gerard by
Peale, made by the request of Congress, has always
remained in this Assembly Hall, where, at one time,
many of the members, rising from their seats and draw
ing nearer in order to hear better this great servitor of
France and America, surrounded him, familiarly leaning
on his table, their eyes fixed upon his eyes, which hid no
secret thoughts.

CHAPTER V
WAR IN 1779
During the winter and spring of 1779 the American
army remained upon the defensive. Up to the month
of June there had only been incursions to punish or to
plunder, unconnected with their operations. Events
of greater importance came to pass on the banks of the
Hudson. The disputed post of King's Ferry protected
the principal road of communication between the east
and the centre. Formerly, in 1777, as Chastellux re
calls it, the strongest place was Fort Clinton, built
upon a rock believed to be inaccessible and "defended
besides by a small creek which flowed into the large
river." Nevertheless, Sir Henry Clinton had taken it.
Raising on high the British flag, "he climbed to the
top of the rock, while the greater number of his troops
descended the decline, passed over the creek and took
the post." After the defeat of Burgoyne, Fort Clinton
had been abandoned. When Washington, in the spring
of 1779, wished to make sure of his position upon the
Hudson, he preferred "to place his communication and
concentrate his forces at West Point, because there the
Hudson made a bend and prevented vessels from going
up stream with the wind behind them; and the Island
of Constitution, right at this turn in the river, in the
direction north-south, was perfectly situated to protect
the chain which closed this passage to the ships of war."
Over the immense extent of the United States in its
wonderful diversity of landscape there is no grander or
84

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 85
more impressive scenery than the banks of the Hudson
between New York and New Windsor, a few miles above
West Point, where, in June, Washington had his General
Headquarters. Newburgh is one of the places where
the beauty of the river can be seen best, three or four
times wider than the finest streams of France. The
flow of water from the tides of the distant sea takes
the great sailing-vessels (voiliers) as far as Troy, into the
heart of the continent. Nearly always in this vigorous
and salubrious climate a resplendent light spreads over
the water into which great basaltic rocks have plunged.
The pine-trees with their dark, soft shadows cover the
banks which sometimes rise to over 200 feet, while
again they fall into long, low valleys, whose charm, as a
whole, reminds one of the lakes of the North. Chas
tellux, in 1780, is full of enthusiasm over "the magnificent
picture of the North River, flowing between the deep
ravines of the mountains through which in ages past it
came to force its passage." At ten miles to the north
west, the highest summits of the Appalachians are blue
against a sky almost white in the strong light. And
when the stream has passed the Island of Constitution,
how fine it is to see its majestic flow as it goes straight
to meet the ocean without a detour ! Upon this pano
rama, that military memories alone render sublime,
Washington gazed as general-in-chief. "The Fort of
West Point, and the formidable batteries which defend
it," says Chastellux, who was upon the east side of the
river, "fix the attention upon the west bank; but if you
raise your eyes, you can see on all sides of the peaks
the batteries and redoubts jutting out. . . . From the
Fort of West Point proper, which is on the bank of the
river, up to the top of the mountain at the foot of which
it has been constructed, you can count six different forts,

86 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
formed in amphitheatre, and protected by one another."
In 1779, favorably disposed and intelligent Frenchmen
modeled on the slopes of this hill the defenses which
were its salvation. "The prodigious amount of work
that was necessary to bring and pile upon these steep
rocks trunks of trees and huge pieces of stone, impresses
upon the mind a very different idea of the Americans
than that which the English Ministry tried to enforce
upon Parliament. A Frenchman would be surprised
that a nation, barely born, could spend in two years
more thari twelve million dollars in this desert ; he would
be more surprised did he know that these fortifications
cost nothing to the State, having been constructed by
the soldiers (2,500 men worked there during the spring
of 1779), to whom no gratuities were given, and who did
not even receive their pay; and no doubt he would also
feel proud to learn that these works, so fine and extensive,
were conceived and executed by two French engineers,
Du Portail and De Gouvion." The work upon West
Point was far from being finished, when Washington
decided to attack the enemy. The English took posses
sion on June 1st of the posts of Stony Point and Ver-
planck's Point upon either side of the Hudson. Upon
a length of fifty miles they were masters of the course
of the river, "and thus pushed back toward the north
the very important communication of the Jerseys with
Connecticut." Washington, according to his own words, felt "the
necessity of doing something to satisfy the expectation
of the people, and reconcile them with the apparent in
activity that the situation imposed." On the night of
July 15th, after having reconnoitered the post himself,
he ordered General Wayne to take Stony Point with
1,599 men. Again Chastellux is our good chronicler:

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 87
"The fort consisted of an intrenchment surrounded by
an abattis which crowned a steep rock, of which the re-
duct formed a good redoubt well fraiscd. During the
night General Wayne marched out in three columns;
the principal one was commanded by De Fleury who,
without firing a single shot, forced the abattis and in
trenchments, and entered among the fugitives in the
redoubt. The attack by the Americans was so fierce
and the English so terrified, that De Fleury who had
entered first, found himself instantaneously charged
with eleven swords, that were handed to him asking for
quarter. We must add to the honor of our allies, that
from that moment, there was not a drop of blood shed."
This display of bravery passed for one of the most bril
liant of the war; they took 543 prisoners; their booty
in cannon, mortars, bombs, balls, tents, and provisions
was considerable. Three emblematic medals were struck
off, and one was offered to Colonel Fleury. Unfortu
nately the attack on Verplanck's Point on the opposite
side was not successful. It would have been necessary,
in order to hold Stony Point, to put a strong garrison
there, and Washington was too weakly supported to do
it. He had all of the cannon taken away and the works
of the fort destroyed ; and the Americans evacuated the
post which the English had to rebuild. On July 12th,
fearing an attack upon West Point, the general went
there and took up his position. The situation had
not changed when the fleet of Admiral d'Estaing came
to anchor at the mouth of the Savannah River.
D'Estaing had just finished his brilliant campaign
in the West Indies; he had cast anchor on July 31st
at Cape Francais, San Domingo, and found an order
there to return to France with the squadron of Toulon.

88 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Why did he not obey? Because De Bretigny, French
consul at Charleston, and General Lincoln, governor of
Georgia, begged him to come to America. His refusal
would have been misunderstood : " I would certainly have
been declared a coward had I not attacked Savannah.
. . . When one is far away one must accustom one's
self to this kind of punishment; but London, America,
and even Paris would have done worse than dishonor
me; they would have supposed that I had secret orders
not to go to the aid of the Americans. The result
would have been an inexhaustible source of complaints
and suspicions between the two nations; perhaps a
dissolution of friendship would have been the conse
quence." This motive was powerful enough, but the
real, the true, decisive one was the appearance of success.
He gathered together, then, at Martinique, Guade
loupe, and San Domingo, 3,750 men from the regiments
of Viennois, Champagne, Auxerrois, Armagnac, Cam-
bresis, Gatinais, Agenais; and on September ist, 1779,
after sixteen days at sea, he anchored off the river St.
John. From there he wrote to the governor of Charles
ton: "I hope that the prompt success of the enter
prise will justify my proceedings at the court of Ver
sailles. I am daring to neglect for a short time the care
of our own possessions, to occupy myself with those of
our allies ; but I should become personally criminal, and
I should injure the general welfare of both nations, if the
troops, that I land in a place agreed upon, remain more
than eight days. . . . All will depend upon the activity
of your troops, the promptness of your orders, the uni
formity of the movements of your army, of the good un
derstanding between your troops and ours, and the
helpful, quick, and secret information that you are going
to send to me. . . ." It is quite evident that he is

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 89
uneasy, restless; at the moment of acting he wonders
if he is right; he wishes to put all the chances on his
side, to be sure to foresee and surmount all difficulties,
and at the same time to improvise a rapid, overwhelm
ing victory. By his minute details and prompt res
olution did he hope to persuade or to force the Goddess
of Fate ? She resisted his efforts.
In the first place, on September 2d, there was a terri
ble wind-storm; anchors lost, rudders broken, keels
damaged. Then from the insurgents but little news
and food-supply. But the principal trouble, the damage
to the ships which would take forty-eight hours to re
pair, put D'Estaing "into the sad necessity of acting
where he ought not, and where he did not wish to."
Instead of attacking Georgia from the north, he turned
around and made an attack upon Savannah. And again
while his advance-guard went up the river, a stream with
out any depth, where they had to sail with sounding-line
in hand continually, and before they could land 300 "half-
drowned" men on the Island of Thybee, "separated from
Savannah by marshes and several creeks," Prevost
had had the time to withdraw the garrison and spike
the cannon; and when, on September 6th, supported
on his left by 1,800 Americans under General Lincoln,
at the price of extreme difficulties, he taking up his posi
tion a mile from the place, General Prevost was ready
to withstand him. Six hundred men of the old English
Guard, "crossing the deepest of the marshes, overcoming
the greatest obstacles," from Bedford and Port Royal,
came to bring to 6,000 men aid for the defense. The
English general rejected the summons of Count d'Es
taing: the struggle was going to be hard.
"I must admit that in deciding to attack by main
force, I saw a multitude of obstacles, but extreme

90 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
bravery can conquer everything, and I thought that the
time was ripe to prove to the Americans by a brilliant
action, although it might be a bloody one, that the
King's troops knew how to dare everything for them."
To undertake everything rather than retreat. Person
ally, he dared everything. During the night of the
23d and 24th of September, "at the head of 300 men he
opened a trench at a stone's throw from the cannon of
the English intrenchment." In ten days the siege
battery was ready for operations: eighteen of twelve-
pound and four of six-pound cannon, and nine mortars.
The enemy's artillery, which from the beginning had not
ceased to shell our works, was soon reduced to only two
cannon that were in a state to be used ; "but the English
intrenchments, constructed of abattis and sand, were
not damaged; and the balls from the cannon buried
themselves in the earth-works without forming any
openings or forcing it to cave in." Making a sudden
final attack, D'Estaing ordered the assault. The prin
cipal objective, the redoubt of Spring Hill, was at the
English right. It was expressly forbidden to shoot,
under penalty of death, before having taken the re
doubt and closed on the intrenchments. There were
officers on the flanks of the columns, who were ready
to arrest every soldier who would shoot before re
ceiving the order. All soldiers who would disband to
pillage without having received permission would be
punished by death without mercy. The Viscount de
Bethisy commanded the advance-guard, the Count de
Dillon the column of the right, the Baron de Steding
the column of the left. The Viscount de Noailles was
in reserve. D'Estaing, with Fontanges, remained wher
ever his presence was necessary. Immediately after
the French column, the elite of the American infantry

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 91
was to march, under the orders of Colonel Laurens,
preceded by the cavalry under General Pulaski.
At half past three on the morning of October 9th the
English, on the alert, received the assailants with such
force "that they were literally cut to pieces." During
the day the grape-shot decimated the columns that con
verged from the same point of attack. We must note
here the brave act of "friend Linch," which is reported
from hearsay by the Count de Segur. D'Estaing tried
to bring his men together again. "In the most critical
moment of this bloody affair, he, being at the head of
the column of the right, told Linch to carry an order
to the column of the left." They were in range of a
terrible fire. Linch, "instead of passing through the
centre or behind the columns, coolly advanced into the
midst of this hail of balls, bullets, and grape-shot that
the French and English were firing at each other. D'Es
taing called to him to take another direction; but he
went and returned under this 'arch of fire,' 'because,'
he said, 'it was the shortest way.'" D'Estaing was
wounded twice ; he remained at his post ; and three times
the French soldiers were brought back to the charge
under the eyes of their wounded general: three times
they were hurled back. Twice the American flag was
planted upon the English intrenchments. Many offi
cers were missing; the troops were worn out; then came
the retreat.
Fontanges was seriously wounded in the hip; Pulaski
was mortally wounded. D'Estaing shut himself up
in his tent and refused to speak for three days. When
the surgeon questioned him about his condition, the
only answer he could draw from him was: "I have a
deep wound which is not in your power to cure." From
the 10th the order was given to re-embark baggage and

92 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
cannon. It was only by the 28th, after unavoidable
delays, that the order to raise anchor was given. The
Count de Grasse and La Motte-Piquet had already
departed for the West Indies; a furious tempest arose;
"half the fleet was driven from its moorings, and the
vessels not anchored were forced to go far from the coast ;
finally, the Languedoc, the Admiral's ship, disappeared."
Left alone, not being able to rally his squadron, he set
sail for Brest. "On December nth," says the Corre
spondance Secrete, "armed with his glorious crutches,
he left Brest to go by short journeys to Versailles. The
King ordered an apartment to be made ready for him,
and prepared to embrace him. The brave Breton peo
ple covered his carriage with crowns of laurel." D'Es
taing was very bitter, but his friends tried to console
him, in a delicate way, for the misfortunes of destiny;
public opinion, so hard on many others, was kind and
faithful enough to him. One day, when present at a
representation of Gaston and Bayard, at the verses which
evoked the virtues of his ancestor, so like his own:
"D'Estaing the hope of the country, with heart all
aflame . . . the entire audience applauded the victor,
the conqueror of Grenada; Savannah was pardoned."
In his report to Congress, General Lincoln gave him
full credit: " He proved that he had had at heart the in
terests of America, when he resolved to carry the town by
storm, despairing of success any other way." In truth,
with wonderful bravery, D'Estaing had exposed his life
and shed his blood for the American cause. Savannah
is a small town of old Southern homes surrounded
by magnolias, oleanders, and palmettos. Amid its
gardens, where the primitive trees of the forests survive
in their splendor, stands a monument to Pulaski and
one to Sergeant Jasper. The brave action of the French

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 93
Admiral, who fought there like an ordinary soldier,
deserves also to be remembered.
We did not give back Savannah to the Americans;
but the appearance of the French fleet off the coast of
Georgia had suspended the progress of the English
offensive in the Southern colonies. Better than that,
General Clinton in New York was so greatly alarmed that
he ordered, on the 27th of October, the evacuation of
Rhode Island. Thus, while D'Estaing failed in the
South, simply by the false report of his going North,
he gave back Newport to the Americans, where he had
no intention of going, but where he would like to have
gone the year before. Such are the accidental causes
which occur to humiliate the pride of men of action.
D'Estaing, convalescent, should have read Montaigne
again (II, 20): "... For the customs of life, and the
service of the public, we can have excess of purity and
perspicacity in our minds. . . . This punctilious activ
ity of spirit, this restless, changeable volubility is a
hindrance to our negotiations. . . . There is no need
of such profound and subtle enlightenment: we lose
ourselves in so many different forms and contradic
tions. . . ."
Now, while D'Estaing was betrayed by evil fortune,
far away from him, in the English Channel, Du Couedic
was fighting a brilliant battle. On October 6th, 1779,
the Surveillante met the Quebec, commanded by the brave
Farmer. The greatest thing to be admired, was not the
heroic tenacity of the crews of the two ships and their of
ficers; it was not that for four hours, first at pistol range,
then from deck to deck, while balls, grape-shot, and
musketry tore the two decks that Du Couedic, without
relaxing courage, with his face streaming with blood,

94 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
his abdomen pierced by a ball, still had the energy to
throw his men into the fight on deck; nor Labenti-
naye, after having his arm cut off, returned to his post ;
or that Feuquieres, mortally wounded upon the galley
at the head of the fleet, sought until the supreme moment
to execute the orders of his commander; that two
frigates, under their broken masts, encumbered with the
dead and dying, armed for the last assault; and that
Captain Farmer, suffering from his death-wound, with
sublime coolness kept up the fight upon his ship —
not all of these brave exploits, but Couedic's last action
was the most worthy of admiration. Upon seeing that
the Quebec had taken fire, he suddenly turned his at
tention to but one thing: to save the English sailors,
"whose frigate was burning and sinking with its flag
flowing from the mast." "He treated them, not like
prisoners, but like brothers saved from a shipwreck."
Du Couedic survived his wounds but three months.
The English engraver Carter designed, in order to do
him honor, the engraving which represents the end of
this famous engagement, and had it given to the widow
of the great naval hero through our Minister of Marine,
De Castries, with the following letter: "Permit me, in
recalling to you the sad memory of your illustrious hus
band most worthy to be cherished, to represent him in
the greatest moment of his life. If, on one hand, I
bring back your sorrow, on the other, I believe that I
offer to you the sweetest consolation, in seeking to per
petuate an action which alone renders his name im
mortal: it is an honor justly due to you, and when
posterity shall know that this tribute was paid him by
a stranger and an enemy, the glory of the heroism of
Du Couedic will appear the more perfect. Such is

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 95
my intention; and, I believe that I will have been fully
repaid, if you deign to accept this poor drawing of the
great and noble picture that this hero has given to the
whole of Europe, in fighting an enemy worthy of him."

CHAPTER VI
ACTIVITY OF LA FAYETTE IN FRANCE — POLITICAL CRISIS
IN THE UNITED STATES — WASHINGTON'S
DETERMINATION
La Fayette had left Boston on January 14th, 1779,
upon a frigate of thirty-six cannon, the Alliance, equipped
at the expense of Congress, and commanded by a cap
tain, native of St. Malo, in the service of the United
States. Among the sailors on board there were twenty-
five English deserters. Pontgibaud, with his usual
ardor, tells how these unhappy wretches made up a
plot to assassinate all of the French officers except La
Fayette, whom they were going to take to London;
how they were discovered, disarmed, and put in irons,
and how finally, on February 6th, the Alliance cast
anchor in the harbor of Brest. The marquis was at
Versailles on the 12th. He had, for the mere form's
sake, as a souvenir of his disobedience, to be put under
arrest for eight days; then he entered into his glory.
But he was to have other adventures.
He tried first to prevail upon the Ministry to make
the conquest of Canada. But De Vergennes's opinions
were not to be shaken. Then he suddenly proposed an
expedition against England: the famous Captain Paul
Jones commanding a vessel of fifty cannon, the Bon-
homme Richard, and some frigates armed at the expense
of the King under the American flag could transport a
small army commanded by La Fayette upon the west
coast of England. To the profit of American finances
96

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 97
they could ransom Bristol, Liverpool, and some other
commercial towns. "In this way," said La Fayette,
"these cities could be justly punished for the part they
have taken in the vexatious imposts against the Colonies
to which their prosperity is due " ; and Necker, who held
the purse-strings of the exchequer very tight, Necker,
who in his official position as controller-general, opposed,
to quote Franklin, "all the propositions to aid America
in money," was notably pleased. But again with this
proposition there was slowness, irresolution; the mar
quis, willing or not, had to content himself with the con
solation that a small command and an expedition of
this kind was not in keeping with his position.
An incursion on a more extensive scale was then
planned. On June 13th, at Saint Jean-d'Angely, where
he went to rejoin his command, he received word to
go immediately to Versailles as quartermaster's aid,
under the orders of Lieutenant-General Count de Vaux,
commanding the troops assembled in several camps in
Brittany and Normandy, in view of the descent on Eng
land that had been contemplated for some time, and
which seemed about to be accomplished. His post was
at Havre.
As agreed with Franklin, he continued to fill, by
correspondence, his function, wherein he excelled, as
mediator. Already on June 12th, from Saint Jean-
d'Angely, he addressed a long letter to the President
of Congress. After having spoken of the "ardent
sympathy of his compatriots for America," after having
rendered thanks to Congress for the royal favors that,
through its high recommendation, had been shown to
him, and also having spoken of the honorable welcome
which all France gave him as defender of American lib
erty, he then comes to give advice as an American speak-

98 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
ing to Americans: "I must say with sincerity, that
nothing is as prejudicial to our interests, to our impor
tance, and to our reputation in Europe, as the stories
about the disputes and divisions among the Whigs.
Nothing would induce me to touch upon this delicate
subject except for the disagreeable experiences that I
have had every day, and the things that I have heard
on this side of the Atlantic, and the arguments I have
had to combat."
He spoke still more urgently to Washington: "For
the love of God, stop these quarrels among yourselves,
which when told over here, do more harm than anything
else to the interests and reputation of America. On the
other hand, [division, alas ! which we will see grow
worse] there are two American parties in France:
Adams and Lee on one side, and Doctor Franklin and
his friends on the other. These divisions distress me
to such an extent that I dare not frequent the society
of these gentlemen as much as I should like, for fear of
occasioning discussions, and making matters worse."
Here the mediator retires.
What they were saying "on this side of the Atlantic,"
we may have some idea by the following malicious lines
that were circulated during the autumn of 1779. The
Memoires Secretes tells the story of a man who, through
the interest of Abbe Raynal, embarked for the New
World and found there only anarchy and indolence:
"I have seen the Quaker pacifist whose pride pierced
his cloak. ..."

'Yes, I have seen this upright folk,
Whom honest men would fain extol,
Set free the black man from his yoke
And subjugate the white man's soul.
A gloomy faith, a rugged land,

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 99
The thirst for gold, a cruel heart;
He only needs a Cromwell's hand
To guide his dark and sinister part."*
Franklin, the worthy and respectable Franklin, must
have been amused when he saw himself represented as
an "octogenarian chameleon." Hancock, the former
President of Congress, was not spared.
It is worthy to be noticed that Washington was also
described in verse:
"O leader faithful, valorous, wise,
Thy very foes must reverence thee;
On every side true friends arise
And in thy life a model see.
Here frugal nature still doth hide
From jealous eyes her prodigal power,
To one great man she points with pride
And on one saviour pours her dower." f
These awkward rhymes were probably composed by
a French officer who had served under Washington, and
had seen him striving with the suspicious factions of
Congress. Another person who claimed to be a sailor
*"Moi, j'ai vu ces hommes intSgres
Vant6s par tant d'honnetes gens
D'une main franchir des negres
Et de l'autre achever des blancs.
Un culte austere, un sol agreste,
La soif de l'or . . . un cceur cruel;
Pour guider son penchant funeste,
II n'attend qu'un nouveau Cromwell."
f" Sensible, valeureux, fidSle,
Et revere1 de l'ennemi,
L'honnete homme en fait son module
Et l'homme aimable son ami.
Ici la nature econome
N'irrite point les yeux jaloux !
Elle n'a produit qu'un grand homme,
Mais il est le salut de tous."

ioo SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
connected with the West India Company and "entirely
free from prejudices" showed his hand at once. He
complained that in sending artisans to the Americans,
and giving them the secrets of our trades and indus
tries, we might put them in a way to do without the
merchandise from Europe. It is reasonable to suppose
that this discontented talk, wherein personal spiteful-
ness is to be seen, may have found some credit among
those who were ruined, or had been directly concerned
in the immense losses of the French maritime commerce.
"The Court of France," writes Franklin to Congress,
June 2d, 1779, "continues to be our cordial friend, and
the whole nation is strongly in favor of our cause, with
exception of some Creoles and other merchants of the
West Indies whose losses have made them more or less
indifferent. "
There was scarcely any attention paid to this grum
bling. In that fine letter that Franklin wrote to Wash
ington a little later, March 5th, 1780, there is not a trace
of diplomacy: "Some day you will come to France.
On this side of the water you would enjoy the great
reputation that you have acquired. It would be free
from the reproaches made by the jealousy and envy of
fellow citizens, the contemporaries of a great man who
strive to cast a slur upon him while he is living.
You would know here what posterity will say of Wash
ington, and you would enjoy your glory, for a thou
sand miles have almost the same effect as a thousand
years. The murmur of all these passions would not
know how to cross either time or space. As to the
present, I enjoy this pleasure in your place; for often
the old generals of this martial country, who study the
map of America and mark all of your operations, speak
before me of your exploits with sincere approbation and

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 101
great enthusiasm; they agree in giving you the title of
one of the greatest military leaders of the century."
At this time, Paris, as well as all France, was enthusi
astic about Paul Jones. Before Fenimore Cooper and
our Alexandre Dumas had related the exploits of the
commodore, Mme. Vigee-Lebrun left us a fine portrait
d la plume of this illustrious corsair: "a poet in his leisure
hours, an ardent, modest soul who never spoke of his
own actions, but talked very well and with much in
telligence on all other subjects. A Scotchman by birth,
and it is said, son of a gardener." — On September 23d,
1779, while cruising along the coast of Scotland, after
a bloody combat, just at the moment that his vessel,
the Bonhomme Richard, was about to sink under him,
he jumped on board the Serapis and carried her off:
" Paul Jones in a battle manoeuvred right well
In outwitting the foes whom he fought;
As a clever coquette outmanoeuvres us ali,
When we think we have caught her, we're caught." *
Marechal de Biron had the regiment of the Gardes-
Francaises on parade to show them to the commander
of the Bonhomme Richard. Paris and Nantes were
infatuated with him. All society rushed to the win
dows, or hurried to the opera, to see the commodore.
On October 17th the army of the Count de Vaux was
disbanded. And now since the project of the attack
upon England is given up, what will La Fayette do?
From the month of August he had been urging an
attack upon England in America; he had the idea
in mind continually that of late, through political
*" Jones, dans les combats, en ressources fertiles,
Agit envers ses ennemis,
Comme agit envers nous une coquette habile
On croit la prendre, et Ton est pris."

102 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
action, he had estranged Congress. We can imagine
what his thoughts must have been, when, on the 27th
of August, the grandson of Franklin put into his hands,
at Havre, the sword of honor where French artists had
engraved Monmouth, Barren Hill, Gloucester. America
delivered offered a branch of laurel to a young warrior.
Cur non, the new device of La Fayette, and crescam ut
prosim, the motto which Franklin proposed to his coun
try, gave eloquence to this persuasive sword. Cur non ?
Why not ? Already, on August 13th, he advised sending
troops to the Americans ; and he insisted on September
nth: "I know some good patriots who, by such a de
mand, would fear to increase their obligations to France.
But this fear should not stop us. . . . If the United
States do not desire it, then I believe we should create in
them the desire for it." Three weeks after, Washington
wrote very cordially, almost tenderly, to the marquis;
and La Fayette remarked these words in his letter:
" Whether you return with the title of officer, commanding a
corps of brave Frenchmen, or of that of Major General placed
at the head of an American Division. ... I shall always
welcome your arrival upon the soil of Columbia with all
the demonstration of a most sincere friendship." This
allusion was sufficient; in January, 1780, he tried to in
fluence Maurepas, the most difficult one to move. A
letter from Hamilton brought the marquis the necessary
reinforcement to persuade the Minister that America
awaited him: "It is in the spring," he said, on January
25th, "that it is important for me to arrive. One should
count upon the voyage taking, at least, two months,
and be ready to sail by the end of February. The letter
should be written to America before two weeks have
passed. In four weeks I should like to begin operations
in earnest, for which there is no need for a response from
Madrid."

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 103
How much the harmony between the two nations was
due to the cleverness and tact of La Fayette a fragment
from a letter to Washington, dated October 7th, 1779,
will be sufficient proof; in it you see both the irascibility
of the Americans and the artful way the marquis
quiets them: "I see through an American journal that
a report, invented in England, has been spread abroad
in the United States. It pretends, that at the head of
15,000 officers and sub-officers, I am going to embark,
and put a corps of soldiers of your army under their
orders, to form an American Army by military dis
cipline. ... I cannot help thinking that this is a
reflection upon the American Army. The English troops
can recall some occasions when I had neither to complain
of the discipline, nor of the ardor of the troops that I
had the honor to command. As long as we have to deal
with the same army, we will have to seek for other per
fections than the same qualities which have often put
my comrades in a way of giving, and not of receiving,
good enough lessons to an enemy, whose justly renowned
courage gives an added lustre to the bravery and mili
tary conduct of the Americans. I beg you, my dear
General, to have this answer printed in several journals."
Whether La Fayette was responsible for the decision
of the French Ministry or not, is a question rather diffi
cult to solve. However, it is certain that from De
cember, since the arrival of the bad news about Savan
nah, De Vergennes inclined more and more toward a
decisive action in regard to America. The decision was
made in February. It was decided that La Fayette
should depart in advance; on March 10th he went on
board the Hermione; the nth he set sail, and on April
27th he arrived at Boston, where his friends gave him a
"triumphal" welcome. His mission was to make ar
rangements with the Americans to receive a French

104 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
fleet and an army corps to be disembarked at Rhode
Island. With him was De Cornay, War Commissioner.
Before making the acquaintance of Rochambeau, let
us see what has been taking place in America since the
departure of D'Estaing.
The preparations for war were resumed. At the same
time that he evacuated Rhode Island in order to con
centrate his forces on New York, Sir Henry Clinton
had abandoned the posts of Stony Point and Verplanck's
Point on the Hudson. By the end of September, re
inforcements arrived for him from Europe. It is re
markable that the English general did not then think
of taking back the positions that he had left to the
Americans. It was toward the south that he wished to
make the strongest resistance. Seven thousand men,
under the escort of Admiral Arbuthnot, were conducted
to South Carolina. Still the two parties (the English
and the Americans) watched each other closely, both
uneasy as to the consequences of a repulse. And the
English did not seem very anxious to engage in uncer
tain operations since, in spite of their success at Savan
nah, they did not undertake immediately the siege of
Charleston. The middle of September the Americans
were able to reinforce their army in the South. Wash
ington realized, not without apprehension, that the
Virginia regiments, in order to reach South Carolina,
where they would perhaps have to endure hard fighting,
had to pass through their own State, whence they had
been kept away a long time by the war. He recom
mended to General Woodford severe measures against
desertion. He had faith in the honor of the troops,
but he counted none the less upon strict discipline;
he ordered the officers to hold their men well in hand,

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 105
to pay constant and rigorous attention to details of
equipment and manoeuvre. By these instructions we
feel that a pupil of Frederick II, Baron Steuben, had
gained some influence over him: "The troops," said
Washington, "must move like a piece of clockwork."
During the winter the American general, Lord Stirling,
invaded Staten Island, and to retaliate the English
made a raid in New Jersey upon Elizabethtown : there
was a skirmish near White Plains. Finally, in the
spring, Charleston was besieged by water and land. The
resistance lasted from the 1st of April until the nth of
May. As the general assault was about to be made,
General Lincoln yielded to the supplications of the in
habitants and capitulated. South Carolina was rich;
she thought too much of her plantations for her firmness
of mind net to be easily shaken. Through fear of fire
and pillage, the richest landowners not only affirmed
that they were good Tories, but offered to fight for the
King. The same parties a little later, at the approach
of Gates, became Americans again; for in their hearts
the Carolinians hated the yoke; and rather than sub
mit to it any longer they began to emigrate. Lord
Cornwallis, in July and September, had to forbid the
sale of lands and cattle. It can be said that if the fall
of Charleston led to some disloyalty, at the end of a
few months of English occupation, it had restored the
spirit of independence.*
In June General Knyphausen gathered together all
the forces in New York and marched across New Jersey.
He had several encounters with the American troops,
of which the most violent was at Springfield; and he
had to retire to Staten Island. About this time Sir
Henry Clinton was returning from Charleston; Wash-
*See Le Boucher, La Guerre de V Independence des Etats-Unis.

106 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
ington believed that he would try to force the passage
of the Hudson; he then withdrew his army from the
river so that he could rapidly face an attack, either in
the mountainous region near the North River, or upon
the New Jersey plains.
Such was the situation on July 7th when Rocham-
beau's fleet carrying the French expeditionary corps
appeared off Rhode Island. Henceforth Washington
had but one thought: to take New York. But we
are going to see the fate of the war decided in the
South. The indomitable will of Washington and his clear
mind, aided by a number of men full of energetic spirit,
continued to hold up the faltering destiny of America.
By an effort, constantly threatened, he averted the
consequences of a ruinous anarchy. The young re
public suffered a serious crisis of authority. According
to the words of Joseph Jones, member of the Federal
Assembly, the Congress "had by degrees given back or
given up, to the different States, the exercise of their
rights, and the powers that they had claimed and used
to the fullest extent, so that there barely remained one
duty to Congress — the direction of foreign affairs. The
resources in wheat and cattle were not wanting; but
Washington noted in the people an extreme avarice
and indolence," a dogged hostility against all measures
which would interfere with their present interest, so
that a more general and far-reaching good would ensue.
He had seen enough of it during this terrible winter of
1780, when his soldiers were dying with hunger. In
order to feed this army upon which depended the salva
tion of the country, Washington had to establish requisi
tion. But, aside from the fact that the state of the roads
rendered transportation often impracticable, the owners

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 107
showed very little haste to furnish their cattle and wheat.
In vain the estimation would be made in concert with
the magistrate of the colony and the commissary officer,
all the precautions taken so as not to hurt the feelings
of these friends of independence, or their extreme sus
ceptible sense of ownership . . . but nothing could de
stroy this distrust. We can imagine what the army must
have suffered for Washington to have written the follow
ing words to the civil authorities of New Jersey, in Janu
ary, 1780: "The soldiers cannot bear much longer the ex
tremities to which they are reduced. Pressed by hunger,
they have gone so far as to commit depredations upon
the property of the inhabitants, which at any other time
would be suppressed with exemplary punishment. But
to-day, it can only be deplored as the result of a cruel
necessity." Thus, the soldiers of Washington pillaged in
order to live. In May two regiments of the line revolted
with their arms in their hands, and "without the efforts
of some officers," wrote the general to Congress, "the
rest of the army would have followed their example, each
one quitting the ranks and returning home, seeking to
procure food at the point of the bayonet."
There was hardly anything that Congress could do
for the army: "As far as it is concerned," quoting again
from Joseph Jones, "it is only the channel through which
the needs of the army are transmitted to the States.
Besides, the army has to have prompt decisions: no
action is possible, if all depends upon the slow delibera
tions of a body as large as Congress." Washington ob
tained the privilege of creating a small committee of
war, residing permanently at General Headquarters and
provided "with unlimited authority to levy men, rein
forcements of all kinds, and to sanction military opera
tions."

108 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Washington knew that a crisis demanded deter
mination — decision. La Fayette gave him the assur
ance that his most Christian Majesty was sending a
fleet with troops, and so he constantly recalled to Con
gress, to the Colonial Assembly of Pennsylvania, to
James Duane, Philip Schuyler, John Matthews, Na
thaniel Peabody, Joseph Jones, Reed, this important
truth with which it was necessary to flagellate the weak
ening courage of the people: "That if the Americans,
by extraordinary efforts do not second the good will of
the King of France, the expected aid will only precipi
tate the ruin of America: If we fail, the resources of the
States will be so exhausted in the enterprise, that a con
dition of complete debility and inertia will result ; so we
must at any price awaken the public to the danger : That
the actual crisis is so grave that, if it does not inspire
sacrifices in proportion to the circumstances, it will be
a proof that our ideas of honor, public welfare, even of
salvation have lost their influence upon our minds. . . .
The Court of France is making a glorious effort for our
freedom ; if, through our inactivity we deceive her hopes
we shall be worthy of contempt in the eyes of the whole
human race, and we cannot hope that our allies will per
sist in their project, when they find us devoid of capacity,
and even of the desire to aid them." Washington
thought, moreover, that France imposed upon herself
"a great and super-human effort" to save America:
neither in money nor in the navy could her resources
compare with those of inexhaustible England. As to
Spain, he only recognized in her a failure to act; he
knew, at last, that the two courts would never arrive
at a complete understanding about the war. It was
necessary then to seize the precarious and supreme
chance that destiny offered to America: if all her power

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 109
did not rise up and blend with the French energy, her
liberty was lost.
How Washington forced the public into a resolution
to act, there is no keener testimony than his letter of
July 4th, 1780, to Reed, President of the Assembly of
Pennsylvania. He demands responsible heads of affairs
who will exercise rigorously the plenitude of their
powers: "When the aim is high," he said, "the atten
tion of the people is awakened; they will be more dis
posed to sacrifice their property and welfare. If those
to whom is confided the direction of their affairs do not
urge them to make these sacrifices, the object is not at
tained. Then the people will be reproached for not hav
ing done their duty; they will be sensitive to this re
proach, and their resentment will turn against those
who, invested with sufficient authority, have not done
what their interest and honor required."
Washington dared to call the faults that were being
committed by the name of dishonor. There was one
of them for which the States had a surprising indul
gence; at least, the repression of it was very lax. The
commerce with the enemy was called felony; but those
who were occupied in this business were not declared
traitors to their country. The traffic with New York
was immense. "We see persons," wrote the general to
John Sullivan, February 4th, 1781, "who, three years
ago, would have trembled at the very idea of such in
tercourse, seek it now with avidity . . . knowing that
all they have to fear is confiscation, to the profit of the
informer, and he easily evades this danger by both par
ties coming to an understanding with each other, no one
is accused and they act without any risk." For such
persons Washington demanded the death penalty. In
this manner the United States was not only undergoing

no SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
a crisis of authority but a crisis of national conscience
as well. A few men felt this weakness deeply; they
became ashamed of it; they resolved to fight, and the
country was saved. Washington perceived the bond
between the straightening out and raising up of the
public conscience on the one side and the establishment
of strong authority on the other. Who could have been
able like him to have urged Congress to take possession,
as a right that belonged to it, of all power, "in harmony
with the plan of campaign " that was going to be put into
operation; to have summoned them to get out of the
old rut; to tolerate no longer "that one State disobey
its orders while another obeyed, or a third put false
meaning on its measures, or adopted only a part of them;
or that sacrifices would be made only on condition that
some other State would make them"; and finally to say
that jealousy and distrust among the States paralyzed
the central authority? Undoubtedly order was neces
sary for the government of moral forces; and Wash
ington saw clearly to what extent they depended upon
political regulations. They should prescribe instead of
recommend. In the difficult days, when it would seem
that the American people were going to fail in their duty
to their leaders, or that the leaders would fail the peo
ple, Washington would recall to some the belief in their
destiny, to others that of their mission.

CHAPTER VII
THE EXPEDITIONARY CORPS OF ROCHAMBEAU — THE
DEFENSIVE — CO-OPERATION OF THE FRENCH
WITH THE AMERICANS
Lieutenant-General Count de Rochambeau, like Ron-
sard, came from a very ancient family of Vendome,
and in the year 1780 was fifty years old. Since he first
took up arms, forty years had passed: it was in Ger
many under Marechal de Saxe. At Lawfeld he received
his first two wounds, from which he nearly lost his life.
He was in all the wars and always in the most exposed
positions; in the advance-guard if they were attacked,
in the rear-guard if they were beating a retreat. Dur
ing the Seven Years' War he commanded the noted
regiment of Auvergne, which paid for its victory at
Clostercamp with 58 officers and 800 soldiers killed and
wounded. Upon that day, wounded himself, he re
mained upon the field of battle until the victory was torn
from the hands of the enemy. M. Jusserand states that
Chevalier d'Assas died heroically while executing an
order given by Rochambeau; he also notes that in the
second battle of Minden, in 1759, where La Fayette's
father fell, Rochambeau covered the retreat of the
French, and that in the British ranks Lord Cornwallis
fought. — Twenty-two years later we see these two vet
erans face to face at Yorktown.
It is by his work that Rochambeau has to be known.
Without being exactly in disfavor at court, he never
sought for any honors, and they never came to him.
in

112 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
He was field-marshal twenty years before he was pro
moted to lieutenant-general in 1780. He had the con
firmed reputation of being exact and prudent; an ener
getic commander, beloved by his men and careful of
their lives; but a very strict disciplinarian. He had
lost his father and had left his home in the rue du
Cherche-Midi in Paris to go and regulate his affairs of
succession in Vendome, suffering at the time from
rheumatism. Just at this moment a courier arrived
from the King in the middle of the night and "brought
him an order to go to Versailles and receive other orders
from His Majesty." He was to put himself at the head
of an expeditionary corps that the King, by a decision
which was kept secret, was sending to his allies. He
forgot his own interests and his rheumatism: "I swear
to serve His Majesty in this commission with all the
zeal I possess to my dying hour." This was about the
first of March, 1780.
Everything was promptly regulated. And yet, how
many questions to be decided ! One of the principal
things to be considered was the number of soldiers.
Through discretion, for fear of awakening the dark
suspicions of Congress, the Ministry dared not give more
than 4,000 men. The relative modesty of this aid was
a guarantee that France did not pretend to abrogate to
herself the privilege of conquest, that she had no idea
of making conquests at all ; that her aid was not that of
usurpation. But Rochambeau protested that "for the
glory of the arms of the King," even with the greatest
vigilance, 4,000 men was too small a number and soon
depleted ; it was easy to lose a third of them in one action
of the infantry. At Lawfeld, Creveld, and Clostercamp
he had lost two-thirds of his men. He, therefore, asked
for 6,000, sure "that this increase in the number would

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 113
still be too small to make the Americans uneasy."
This many were given him, and even a few more.
Then came the question of provisions. We can
hardly realize to-day what difficulties they had to over
come. Rochambeau had the time to get information
from La Fayette about the domestic situation of our
allies. " Much flour and sea-biscuit had to be taken with
them," he noted. "Put in brick for ovens, as ballast.
Try to take everything with you and not to depend
upon the Americans who are in great need. . . . Flint
stones, harness, leather, shoes; all kinds of goods for
clothes, hats, thread, needles, bed-clothing, tents, water
flasks, canteens, tools of all kinds; . . . and besides,
have the soldier's knapsack well filled, have big sup
plies for each regiment."
"Not only is it necessary," said the Minister of War,
then the Prince de Montbarrey, "to provide abundantly
for all the needs of the body for the troops, but it is in
the wisdom and magnanimity of the King, who wishes
to give material aid to his Allies, to take into considera
tion the means to remedy the evils that circumstances
have forced upon them, and to have them feel the effects
of his beneficence, at the same time that he aids them
with his army to sustain the justice of their cause."
Consequently a part of the funds destined for the ex
pedition were converted into merchandise; they took
with them the food that the Americans lacked the most,
so as to exchange it, when necessary, for things that
would be needed by their own troops. And they also
carried money with them. "We will pay our Allies
for everything, even the straw for the soldier. . . .
The King, in spending his money, will find the oppor
tunity of doing a great good to the country of his Allies;
for in using his silver he will give more active circula-

114 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
tion to their paper money." "The more ready money
we shall have," said Rochambeau again to the Minister,
"the better will we be able to do the King's business
ceremoniously." Necker was finally persuaded; Ro
chambeau received a first installment in piastres of
2,625,000 francs; he was to receive 1,575,000 francs
more. The annual expense foreseen, for maintaining six
regiments of infantry in the United States, was more
than 6,000,000 francs.
Indeed it was no small enterprise in those days to
gather enough ships together to transport to the other
side of the ocean the weight, relatively enormous, of the
siege and field equipment. They did not take any
horses; De Corny had been ordered to buy them, over
there, in the United States; 750 for the artillery, food
and supply, and hospital service; 350 for the hussars
of the legion of Lauzun, and 140 for the staff officers.
De Tarle, ordnance officer, doing the duties of quarter
master, had already much work to do to see that "all
the goods and food supply of the King" were "well
packed and distributed." From Saint Malo, Nantes,
Port Louis near Lorient, and from Havre, artillery muni
tions were transported to Brest; the field-hospitals,
folding cots, cotton and straw mattresses, surgical in
struments, coming from Saint Malo, where preparations
had been made in 1779, when there was thought of land
ing in England. The regiments were billeted as fol
lows: Bourbonnais at Lamballe, Neustrie and Anhalt
at Quimper, Soissonnais at Hennebont, Saintonge at
Crozon and Camaret, Royal-Deux-Ponts at Lander-
neau and Saint Pol-de-Leon. And lastly, Rocham
beau himself was at Brest from the 26th of March.
They were in need of ships; finally 100 sails arrived
from Bordeaux: these were coast trading vessels. Now

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 115
it was necessary to depart, so Rochambeau gathered
together all the shipping that was in the port of
Brest, 32 ships, a total of 12,800 tons, embarked 5,000
men, and left in their cantonment the regiments of An-
halt and Neustrie, which made Count de Wittgenstein,
their commander, weep "tears of blood"; he also left
behind a third of the artillery and a third of the legion
of Lauzun. This second division was to rejoin him as
soon as they could get the necessary ships; but they
were never able to procure them.
It was forbidden to take officers "who were volunteers,
or who had never seen action." As to the soldiers,
"their eagerness to go made them dissemble every
thing that could be an obstacle to their departure."
Rochambeau was determined that they were not to take
any but the most robust. Everybody wanted to go.
The Brigadier de Choisy, his aide-de-camp De Queissat,
Brentano, Angelis went on board the admiral's vessel
and pleaded with Rochambeau to take them with him;
the order was positive; they must remain with Witt
genstein. Although the ranks were all filled, others
received from the Minister of War the permission to take
passage: such was the case of the two Berthiers, of which
one was the future Prince de Wagram. On May 3d,
as the fleet was going out to sea, they joined the cutter
of the rear-guard, "in short jackets and linen breeches,"
said Rochambeau, "offering to go as common sailors."
But there was no place for them on any of the boats;
the Chevalier de Ternay, who commanded the squad
ron, "having no place to cram them," sent "these poor
young men back in despair." A little later, these
youthful enthusiasts and the Marquis de Choisy, the
Viscount de Melfort, and some others, left France upon '
the Cybele for Martinique, where the frigate Gentille

116 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
took them on board and landed them, on the 30th of
September, at Newport.
At the head of the troops which bore the names of
our provinces, the most brilliant part of the French
nobility departed on this glorious adventure. The
destination of the fleet remained a secret. Rocham
beau had three field-marshals with him : the Baron and
the Viscount de Viomesnil and the Chevalier de Chas
tellux; the quartermaster-general was Brigadier de
Beville. His aides-de-camp were, respectively, De Fer-
sen, De Damas, De Lameth, De Closen, Mathieu Dumas,
De Lauberdiere, Vauban, De Montesquieu. The Mar
quis de Laval-Montmorency commanded the Bourbon-
nais regiment, with the son of the general, the Viscount
de Rochambeau, as second; the Soissonnais regiment
had the Count de Saint Maime for colonel and the Vis
count de Noailles for colonel in second; Saintonge had the
Count de Custine and the Count de Charlus, son of
the Marquis de Castries, who will soon be called to the
Ministry of War; Royal-Deux-Ponts had the Counts
Christian and Guillaume; the Lauzun Legion was led
by the Duke de Lauzun; Colonel d'Aboville was in
high command of the artillery, Colonel Desandrouin
of the engineers. Among the captains of the ten ves
sels of convoy were La Perouse and La Clocheterie.
The embarkation was completed by April nth, but
the winds did not permit them to sail until May 2d.
And what a delay, causing accidents ! One day it was
the Comtesse de Noailles who broke her bowsprit in
running against the Conquerant; and the young Baron
de Closen observed with much distress that at the same
time, the "charming countess," who ornamented in
effigy the prow of the boat, had been broken in pieces;
it was repaired, but "the countess" remained without

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 117
a head, "like many other countesses." Another time
they looked for De Dillon, so courageous the past year
at Savannah and in the West Indies, now colonel in
second of the Lauzun regiment: he had disappeared.
Impatient and restless, he had gone to seek distraction at
Nantes, and had a quarrel : he finally returned with two
sword wounds, and Rochambeau had to put him "under
arrest on his own ship so as to care for his wounds and
punish his misconduct." Chevalier de Ternay was a
wise old sailor, much more concerned about leading his
convoy safely into port than to acquire glory on the high
seas. It was sufficient for him to get there in advance
of Graves's fleet. He avoided opportunities for fight
ing. The young officers blamed him but Rochambeau
rendered him full justice. After missing some fine ad
ventures, and seventy days at sea, plus the twenty-
seven passed in the harbor at Brest, the French squadron
arrived safely at last, on July 7th, 1780, off the coast of
Rhode Island.
Their first welcome in Newport seemed to the French
men a little cold. Count Guillaume de Deux-Ponts,
issue of a morganatic marriage between a German
baron and a Frenchwoman, who had not disdained at
one time to be a danseuse, was easily put out of humor.
He noted: "Upon disembarking we have not received
the welcome that is due to us. Coldness and reserve
seem, up to this moment, the distinctive characteristic
of the American nation; they are very little given to
that enthusiasm which one would suppose that a people
would have who were fighting for their liberty, and they
do not inspire it in others. ' ' Rochambeau says about the
same thing: "The streets are deserted, and there are
sad, dismayed glances from the windows." The good

118 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Abbe Robin, whose subsequent testimony is already a
little legend, says : "The arrival of the Count de Rocham
beau spread terror everywhere; the country was de
serted, and those whom curiosity led to Newport did
not meet any one in the streets." We have learned
since, and the abbe recalls it also to our mind, that the
French were generally "regarded as slaves to despotism;
full of prejudices and superstition; nearly idolaters in
their religion, and like kinds of lightweight machines,
not well formed, incapable of firmness, or of consistency,
occupied only with the care of curling their hair, and
painting their faces; without faith and not respecting
the most sacred duties." There are some Quakers who
would not find this exaggerated.
But opinion was very quickly changed. Rochambeau
"spoke to the important men of the city" and in
"twenty-four hours," he reports to the Ministry,
"their spirits began to reach a high pitch; in the evening
of July 12th, the streets and all the houses and the
belfries were illuminated; and there were fireworks."
The president of Yale University, Ezra Stiles, tells us:
"The Whigs put thirteen lanterns in their windows, the
Tories, or those who were undecided, four or six. As to
the Quakers, they preferred not to show the light of
their candles, and had their windows smashed."
To brighten their spirits, Rochambeau circulated the
report that his 5,000 men were but "the advance guard
of a much larger force, and that the King had decided
to sustain the Americans with all the power he pos
sessed." But that which really cheered their hearts more
than anything else was their contact with the French
character; they did everything they could to dissipate
the American prejudices. The abbe did not stint his
praises of these fine young noblemen, who adapted them-

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 119
selves with such perfect ease to other habits and cus
toms, winning their way by their kindliness, setting ex
amples of simplicity of manners and frugality, and above
all, "knowing how to make themselves agreeable and
popular, as if they were living among equals." They
wondered at it more than was necessary, for doleful
faces had long since passed out of fashion in Paris;
that is, if they ever had been in vogue. The Tories
were completely won over; and we find that Lauzun did
not have need to complain of the people of Newport;
he acknowledges his indebtedness to them very grace
fully in his Memoires: "Madame Hunter, a widow of
thirty-six, had two charming daughters whom she had
educated with great care; she lived a very retired life,
hardly seeing any one. By chance, I made her acquain
tance when I arrived at Rhode Island. She was ex
ceedingly friendly toward me, and I was soon regarded
as a member of the family, where I passed most of my
time. I fell sick and she had me taken to her home,
where I received the tenderest care. I was never in
love with these young ladies (the Misses Hunter) ; but
if they had been my sisters I could not have had more
affection for them; above all, the eldest, who had one of
the most amiable dispositions I ever observed." What ,
would the Quakers of the neighborhood have said if
they had known that this Don Juan, this corrupted fruit
of the abominable Babylon, was admitted to the honest,
tranquil fireside of this young widow, and found happi
ness there !
French discipline was another object of surprise and
admiration. Count Jean Axel de Fersen, the charming
Swede, who, with an ardent, chivalrous heart, was
devoted to the Queen, Marie Antoinette, noted on Sep
tember 8th that although they were not particular!}

120 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
inclined to speak in favor of our soldiers, there had not
been a complaint raised against them : "Nothing is taken
from the inhabitants without paying them for it. They
are astonished at this discipline . . . for they are ac
customed to the pillage of the English and their own
troops. The greatest confidence and the best under
standing exists between the two nations." La Fayette's
account has more zest to it and goes more into detail:
"You would have been amused the other day," he
writes on the 31st to Washington, "at seeing 250 recruits
who came to Connecticut without provisions and tents,
and who fraternized so well with our French troops, that
each Frenchman — officer or soldier — took an American,
and in a friendly way shared his bed and supper with him.
The patience and the soberness of the American militia
is so admired, that two days ago a French colonel called
his officers together to induce them to follow the good
example given by the American troops. And on the
other hand, French discipline is so good, that chickens
and pigs go around among the tents without being
disturbed, and in the camp there is a field of corn, and
not a stalk has been touched. The Tories do not know
what to make of it."
This incident reminds me of another. I wonder if
Rochambeau knew what Montaigne related about the
"apple-tree within the enclosure of the camp of the
Roman Army. It was found, the next day when they
had gone, to be unmolested, leaving to the owner the
entire count of his ripe and delicious fruit." The
French army did as well ; it is Rochambeau who verifies
the story: "The different deputations of Indians who
came to the camp showed no surprise at the view of the
cannon, the troops and the manoeuvres, but they could
not get over their astonishment, at seeing the apple

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 121
trees hanging full of fruit above the tents that the
soldiers occupied for three months."
Washington was not then too optimistic when he
addressed, in this way, the American troops in his order
of the day for July 20th: "The General does not hesi
tate to assure the army that the French soldiers come to
our aid, animated with a zeal founded upon their sym
pathy for us, as much as it is upon their submission to the
will of the King, and they will do all on their side to live
in good faith and keep our friendship." Diplomatic
words, no doubt, but there is justice in them. I would
be willing to wager that Soissonnais, Agenais, Bour-
bonnais, and all the other regiments made it a point of
honor to conduct themselves as true soldiers of liberty
and sons of a noble race; for the discipline that was
imposed upon them would not have been sufficient. The
old virtues of France appeared to have more charm
when they smilingly came to offer themselves to the
service of a great ideal in danger.
However, their good comradeship did not cover the
needs of the Americans. From July 6th Rochambeau
began to implore the Ministry: "Send us troops, ships,
money; but do not count upon these people nor upon
their means ; they are without a crown or credit. Their
forces exist only for brief moments; that is, when they
are attacked in their homes; they assemble, then, at
the time of personal danger, and defend themselves.
Washington commands sometimes 15,000, and again
3,000 men. We have brought only 2,600,000 livres,
half in cash and the rest in letters of credit. We should
have brought double this amount." An unyielding
economy, where we should have had "magnificence and
profusion," has ruined our credit. "Our letters of credit

122 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
are losing their value terribly, and we have to carry on
our business with the greatest order; and for lack of
money like profligate sons. And then the scurvy has
ravaged our army." "I will have to admit," wrote
Rochambeau to the Minister of War on July 25th,
"that if the enemy had been quicker, he could have em
barrassed us not a little: 1,500 of my men sick on the
ships, 800 in the army."
Happily the enemy was slow. Graves had rejoined
Arbuthnot on July 13th; against the six ships of the
line of De Ternay the English had ten. But when they
appeared at Newport on the 21st, Rochambeau, in twelve
days' work, had rendered his position respectable. The
big cannon had not been taken to the land ; in twenty-
four hours this was done. The blow was avoided. The
French camp divided the island crosswise, its left on the
sea, its right facing the squadron at anchor; Rocham
beau could always get the line of attack the shortest way
at the point where the enemy wished to land, "while
in order to vary his points of attack the enemy had to
make a great circle." "Day before yesterday," wrote
Rochambeau on the 25th, "the whole day they were
sniffing at us within reach of the cannon . . . just at
the moment that we were eager for them to attack us;
but they were careful not to do it, and they did well;
for it would not have been very good for them."
Washington did not feel so reassured. He knew, and
warned Rochambeau, that Clinton had embarked 8,000
men to go and make an assault upon Newport, so he sent
5,000 militia to aid the French. Rochambeau began to
send them back, "for fear of ruining their crops," per
haps, also, because they arrived, as he told Luzerne,
"with much courage, but without tents and munitions,
badly armed and no food." But finally from advice

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 123
again received from the general-in-chief, and the gover
nor of Connecticut, he resolved to keep 2,000 of them,
until he could make sure of his safe communication with
the mainland by a fort he was having constructed on the
end of the island. In spite of Rochambeau's great desire,
Clinton did not come : the sudden menace of Washington
on the east bank of the Hudson made him decide to re
turn as soon as possible to New York. This divergence
did not please Rochambeau at all. "Misunderstandings
began to take place" between the two commanders.
The American general wanted to take New York first;
the French general thought the enterprise impossible.
La Luzerne began to take part in this argument, and
Rochambeau demonstrated to him that, in order to
force 15,000 Englishmen out of their intrenchments, it
was necessary to have ships and equipment superior to
theirs, and they were far from having that superiority.
"We do not want to have a repetition of the Savannah
affair here ! " Then, on August 9th, La Fayette writes
a long and urgent letter to Rochambeau, concluding with
these words: "In the name of Washington come and
join us immediately so as to make an attack on New
York. " " This was a kind of summons, ' ' said the general
later, " and its principle was perfectly correct because it
was based upon the politics of the country, and this
campaign seemed to be the last effort of Washington's
patriotism." But Rochambeau felt hurt, for Washington's silence
appeared to indicate that he was "using" the ardor and
petulance of La Fayette in order "to express with more
energy" his own sentiments. The marquis was mis
taken if he thought he could move this veteran of many
wars by the vehemence of his words: he was not one
of those persons that could be led by force, and his

124 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
will — in which Fersen discovered a spark of defiance —
was colder and more determined when they tried to
seduce or excite him. He answered: " Firstly, that if
Washington had allowed Clinton to go to Rhode Island,
he [Rochambeau] would have had him beaten, and
Washington, in the meantime, could have taken New
York. Secondly, that the Americans were wrong to
complain; while the English fleet was watching the
French fleet, the coasts were unmolested, the corsairs
of the Union were taking some fine prizes, and the mari
time commerce had full liberty. Under such easy con
ditions they could afford to wait."
La Fayette acknowledged that he was wrong. His
real feelings on the subject he only expressed to his wife :
"As I saw that I could not persuade him, and it was to
the public interest that we should remain good friends,
I announced everywhere that I was in the wrong; that
I had made a mistake ; and, in proper terms I asked for
pardon." And then Washington wrote to Rochambeau
that he agreed with him, except in a few details; with
much cleverness and dignity, he suggested a plan that he
had in view "of turning the defensive to the offensive."
He gave Rochambeau satisfaction upon this essential
point: that if the French troops had left Rhode Island
immediately, unless timidity diverted their purpose, the
English navy would have burned the squadron of De
Ternay. Rochambeau felt appeased and he relented;
his letter of the 27th of August to La Fayette shows him
in a most amiable frame of mind: "Permit me, my dear
Marquis, as an old father to a tenderly loved son, to one
whom he loves and esteems infinitely well, to answer you.
You know me well enough to believe that I have no
need of being urged. ... It is good to think that the
French are invincible, but I am going to confide a secret

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 125
to you, after an experience of forty years : there are none
more easy to conquer when they have lost confidence
in their commanders; and they lose it immediately
when they have been compromised by the consequences
of a personal or a particular ambition." He could
render this much justice to himself that, out of 15,000
men killed or wounded under his command "in the
most bloody actions," he had not "killed one to gratify
his own ambition." Let us praise the cavilling that
obliged "old father Rochambeau" to produce such fine
testimony !
This good, stern man had a pure conscience; on the
19th of October, after three months of inactivity,
which was not inertia, he could send his balance-sheet
to Montbarrey : " The strong, firm offensive, where we have
shown our teeth to the enemy upon the first rock of our
Allies, upon which we have landed, without his making us
recoil one step; the good effect that it has produced on
this continent, which was in a very precarious condition
on our arrival ; the commerce of the Americans, and the
large number of prizes that they have taken during this
campaign, all the forces of the enemy being united and
directed against us; the re-establishment of the affairs
of Gates, who has rallied and reorganized his army, for
neither a ship nor a man from New York has been in
condition to second the operations of Cornwallis, who
has not had sufficient men to follow up his victory."
On August 1 6th Lord Cornwallis had defeated Gates
at Camden, South Carolina; the Continental troops did
their duty, but the distress was great when it was
learned that suddenly the militia had given up. The
following morning near the ford cf the Catawba, Colonel
Tarleton, who commanded a strong detachment of

126 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
English cavalry, surprised 700 Americans, "killing 150,
taking 300 prisoners and dispersing the rest." But
at this moment in the heart of the Americans there
was one of those sudden rebounds which often recur
after great losses. The English had been extremely
hard upon those they had allpwed to take up arms again,
after having sworn to them the oath of fidelity when
Charleston fell. At King's Mountain, on the 7th of
October, the American troops in retaliation turned upon
1,200 men, "killing a large number of them, with their
Commander, Colonel Ferguson, and taking the rest
prisoners." Lord Cornwallis was reduced to the de
fensive, and Sir Henry Clinton diminished the forces
in New York so as to send him assistance. Gates,
nevertheless, was recalled, and was replaced by Greene,
whom we will now see cover himself with glory. Baron
de Kalb was killed at Camden, at the head of an Ameri
can division, where he bore the brunt of the day's fight
ing. Rochambeau cites him in his Memoires as "a
French officer" ; and so he was by vocation and adoption.
Elsewhere, in the West Indies, Admiral Count de
Guichen had directed a brilliant crusade from March
to July, 1 780. First, he went through skilful evolutions
and splendid combats, where his adversary was the
famous Rodney, the gambler, delivered by Marechal de
Biron, who was at heart a sailor if he did have the spirit
of gambling in his veins. Then, in June, the arrival of a
Spanish squadron and the refusal of Admiral don Solano
to attempt with Guichen a united action against the
English fleet. And La Motte-Piquet, great protector,
in the West Indies, of the French and Spanish commerce,
met his cordial old enemy, Hyde Parker; or, rather, he
is going to seek him soon, and, like Annibal, find him,
and, wounded, remain at his post. Much glory but, on

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 127
account of the Spanish indecision, little result: Jamaica
was not taken, nor did St. Lucia become again a French
colony. There was certainly some spitefulness, and
almost despair, that made Guichen gather the merchant
ships together ready to go to sea from all ports of the
West Indies and set sail for France on August 16th,
leaving Monteil, the commander of the French squadron,
there with only ten ships at San Domingo.
De la Luzerne, La Fayette, and Washington appealed
to Guichen in vain. With the picture of Savannah be
fore him, he also was afraid to run the risk, with his
crews worn out and his ships in a bad state. He was
nearly seventy years old ; a naval officer of the first or
der, a man of honor, if ever there was one, who knew
how to distinguish "the extraordinary from the impossi
ble," which is the attribute of generous, noble hearts.
We have the touching letter that Washington wrote to
him on September 12th. Through him the general
thought that the French fleet had acquired a maritime
superiority sufficient, not to undertake anything in
regard to New York, but "to attempt something de
cisive in the extreme South." He told him that Gates
was defeated; that he had lost his cannon and baggage;
in fact, he told him everything: " To hide our embarrass
ment would be to betray each other." Guichen never
received this letter.
We can understand why Washington appeared sad
to Fersen, when on September 20th, 1780, Rochambeau
met him at Hartford (forty miles from Newport) for
the conference he had asked for so long, and from which
no plan of action for the near future was arranged.
"There were six of us," relates Fersen, who is the only
one who gives these details: "the Admiral, the Chief
Engineer (Desandrouin), the Viscount de Rochambeau

128 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
(the General's son), and two aides-de-camp, of whom
I was one. General de Rochambeau sent me in advance
to announce his arrival, and I had the opportunity of
seeing this most illustrious, if not most unique man, of
our century. His fine commanding face, kind and
honest, answered perfectly to his moral qualities; he
looked like a hero ; he was very cold in manner, spoke
but little (he did not know French; La Fayette was
there with Gouvion, who was also Chef du Genie, and
served as interpreter). It was unseemly that such
a countenance should be veiled by so much sadness."
The reason of Washington's sadness was that he judged
that the affairs of his country were in an almost hopeless
condition. A month before, telling the President of
Congress the miserable state of his army, he said:
"If there does not come a change in the mind and re
sources of this country, we can expect to be soon reduced
to the humiliating position of seeing, in America, the
American cause defended by foreign arms. The gener
osity of our Allies gives them the right to our entire
confidence. . . . But it is neither for the honor of the
Union nor to the interest of the common cause to let
them do it all."
While the generals were in conference at Hartford,
they received the news that the fleet of Admiral Rodney,
arriving at New York, tripled the English forces. They
hurried back to their posts. Here, let us relate a little
story told by Rochambeau, which is a fine example of the
character of the good Republicans of Connecticut: "In
going to meet Washington with Admiral de Ternay who
was quite infirm, our carriage broke down. I sent Fer
sen, my First Aide-de-camp, to find a wheelwright, who
lived about a mile away. He returned, saying that the
man was sick with the intermittent fever and suffering

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 129
very much, and had answered that he would not work at
night for his hat full of guineas. I asked the Admiral
to accompany me, and we went together to plead with
him. We told him that General Washington was arriv
ing that evening at Hartford, in order to confer with us
the next day, and that we would miss this meeting if he
did not repair our carriage. 'You are telling the
truth,' he said; 'I have read in the Connecticut papers
that Washington is to arrive this evening to have a talk
with you ; I see that this is public service, your carriage
will be ready at six o'clock in the morning.' He kept
his word and we went on our way at the hour indicated.
On returning another wheel broke and we were obliged
to go again and parley with the wheelwright. ' Well ! '
he said, 'you want to make me work, again, at night ? ' —
'Alas! yes,' I answered, 'Admiral Rodney has arrived,
and it is most important that we return at once to Rhode
Island.' — 'And pray what are you going to do with your
six ships against his twenty ? ' — ' It will be the finest day
of our lives, if he takes a notion to attack us in our
harbor.' — 'All right!' he replied. 'You are brave men;
you shall have your carriage by five o'clock in the morn
ing. But before I go to work, will you tell me, without
wishing to know your secrets, if you are contented with
Washington ? And if he is contented with you ? ' — We
gave him the assurance he desired; his patriotism was
satisfied, and he kept his word. I do not pretend to
say that all the Americans resemble this good wheel
wright, but all the farmers in the interior, and nearly all
the landed proprietors of Connecticut had the same
public spirit which could serve as a model for many
others." What Rochambeau did not take the trouble
to tell us, is that this is a very pretty example of the way
the Americans and French learned to love each other.

130 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Washington went from Hartford to West Point;
he had hardly arrived when he discovered General
Arnold's treason. But in spite of all these reverses,
there was one man who was continually evolving new
projects of immediate offensive, and who never ceased
recommending them to Washington, with admirable
tenacity and enthusiasm: this was the marquis. He
had under his command a selected corps of 2,000 men,
chosen from among the regiments of the line. "The
mutual attachment of this corps and its commander,"
they tell us, "passed as a proverb in America." He had
brought from France, "for a considerable sum, emblems
for the soldiers, swords for the officers and sub-officers,
and flags for the battalions." A troop well disciplined,
badly uniformed, but of fine appearance; they were
recognized by their tall red and black plumes. How was
it possible not to fight with such men as these ! The
activities of La Fayette, from October, 1 780, to January,
1 78 1, are as follows: At the beginning of October, a plan
of attack upon Staten Island, which failed for lack of
obtaining supplies; that is to say, for want of boats;
on October 30th, a plan of an expedition upon the
north of the island of New York, which was aban
doned after some reconnoitering of the ports. La
Fayette held to the idea that any enterprise would please
the public; "that even a defeat, provided it was not dis
astrous, would still have its good effects." Washington
responded, that an attempt which would prove unsuc
cessful would make matters worse ; and La Fayette, him
self, once before the forts, had very different impressions
from those his hope had raised; he could only curse
the English guard, the "fatal sentinel," that Gouvion
pointed out to him upon a certain high battery; and
then, he turned back. But he still sought his revenge;

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 131
and from Philadelphia, December 5th, he proposed to
Washington to concert immediately with the Spanish
who were then in the Floridas. What would Rocham
beau think? Happily, Washington asked himself this
question, and concluded "that it would be impolitic
and useless to propose a measure of co-operation with
a third power, without the aid of the French troops."
Now he knew that Rochambeau would not give in at
once. Finally, tired of insisting, the marquis became
resigned; but, on the 30th of January, 1781, he wrote
to Vergennes, representing to him that the defensive
position was "as dangerous as it was humiliating,"
that naval superiority must be given to us, and money
sent as soon as possible. This letter could not remain
without some result. La Fayette recommended to
the Minister, Lieutenant-Colonel Laurens, who was
charged by Congress with a mission to the court of
Versailles. We will soon see what instructions Wash
ington gave him and how he executed them.
But already the Viscount de Rochambeau, son of the
general, was in France, bearer of a complete memoran
dum of our needs in men, ships, and money. He was
also the bearer of all the dispatches of General Rocham
beau, and had learned them by heart, "so that he could
be able to render a verbal account to the Ministry, if
he had the misfortune to be caught, after having thrown
his papers overboard," and was sent back on parole.
On October 28th, 1781, taking advantage of a violent
wind-storm that had dispersed the English fleet, La
Perouse left Newport harbor upon the Amazone,
carrying the messenger from Rochambeau to France.
The frigate lost one of her masts, but she made her
escape, and the viscount was not taken prisoner by the
English. On the following 8th of May he returned upon

132 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
the Concorde. With him the new commander of the
squadron, Count de Barras, disembarked upon American
soil. He came to replace Admiral de Ternay, who died,
perhaps of chagrin, at being reduced to inaction so long.
On December 15th, 1780, Rochambeau had given well-
merited praise to the great probity of this excellent navi
gator whom Perouse mourned like a son for his father.
This should be enough to avenge him for other judg
ments less kind. His body reposes in the cemetery at
Newport; a marble slab was placed in a church of this
town through the consideration of the Marquis de
Noailles, Minister of France, which recalls the high
qualities and noble service of this naval officer, who died
upon a far-distant shore for his King and for American
liberty.

CHAPTER VIII
WINTER QUARTERS — CHEVALIER DE CHASTELLUX MAKES
A TOUR — CAMPAIGN OF WAR — IN THE CAROLINAS —
EXPEDITION IN THE CHESAPEAKE — EMBARRASSMENT
OF THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN EUROPE — FIDELITY
OF FRANCE
While the French Ministry is deliberating over the
demands of the French and American generals, let us
remain near them in America. In November the
armies went into winter quarters: the Pennsylvania
troops at Morristown, those of New Jersey at Pompton,
those of the east in the mountains of the north ; Wash
ington at New Windsor; the French army, with the
exception of Lauzun, never left Newport. It was with
regret that Lauzun took leave of Mrs. Hunter and her
charming daughters; there was no fodder in Rhode Isl
and for his cavalry. He departed then, on November
ioth, with all his horses for Lebanon, eighty miles dis
tant, in the forests of Connecticut. He complained of
having been chosen, because he knew English, "to reg
ulate an infinite number of details mortally tiresome."
Up to January nth he remained in this Siberia. Ro
chambeau praised him for having pleased the Americans
by his affable manners, and for having succeeded well in
all the affairs that he had treated, whether with Trum
bull, the aged governor, or the legislative body of the
State. "A good American," adds the general, "asked
Lauzun what his father's business was in France. —
'My father does not do anything,' he replied, 'but I
have an uncle who is a marechal ' (alluding, of course, to
133

134 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Marechal de Biron). — 'Good!' said the American, who
did not doubt but that he meant a farrier, knowing only
the one meaning of marechal himself ; and giving Lauzun
a hearty grasp of the hand, he continued: 'That's a fine
job.'" Chevalier de Chastellux paid a visit to poor Lauzun,
to help him pass away the weary hours. Lauzun enter
tained him with a squirrel hunt, and had him dine
with General Huntington and old Governor Trumbull.
We can imagine the life the duke led with the venerable
Mr. Trumbull. He was a little old man of seventy
years, a real burgomaster "of the days ofthe Heinsius'
and the Barnevelts," with a passionate love for business,
for either large or small affairs; "but indeed, there were
none that were small in his eyes." He wore the costume
of the first colonists. Chastellux saw him at Lebanon:
he approached a table already surrounded by twenty
officers of the hussars, and without being disconcerted
in the least, nor losing anything of the stiffness of his
dignity, he pronounced in a loud voice a long prayer in
the form of a blessing. Do not think for an instant that
he excited the risibility of his audience; it was too
well-bred; on the contrary, there arose from under the
twenty moustaches a full chorus of twenty amens.
Trumbull and Lauzun, the first considerate and always
referring, the second listening and deferring, agreed
marvelously well. Trumbull and Mrs. Hunter were,
after all, for Lauzun's serenity, better company for him
than the court of Versailles.
Many of the officers employed the winter in visiting
the country; no doubt they might have been pleased
just to travel, but at the same time they learned to love
the Americans and make the Americans love them;
they made their tour as staff-officers over the battle-

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 135
fields of the past few years. In November, Washington
received the Marquis de Laval-Montmorency, the
Count de Charlus, the Viscount de Noailles, the Cheva
lier de Chastellux; others later, notably, the Count de
Saint-Maime. La Fayette relates to his wife that
"Laval and Custine disputed throughout the whole
trip, and at each position on the battle-field protested
that they could have done better than either the Ameri
can or the English generals; but each one had his own
idea, and never agreed upon the manner of doing it."
Noailles and Damas made "a grand tour of the conti
nent." Deux-Ponts, to whom La Fayette was de
voted, appeared also at General Headquarters. All
were charmed with Washington. Unhappily, their im
pressions have not been transmitted ; or rather, they have
not yet been edited. But Chastellux's book is rich
enough to give us an idea of the welcome the French
received from the Americans — their Allies — during the
winter of 1780-1781.
On November 28th, near the great falls of the Passaic
in New Jersey, the Chevalier de Chastellux was received
by Washington. He gives us that fine portrait of him
that reveals both the artist and the model, and all the
traditional ideas that the cultivated minds of the cen
tury decreed, while in the liberator of America he ex
tols his moral character and unites him with the great
souls of the past. Montaigne did not speak differently
of Epaminondas: "That which is most characteristic
of this most honorable man, is the perfect accord of his
physical and moral qualities. By one alone you can
judge all the others. If you are presented with the medals
of Csesar, Trajan or Alexander, for example, upon look
ing at their features you still wonder what would be
their size and the form of their bodies; but, if you dis-

136 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
cover among some ruins the head of an antique Apollo,
there is no doubt in your mind about the rest of the
statue, for you know that it has the form of a God. Let
not this comparison be attributed to enthusiasm,"
continues the chevalier; "I do not wish to exaggerate
anything; I only desire to express a perfect whole,
which cannot be produced by enthusiasm, but which
would rather repel it, since the property of perfect pro
portion is to diminish the idea of greatness. Brave
without temerity, laborious without ambition, generous
without prodigality, noble without pride, virtuous with
out severity, he seemed always to stop on that side of
the barrier, where virtues clothing themselves in so many
vivid colors, appear to be more changeable and doubtful
and may be taken for defects. General of a Republic he
does not have that imposing ostentation of a Marshal of
France giving an order; hero of a Republic he excites
another sort of respect, which seems to give birth to
but one idea, — that the salvation of each individual is
attached to his personality."
I cannot resist giving another sketch, by the chevalier,
of Washington on horseback, which is possibly unique.
Chastellux was mounted upon a horse loaned him by
the general; the animal was "perfectly trained, well-
formed, with a fine mouth and good traits, stopping
short at full gallop without seizing and clinching the bit
between its teeth. I enter into these details," says
Chastellux, " because it is the General himself who trains
all of his own horses; he is a fine, daring horseman,
jumping the highest bars and going at a very fast
gait, without hanging on the stirrups, pulling on the
reins, or letting his horse go like wild, a thing that our
young men regard as an essential part of English horse
manship, and would rather break their arms and legs
than give it up."

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 137
What do we not find in Chastellux! If you wish to
know what the Americans ate, how they made their
toasts, how many toasts they made, which was a de
spairing and barbarous custom; if you wish to see the
chevalier in the hands of some "cruelly charitable"
persons who were incessantly pulling at him at table to
call his attention to numerous and exhausting polite
nesses which each one addressed to him as he drank;
if you are curious about the manner in which they took
their tea, and kept on taking their tea, and he did the
same thing, until a neighbor, who was better informed
about the ceremony than he, told him the way of stop
ping the hostilities by putting his spoon across the top
of his cup; if you wish to know this and much more
besides, read the Voyages dans VAmerique septentrionale.
You will also find this pretty scene there. It is in Phila
delphia; M. de la Luzerne entertains his guests, Damas,
Noailles, Chastellux, possibly Lauzun, with an evening
concert: "Miss Rutledge played on the harpsichord and
played very well. Miss Shippen sang timidly but had a
sweet voice. M. Ottaw, Secretary of the Chevalier de la
Luzerne, brought his harp and accompanied Miss Ship-
pen, and he also played a few solos. . . . The Viscount
de Noailles found an old violin, mounted it with harp
strings and had the young ladies dance, while their
mothers and other graver personages were conversing
in another room."
Those were gay, happy days! And after their pil
grimage to the Brandywine, Montesquieu, Noailles, the
marquis, the chevalier would often talk "about many
incidents in Paris of their own circle of friends."
There was such a flow of spirits that the country people
at the inn could not understand how they "could be
so hilarious without being drunk, and thought they had
gone crazy."

138 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Can we guess what Chastellux considered his good
fortune? Certainly it was not Miss V  , "celebrated
for her coquetry, wit and malice, who wore red, white
and blue, and being a good Whig in every way, she put
no limit to her liberty"; assuredly not one of the pretty
young girls who danced, under the guidance of a severe
master, figures that they called the Defeat of Burgoyne
or the Retreat of Clinton; still less the mothers of the
families, "gowned magnificently enough" but did not
have that light, gay spirit so attractive in the French
women. No, it is not any of these things — it is a
meeting with Samuel Adams, of Massachusetts; we
know for what superfluous purpose — it was to show to his
partenaire the justice of the American cause. "I firmly
believe," said Chastellux, "that Parliament has no right
to tax America without her consent, and I also believe
that when a noble people say, 'We want to be free,' it is
difficult to prove that they are in the wrong. . . . Never
theless, Mr. Adams demonstrated to me in a very satis
factory way, that New England had not been settled
with a view to commerce and aggrandizement; but by
individuals who fled from persecution, and sought an asy
lum at the other end of the world where they would be
free to live according to their opinions." " I agree with
you so far, but let us speak of the future," said Chas
tellux. "The inequality of fortunes will increase, and
your government is founded upon the complete equality
of its citizens, upon the right of votes for all ; will there
not be in that a source of contradiction ? A poor man
by the side of a rich one will suddenly become a criminal.
Which evil will win ? Aristocracy or anarchy ? " Mr.
Adams was not to be convinced, but let us abandon
Chastellux to his substantial good fortune.
Another time he met some Quakers. He found them

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 139
very tiresome ; upon leaving their meetings he had to go
and rejoice his soul in the Anglican services; sonatas
played upon the organ, a fine minister singing in a most
theatrical voice, melodious responses from a young
woman; in fact, "it was more of a little paradise, than
the road to paradise." On the whole, the Quakers have,
"as a contrast to their uncouthness, a coaxing, smooth
tongue, quite Jesuit-like." But some of them are so
estimable ! Benezet, for example, who had a "shabby,
humble appearance," passionately benevolent, desirous
of drawing from Chastellux information about the most
recent methods invented in France for saving the ship
wrecked. "My friend," said the Quaker, "will not the
men of letters try to disgust the other men with war, and
make them live together like brothers and friends?" —
"Thou deceivest thyself, my friend," responded the
chevalier, "when thou foundest thy hopes upon the
progress of enlightenment through philosophy. There
are some energetic hands working now on the great edi
fice of public happiness; but uselessly will they try
to finish any part of it, while the foundation is lacking,
and this foundation, as thou hast said, is general peace.
As for intolerance and persecution ... I will whisper
a word in thy ear, of which perhaps thou wilt not seize
the whole meaning, although thou knowest the French
language very well; they are no longer in the fashion.
..." Voltaire can sleep in peace. "I like thy nation
because it is kind and sensible," continued the Quaker.
Thereupon he gave the chevalier a long list of his
brothers residing in Rhode Island, so as to put them
under his protection, and according to the Quaker cus
tom, presented him with several tracts. The French
friend revenged himself by writing in his book: "Fortu
nately, the small amount of zeal the Quakers have shown

140 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
in the present crisis has made them lose their credit.
This revolution comes at a propitious time where we
have drawn out of them all that we can expect: the walls
of the house are completed, it is time now to call the
decorators." Very active operations were in progress from January
to June, 1 781, in Carolina and on the borders of Virginia.
It was the memorable duel between Lord Cornwallis
and General Greene. When Greene came to take com
mand of the American army, instead of Gates, who was
recalled, General Morgan, on January 17th, at the Ford
of the Broad, was inflicting a severe defeat on the Eng
lish under Colonel Tarleton. But Cornwallis still pur
sued his design of transporting the seat of war into the
rich and powerful country of Virginia. Greene was
thwarting his purpose. The campaign, on both sides,
was conducted with tenacity and admirable skill.
In order to lighten the march, Lord Cornwallis had
destroyed nearly all his train; in spite of the lack of
food, and the long, circuitous routes they were compelled
to take across a country cut by many streams, his men
followed him without a murmur, contented with some
times only two ears of corn for rations, because they had
seen him at their head at Brandywine, Germantown, and
Monmouth. He defeated Greene, March 15th, at Guil
ford Court House, or, at least, he held the field of battle ;
but he suffered such great losses that he could not pur
sue him. He marched 160 miles in order to gain, by
April 7th, Wilmington, on Cape Fear, whence he thought
he could make sure of his water communications with
Charleston. Meanwhile, abandoning North Carolina,
where the armies passing through it had left the country
almost without resources, Greene rushed onward into

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 141
South Carolina; he arrived before the town of Camden
on April 7th. It is true that Lord Rawdon obliged him
to retire; but, nevertheless, Charleston on account of
this movement remained cut off from Camden. On May
10th the taking of Fort Watson by the Americans ren
dered it impossible for the English to keep Camden.
Greene recaptured Orangeburg, Forts Mott, Granby, and
Augusta; finally, he invested Ninety -six, an important
post, in the interior of South Carolina, and stormed it
on June 19th. As in Camden, the English held it; but
a month later Lord Rawdon retired, after having de
molished the fort; his troops were not strong enough to
guard positions so far from Charleston. And at this
date Greene's strategy was to combine with another
officer, of whom we will soon speak. Greene, of Quaker
origin, who on account of his worldly propensities was
forced to leave the sect, became one of the most inspired
of the American commanders: "When the History of
the United States will have become ancient, students
will be taught to celebrate (as they did the heroes of
Rome and Greece) those heroes of the campaign that
began in the South against the English Army, after the
unmerited defeat into which Gates threw his troops
when Lincoln had lost Charleston. Rarely has there
been seen such devotion and suffering, so much patriotic
loyalty and ardent valor, in the soldier, added to a
like display of intelligent resolution and improvised
talent, and equal devotion on the part of the command
ers. . . . And this glory belongs entirely to the United
States." Who is speaking in this manner of the Ameri
cans? It is not the Chevalier de Chastellux this time,
but Doniol, another enthusiast of a different order. — La
Fayette is the one who will come to the aid of Greene.
By the French, up to March, there had been two at-

142 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
tempts at sea attacks. They still continued to have
storms favorable to them, for in January the English
fleet that blockaded Newport was seriously damaged.
Swiftly, while their ships were being repaired, Des-
touches sent De Tilly down to Chesapeake Bay with
the ship Eveille, the frigates Surveillante and Gen
tille, and the cutter Guepe. The State of Virginia
had urged them to come by sea to her aid ; Arnold had
just landed with 1,500 men and was ravaging her
coasts. The mission of this little squadron was to go
up the James River, burn Arnold's transports and de
stroy his escorts, a vessel and two frigates that were
bringing their broadsides to bear, so as to sustain him.
But the Eveille drew too much water to be able to reach
the English flotilla. De Tilly captured three corsairs,
six brigs, and a few transports. As he was returning
he met the Romulus, a vessel of forty-four cannon.
The Eveille presented herself across the path of the
Romulus at pistol range, the Gentille placed herself along
side; the Romulus hauled down her flag, then her pen
nant, and surrendered without firing a single cannon.
De Tilly manned his prize; she carried 500 prisoners.
On the 25th of February he returned to Newport.
Washington, on March 6th, arrived at the General
Headquarters of Rochambeau. He was received with
all the honors due a marshal of France. "This inter
view of the two Generals," says Mathieu Dumas, "was
a veritable fete for us. We were impatient to see the
hero of liberty. His noble greeting, his simple manners,
his gentle gravity surpassed our expectations; he won
all of our hearts." La Fayette enjoyed the honors
paid to Washington; he had looked forward to them
with great pleasure, which is proved by his letter to his
wife on February 2d, when he was hoping for this inter-

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 143
view: "When you recall what they thought in France
of these poor rebels when I came over to be hung with
them, and when you think of my tender sentiment for
General Washington, you will realize how enraptured
I shall be to see him received there as Generalissimo of
the combined armies of the two nations." Mathieu
Dumas was also a close observer on this occasion;
later on, he praises the fatherly affability of Washing
ton, his serious conversation, and his gentle good humor.
He watches him with tender veneration — he follows the
general's glance, which rests so lovingly upon La Fayette,
"his adopted son and pupil." But already, on the 13th
of March, it was necessary for Washington to depart.
He solicited, as a special favor, to be allowed to accom
pany him as far as Providence, a pleasant place which
he had visited more than once, studying the customs,
language, political parties; and being welcomed famil
iarly at the home of Doctor Bowne. And how he en
joyed the acclamations of the people for the hero of
independence ! It was night ; a crowd of children rushed
to the edge of the town of Providence to meet him, bear
ing torches and acting as escort. All of them wanted
to touch him; the citizens called him their father:
" General Washington, much moved, stopped an instant,
and pressing my hand said: 'We may be beaten by the
English, it is the chance of arms; but here is an army
that they can never vanquish.' "
He had come to Newport to regulate with Rocham
beau the details of a more serious expedition in Chesa
peake Bay. Our fleet was to act in unison with La
Fayette, who, with 1,200 light infantry, was to feign
an attack upon Staten Island, march by Philadelphia
to the Head-of-Elk, board some small boats, go to An
napolis, and then from there to Williamsburg, where he

144 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
was to assemble the militia of Virginia, blockade Ports
mouth, and await the co-operation of the French.
Thus did the marquis with his usual impetuosity. But
it seems he did not have much confidence in the com
bined plan. He rather expected some cavilling again;
he imagined — and he said to Washington the very day
the French fleet set sail — that Rochambeau intended to
reserve for the French troops alone the honor of shedding
their blood and carrying off the victory. On the other
hand, contrary to the views of Washington, who had
desired that the French detachment should be under the
command of Lauzun, Rochambeau chose the Baron
de Viomenil, which La Fayette, evidently, did not
consider good diplomacy. It was already a good deal
to have to calm the impetuosity of the Baron de Steuben;
what would it be when he should have to moderate
"or correct the errors of two barons"! Fersen, much
fascinated by Lauzun, whose "beautiful soul" he ad
mired, noticed also that there was a little coolness be
tween the two generals. In the end the expedition
failed, without any one in particular being to blame.
The French ships could not be at the appointed place,
because the English fleet followed them at twenty-four
hours' distance; Destouches had among his ships four
vessels not copper-lined; "for lack of speed" they re
mained several miles in the rear. The others were
forced to go slow and wait for them; and finally, the
two fleets, on the 16th of March, faced each other off
Chesapeake Bay. The Conquer ant and the Ardent were
sorely tried; to continue the fight was impossible.
Destouches led his ships back to Rhode Island.
Let us not deceive ourselves with the thought that
this combat had not been glorious: courage and presence
of mind of De la Grandiere, "a poor, simple, little man

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 145
who hardly knew how to write," but who could give a
few lessons in courage to the most learned; skilful
manoeuvres of De la Clocheterie; the bravery of Ma-
rigny, who, "with the yardarm of his topsail broken,"
repaired another "in less than a quarter of an hour,"
nearly at the cannon's mouth; the land troops doing
"prodigious work" and comporting themselves so
bravely on board "that the sailors of the detachment
came back as delighted with them as if they were their
own brothers"; the high spirits of all the crews during
the whole battle — all of this was reported to the King;
and Chastellux begged De Castries to appoint Des
touches as commander of a squadron, in order "to give
solemnity to this combat," the first that was fought on
the American coast between the two powerful fleets of
France and Great Britain. Noailles, Damas, Laval,
Lameth distinguished themselves. Nevertheless, France
remained unjust to Destouches; but America was not.
Washington wrote to Rochambeau on March 31st:
"I admire the fine, valorous conduct of Chevalier Des
touches and his squadron during the course of this
action . . . Arnold's salvation was due only to the
winds." Congress saw in this stubborn combat, sus
tained against a superior force, the happy forerunner of
a victory. It was not deceived.
The Concorde arrived on the 8th of May at Boston;
she brought back the Viscount de Rochambeau. This
was the second time that news was received from France
in 1 781: at the end of February, La Perouse had re
turned upon the Astr'ee bringing with him 1,053,000
livres, but also the sad assertion that France had now
to aid Holland, attacked by England, and that the
court of Versailles demanded time to resolve upon a

146 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
more energetic action in the United States. The Con
corde was a more propitious messenger.
Almost alone France had to face everything. Spain
was haunted with the idea of a prompt and advanta
geous peace, even if the interests of our American allies
had to be sacrificed; this we would not admit. On
April 25th, 1780, Louis XVI wrote an admirable letter
to Charles III of Spain, recalling to him that he was not
seeking either vainglory or conquests, but reparation
for the insults to the French flag, and the salvation "of
an oppressed people who had thrown themselves into
his arms." While France was engaged heart and soul
in a righteous war, Spain was "managing a retreat be
hind England"; it came to the point that the court of
Madrid had refused to receive Gerard, on his return from
America, on account of his qualification as representative
of France to Congress. "Our ambassador endured the
affront, although it passed all conception," said Ver
gennes. In response to our good faith, Charles III
raised a corner of the mask. On April 22d, 1780, in
an unabashed manner, he gave notice to his beloved
brother and nephew, the King of France, of the presence
at Aranjuez of the Scotchman Dalrymple. "An out
rageous gossip and a passable liar," Doniol tells us,
flattering himself upon his acquaintance with Necker,
and coming to hint at peace. On May 16th a more
qualified emissary arrived: Cumberland, Secretary
of the Foreign Office, "attended by a certain Abb6
Hussey, an Irishman who had been chaplain at the
Spanish Embassy in London." Hussey arrived at
Madrid alone; Cumberland passed for a person in his
service, who was waiting in Portugal (where Vergennes
had "a most arrant blockhead") the orders to join
his master; six weeks later Charles III called Cumber
land to court.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 147
And now we an1 soon to find D'Estaing in this
fine company. "They thought that they would place
him in Cordova, as he had grown so old that he was
nearly in his dotage." It was he, however, who fought
this combined plotting of England and the court of
Spain. "Tho whole Spanish nation," said IV Florida-
Blanca (who was always either stormy and cloudy, or
clearing suddenly), "wants the conqueror of Grenada."
Tho King welcomed him on August 3d, 17S0, at Saint-
lldefonso. Flattered, questioned, consulted, the ad
miral, always supported upon his glorious crutches,
promenaded in the gardens of Saint-Ildefonse, upon the
same terrace as Cumberland. On the third day, Au
gust the 5th, the English papers published this notice
coining from Madrid, tho effect of which threatened to
bo deplorable in America: "According to all appear
ances, it will not bo long before peace will be concluded
Ivtweon England and Spain. . . ." It was added that
France was invited to join the treaty, but that in ease
this power refused, Spain had this affair so much at
heart, that rather than fail to make this treaty, she
would break the Family Compact. D'Estaing could
do no more; however, he waited for his recall until No
vember 8th.
Under the over-increasing burden France did not falter.
Spain refused to help in the expense of the preparations
for an attack upon England: it was necessary to repair
our ships or construct others, to maintain the army of
Roohamhoau, tho squadron of Guichen, the troops not
embarked that remained on our coasts, and to advance
money to Franklin. On September 27th. 17S0. when
Maurepas came to expose our financial situation in
such alarming terms that it seemed that we had no re
source outside of peace. Vergennes. soul of resistance,
wrote to the King: "Must we accelerate then, the ten-

148 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
dencies of Madrid? Who will be able to guarantee
that the glory of the King of France will not be com
promised? The Minister speaks only of honor, be
cause 'the rest is nothing in comparison.' If it is
necessary to take this stand, I demand a written order."
The order was never given. With the view of conducting
the war more energetically, on October 14th new Min
isters, Segur and Castries, were placed respectively at
the head of the war and navy. Necker — who feared
La Fayette like the devil — became too pressing for peace;
he was allowed to circulate the report of the financial
scandal — then Maurepas dismissed him. They put
6,000,000 livres at the disposition of Washington to
maintain 12,000 or 15,000 men; they resolved to make
a great effort upon the sea, the operations developing
principally in the West Indies, under Admiral de Grasse.
At this juncture Colonel Laurens, on March 19th, 1781,
arrived from America.
The disclosures of Washington were quickly studied:
"The natural resources of the country are exhausted, —
no national capital, — no funds to buy back the paper
money, — failure of the system of requisitions, — indiffer
ence of individuals to hold up the public credit, — the
army at the end of its resistance both physically and
morally, — the people ready to think that they are only
exchanging one tyranny for another: to sum up, ... a
desperate situation, if France does not make a supreme
effort." Washington asked for an immediate supply
of money — naval superiority — a reinforcement of 15,000
men. At once the King gave 10,000,000 livres. Con
gress had asked for 25,000,000. With the 10,000,000
already given, the expense of the squadron and the
expeditionary corps, the royal liberality surpassed the
demand. The superiority of the navy is going to be

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 149
revealed. And the events are going to show that Ro-
chambeau's 5,000 men, plus the 600 infantry brought
by the Sagittaire, plus the 3,500 men brought from the
West Indies by De Grasse, will be sufficient for the
victory. The great news that the Concorde brought to Rocham
beau, was that the order was given to Admiral de Grasse
to sail to Newport in July or August and relieve the
fleet of De Barras.

CHAPTER IX
THE OFFENSIVE — THE MARCH UPON YORKTOWN — CAM
PAIGN OF LA FAYETTE IN VIRGINIA — YORKTOWN
ATTACKED BY SEA AND LAND — CAPITULATION
Washington still desired to make an attack in the
North, and Rochambeau in the South. In spite of
Chastellux, who flattered himself that he had overcome
the admiral's stubbornness — great minds make blunders
sometimes — Rochambeau would not yield. On his re
turn from the conference at Weatherfield, he wrote to
De Grasse, May 28th: "Come ! America is in distress.
Bring with you from San Domingo the troops of the
Marquis de Saint-Simon; obtain from the Colonists
1,200,000 livres, and bring that also. With your assis
tance we could take New York; but it would be better
to occupy Charleston." As to De Barras, he persuaded
him to disobey the instructions of the Ministry. Or
dinarily, if the expeditionary corps left Rhode Island,
the vessels should be conducted to Boston harbor, a
safer place, and anchored there; it was a hundred miles
by sea from Newport; but according to the ruling of
the winds, the meeting of De Barras with Admiral de
Grasse might be retarded for a month. Barras had the
excellent good spirit to consent to remain as near as
possible to his junior. He made this noble declaration,
which Rochambeau has recorded: "No one is more in
terested than I in the arrival of De Grasse in these waters.
He was my junior and has just been made Lieutenant-
General. As soon as I learn that he is near, I shall set
sail to put myself under his orders. I will make this
150

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 151
campaign, but I shall not make another." No one in
the council dared to hesitate longer. This brave, good
man had the soul of a patriot.
Letters went astray rather cleverly. It was already
very a propos that Clinton believed Rochambeau had
decided to put ceremony aside and pay him a visit in
New York; thereupon the text of the conference at
Weatherfield fell into his hands, and made him feel that
much more tranquil in his misconception. He knew by
that how much Washington repudiated an immediate
expedition in the South. Then, it was another letter
from De Barras to La Luzerne, announcing to him the
intention of conducting the fleet to Boston. Still
another letter from Rochambeau to La Luzerne had the
same fate ; and it would have been regretted if Clinton
could have comprehended this one ; but it was written ia
cipher, and no one in New York could solve the enigma.
On June 8th De Lauzun appeared at Newport, coming
from New Windsor: he brought a message from Wash
ington. The following day orders were given to break
up the camp. On the 10th, at five o'clock in the morn
ing, the Bourbonnais brigade embarked; at nine o'clock
in the evening it was at Providence. Finding neither
straw nor wood, through the kindness of the town coun
cil they were "lodged in big, empty houses." And on
the nth they were encamped on the heights which over
looked Providence on the west; the same day the Sois
sonnais brigade joined them. To protect the fleet, Ro
chambeau left at Rhode Island about 1,200 militia and
the larger number of the 450 recruits which had just
landed at Boston.
It took eight days to secure the horses for the artillery
and hospital ambulance, and the oxen which were to
carry the munitions. Meanwhile, Washington reports

152 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
to Rochambeau the alarming news coming from Vir
ginia: "The enemy having concentrated his forces, is
marching across the State almost without opposition,
the troops of the Marquis being too small in number to
accomplish anything." — "The English army, with a
considerable force, is between Richmond and Fredericks
burg; its destination is not certain; but in view of its
superiority it is at liberty to go where it will." And
Rochambeau writes to De Grasse on June nth: "I will
not deceive you, Sir; these people are at the end of their
resources ; Washington will not have half the troops that
he counted upon having, and I believe, although he is
silent upon the subject, that he has not 6,000 men;
that La Fayette has not 1,000 men of the regular troops
with the militia to defend Virginia; about as many are
marching to join him; that General Greene has made an
attack upon Camden and has been repulsed; and I am
ignorant as to when and how he will rejoin La Fayette."
On the 1 6th he writes again: "General Washington
has but a handful of men, which could possibly reach
to about 7,000 or 8,000. The army of Cornwallis is in
the heart of Virginia, between Richmond and Fredericks
burg. . . . You can well understand that under these
conditions how urgent it is that you bring some troops
with you; this country is at bay, all its resources are
failing at the same time : the continental paper is worth
absolutely nothing." On the same day he writes a let
ter to Segur, the French Minister of War: "The poor
Marquis de La Fayette, with his detachment, is retreat
ing to meet another detachment of Pennsylvania troops
that General Wayne is taking to him."
We are not as uneasy as General Rochambeau about
the fate of Greene; we know that Camden has already

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 153
been evacuated by Lord Rawdon, and that Ninety-six
soon will be. And it is the moment to say that La
Fayette is making just as good a figure in Virginia as
Greene. If the truth must be told, the marquis went
to the South with a slight feeling of discontentment
because he was thwarted in his desires. He complains
to Hamilton confidentially of being removed from the
North just at the moment when the French troops were
about to fight. Washington, of course, did him an honor
in sending him against such an adversary as Lord Corn
wallis, and the future will console him. He met all
difficulties with wonderful good spirits; in his presence
nobody dared to be sad. In the first place, his men had
neither shirts nor shoes ; he borrowed on his own credit,
from the merchants of Baltimore, 2,000 pounds sterling,
to buy linen, hats, and the rest. The ladies of Balti
more, who gave a ball in his honor as he was passing
through the city, emulated the example of the ladies of
Philadelphia, and cut out and made the shirts. Yet all
these Northern soldiers that he was taking with him
were prejudiced against the unhealthy Southern climate,
and even with the shirts they were not contented to go
so far; they deserted. We will have to confess that La
Fayette hung one or two, as an example; but he pos
sessed other powers of persuasion as well; he bravely
put the following alternative on the order of the day:
"The expedition will be difficult and dangerous; but
I hope that I will not be abandoned by my men; how
ever, if there are any who wish to go, they are at liberty
to do so at once." He assures us that after this he had
no trouble; he did not have one deserter; that even a
petty officer who had a sore leg which kept him from fol
lowing on foot, "rented a cart at his own expense so as
not to be left behind." In default of the hussars of

154 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Lauzun which he hoped to have had, he was given the
dragoons of the country: some young men of Baltimore
who formed a company of volunteers.
Let us behold him now en route. He arrived at Rich
mond before General Philipps, who had recently brought
reinforcements to the British from New York. This
was April 29th; he had made 200 miles by forced
marches from Baltimore with 1,200 regulars and
2,000 militia. La Fayette saved the magazines of
Richmond; the pillage of them would have been fatal.
Philipps did not dare attack him, and the marquis,
profiting by the surprise he gave him, made a reconnoiter
with cannon upon Petersburg, south of the James River,
which served at the same time for the purpose of pass
ing quietly into Carolina a convoy of munitions and
clothes of which Greene stood much in need. Philipps
died; Arnold replaced him. La Fayette refused to
communicate with a traitor. He could not have done
less; however, this proceeding had a most happy effect
upon the morale of his troops, and made a great impres
sion in America. It put Arnold in such a false position
that the English command was compelled to withdraw
him. But on May 20th Cornwallis made his junction
with the division at Petersburg; he had 5,000 men, and
the advance-guard of Tarleton of 300 chasseurs, mounted
upon the best horses of Virginia, which had been pro
cured for them by the negroes; "like birds of prey they
seized everything that came in their way." La Fayette
was "not even strong enough to let himself be beaten."
He did not have the command of the navigable rivers.
He did a wise thing when he abandoned the right bank
of the James River and concentrated his forces at Rich
mond. The reinforcements of the 800 Pennsylvanians
were slow in coming. If La Fayette had given battle

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 155
he would have been cut to pieces. If he had refused a
combat, the country, "a country where the laws were
not enforced, and the government without energy,"
would have believed itself abandoned. He, therefore,
resolved to engage in skirmishes, without getting too
deep into the fray, and was careful to keep out of the
reach of "that Tarleton cavalry that the militia dreaded
as much as so many wild beasts." In this way he had
to abandon Richmond, gain the higher country, so as
to keep his communication open with Philadelphia; to
evacuate in June the magazines of Fredericksburg, and
withdraw as far as Raccoon Ford, always in advance of
General Wayne's Pennsylvanians, who finally caught up
with him.
Cornwallis did not dare to go too far into the country;
he retraced his steps; at Charlottesville, his dragoons
came near carrying off the Virginia Assembly; a de
tachment bore down upon Point of Fork, where Steuben
was training 700 recruits, and threw into the river,
cannon, munitions, and all the food that they could
find. La Fayette let them go; but as soon as he had
the Pennsylvanians well in hand, in his turn he quickly
gave chase to Cornwallis. The English were at Elk
Island, a march from the magazines, which it was most
important to save. In the night La Fayette made a
short cut, which Cornwallis did not know; at dawn he
found himself in an impregnable position, between the
English commander and the magazines, "the loss of
which would have affected the whole army of the
South." This happened the middle of June. Then
Steuben rejoined the marquis: the American forces were
raised to 5,000 men. La Fayette said to Washington
on June 28th: "No doubt that they will exaggerate the
number of our forces; and our air of boldness will con-

156 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
firm the mistake." Richmond was evacuated on the
20th of June by the English ; they went toward Williams
burg. Six hundred riflemen — mountaineers ready for
anything, fine marksmen, agile as cats — gave still more
assurance to La Fayette. And to sum up: while
Rochambeau was wondering how poor La Fayette was
going to draw himself out of the claws of his lordship,
the marquis was fishing up again the old arms and can
non thrown into the water by the enemy; and, a little
astonished at the return of his good fortune, which he
modestly welcomed, was saying to himself: "Shall I go
after Lord Cornwallis?"
In the meantime, on June 18th, the French army
left Providence; the troops only knew that they were to
go "to the Hudson River" and there await orders.
Mathieu Dumas received from the commissary-general,
De Beville, "the order to precede the columns and in
dicate the camps and positions" that the regiments
should successively occupy. ' ' The different commissions
with which he had been charged, and principally those
which had to do with establishing the quarters of Lauzun
in Connecticut, had furnished him the occasion of rec
onnoitering the country and the principal communica
tions between Rhode Island and the North River."
In the general rejoicing among the officers, there was
not one happier than Closen. Between Providence and
Boston he seemed to be walking along the road to para
dise. The route all the way was bordered with acacias
in full bloom, whose delicate fragrance embalmed the
air. He climbed the belfries to enjoy the harmonious
beauty of the scene. At the bivouacs the inhabitants
arrived in crowds; they adored the military music;
the French officers and soldiers danced with the American

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 157
girls; this was a fete of equality, "the first fruits of the
Alliance." The heat was intense; they could only march at night;
the roads were often deep with mud and almost impassa
ble; it was hard work to drag through this mire the
heavy field-artillery, commissary-wagons, and carts
carrying the flatboats for the passage of the rivers.
Poor Abbe Robin, humiliated perhaps by these duties,
dared to say that such a struggle and the fatigue of it
was beyond all human endurance. "For lack of ink
I often write with the juice of a plant. ... At two
o'clock in the morning the noisy roll of the drum orders
me to arise from my humble bed of straw. . . . Ex
tended in the dust, panting with thirst, I feel a desire,
like the rich man, that a Lazarus would put his finger in
water and quench my parched tongue. . . . Our young
commanders, reared in comfort and luxury, support this
fatigue with a courage that makes me blush for my
weakness. . . . They encourage the soldiers by march
ing at their head." The Viscount de Noailles set the
example; the Americans considered his greatest title
that of being brother-in-law to the marquis; it was a
much sought distinction to dance with him.
After leaving Newtown, where the army was en
camped on June 27th, they entered the zone of danger;
Rochambeau detached an advance-guard. During the
night of June 30th he received a courier from Washing
ton which hastened his departure; on July 2d, by doub
ling the march, they were at Bedford; and this same day
the legion of Lauzun, just relieved from advance-guard
duty, departed with the dragoons of Sheldon, to go, it
was said, "in the pursuit of 400 Tories who had taken
away their cattle." Deux-Ponts believed it, but the
affair was more serious.

158 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Washington, informed that the enemy had scattered
his forces, "that he had even sent a tolerably large de
tachment into the Jerseys, " thought that he could take
Fort Washington by surprise, with the hope, no doubt,
that once master of this key of the fortifications of New
York, he could take the city. For this reason he had
asked for Lauzun. The duke made grave complaints
in his Memoires of General Lincoln, with whom he had
to operate. Instead of surprising the enemy post as
he desired, the Americans amused themselves by firing
off their guns and giving the alarm, so as to provoke
the English to a sortie, of which he was sure in the end
that Lincoln could not withstand. Lincoln had to fall
back covered by Lauzun. We can easily see how this
proceeding must have "annoyed" the Frenchmen.
Washington welcomed Lincoln, beaten although not sub
dued; he also showed the greatest joy at seeing Lauzun
again, and in his order of the day "eulogized his division
in the most flattering manner. . . ."
Washington's army was already encamped upon a
fixed point for the junction; he went to see the French
army at North Castle on July 5th; the following day,
"after a long tiresome march, through intense heat," the
French troops "joined the American Army at Camp
Philippsburg, three miles from King's Bridge, the first
post of the enemy on the Island of New York." Deux-
Ponts gives details: "The right of the two armies
(French and American) was placed upon a perpendicular
cliff protected by a valley which it dominated; in the
center was a narrow ravine through which ran a small
stream; this ravine which separated the French from
the Americans, had very steep sides. The left was
stationed near another stream, by the Bronx River
upon which we had out-posts. The front was protected

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 159
by a woods, and there was nothing to fear from the
back; the Lauzun Legion encamped at White Plains
four miles to our left, made this position secure ; all the
avenues imaginable were covered by advance posts."
Washington was contented. Rochambeau was able
to tell him that the French "had crossed Connecticut
without any complaints being made of them; on the
contrary, the people received them with their blessings."
He wrote to Barras from White Plains, on July 8th:
"We have made the most rapid march . . . without any
dissatisfaction, without leaving a man behind us, ex
cept ten love-sick soldiers from the regiment of Soisson
nais, who wanted to return to see their sweet hearts at
Newport, and for whom I am going to send. . . . Our
junction was made with great acclamations on the part
of the Americans." And in a letter to Segur he said:
"We have made 220 miles in eleven days march. There
are not four provinces in the Kingdom of France, where
we could have traveled with as much order and economy,
and without wanting for anything."
And the result of this junction was that Clinton could
not embark his troops, as he had hoped to do, de
scend into Chesapeake Bay, and through Maryland,
Pennsylvania, and the Jerseys, turn upon Washington,
reduce him to the defensive upon the east side of the
Hudson, and cut the communications between the North
and the South.
Camp life was very pleasant ; let us hear what Mathieu
Dumas says about it. This seems to me to be an ex
ample of a very dignified, serious pleasure: "My friend
Charles de Lameth, the two brothers Berthier, recently
arrived from France (as we also recall it), and added
to our staff officers, and I have established our bivouac
near the General Headquarters of our Commander, De

i6o SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
Beville, in a most agreeable position among some rocks,
and under magnificent tulip trees. We have amused
ourselves by ornamenting the little space where our gun
carriages are lined up, and in a short time have made a
very pretty garden. General Washington making a
tour of inspection wished to see us. We were notified
of his visit in time, and he found upon our field tables
the plan of the Battle of Trenton, with its counterpart
that of West Point, and some of the other principal
actions of this War."
The army remained in camp until the 19th of August,
but not without some very lively distractions. On
July 15th a small English flotilla, going up the Hudson,
tried to burn some American ships laden with flour;
they succeeded only in seizing a cargo of bread ; for four
days it was necessary to reduce the rations of the French
soldier to four ounces; "however, he was given rice and
additional meat." On the 16th Washington asked for
two pieces of artillery of twelve-pound cannon and two
howitzers. Deux-Ponts mounted them on a battery;
the gunners were not accustomed to shoot over the water,
and few shots reached the frigates of the enemy. But on
the 19th, as the English were redescending the Hudson,
upon passing Dobb's Ferry, they were saluted by two
howitzers ; one ship was set on fire ; twenty men threw
themselves into the water. "I did not think," wrote
Rochambeau to Barras, "that they would come to
look for fresh bread so soon." It was a Captain Verton
who commanded the battery that made such a good shot.
It was toward the middle of July also that Rocham
beau gave orders to Mathieu Dumas to push the recon
noitering as far as possible — to the end of the island,
in sight of the enemy's first redoubts. This kind of
operation had for object the taking of detailed observa-

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 161
tion of all the works of the fortifications around New
York and the adjacent islands. Several reconnoiters
had already been made; but this last one was to be
more aggressive. The French forced back some small
Hessian posts, and arriving to within rifle range of the
forts, met an American detachment that had been
exploring the other side. Dumas modestly ascribed
his success to the enterprise of Sub-lieutenant Kill-
maine (who afterward became a brilliant cavalry gen
eral) commanding a detachment of lancers from the
Lauzun Legion.
A few days afterward, on the 2 1st, was developed to
its fullest extent the reconnaissance that the recon
noitering party had prepared. Under the command of
Chastellux and Lincoln, 5,000 men set out on the march,
some at eight o'clock in the evening, others at midnight,
clearing the land, for an average width of three miles,
that extended into a point between the east bank of the
Hudson and Long Island Sound. It was held princi
pally by American loyalists. All those who could not
find boats to go back to the island were attacked by the
hussars of Lauzun and the dragoons of escort of the gen
erals, and either killed or taken prisoners. Washington
and Rochambeau, overcome by fatigue, went to sleep
under a hedge, within fire of the cannon from the
enemy's ships. The English were trying to prevent
the Americans and French from going on with their
work. "I awakened first," relates Rochambeau, "and
calling General Washington, I remarked that we had
forgotten about the time of the tide. We went quickly
to the mill road, upon which we had crossed the narrow
arm of the sea that separated us from the main land,
and found it covered with water. We were therefore
on an island. They brought us two small boats in which

162 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
we embarked, carrying with us the saddles and harness
of the horses. Then followed a boat with two American
dragoons pulling two horses by the bridle that were
good swimmers; the other horses came after them ex
cited by the lash of the whip in the hands of some dra
goons near the edge of the water. Happily our little
manoeuvre was not discovered by the enemy; it was all
over in an hour. Such was the American way of doing
things." Elsewhere, on the Morrisania side, the legion
of Lauzun and an American battalion sustained, in very
close quarters, a lively enough fire from both the artil
lery and infantry of the enemy. Count de Damas had
a horse killed under him.
On the return from this reconnaissance, in the evening
of the 23d or 24th of July, the generals found news from
the South : Cornwallis was beating a retreat, La Fayette
was "following him cautiously." In a letter of July
8th he confided to Washington that he continued to
keep the secret of the real weakness of his forces: "Our
forces as well as the militia are exaggerated . . . and
in order to hide to what extent there are so few of us,
I am obliged to go in advance, as if I expected a general
engagement." General Wayne, "brave but impetuous,"
did not enter willingly into the idea of this strategy ; he
was overelated at his success of an attack upon the
rearguard of Cornwallis. In a second attempt he came
near having a serious engagement, and he lost his can
non: La Fayette saved him. His lordship finally shut
himself up in Portsmouth, and the marquis took good
care not to go there to seek him. He preferred to take a
more healthy position upon Malvern Hill, and let his
army rest, while he kept an eye on his enemy. It is
only by the letters of the marquis of the 6th and 21st of

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 163
August that Washington was advised of the new move
ments of Cornwallis toward Yorktown. Rochambeau
could not have known anything on July 23d, and for a
very good reason, in spite of what his Memoires lead us
to believe. But let us do as he did : anticipate a month.
How happy La Fayette is going to be in August ! And
how proud, modestly proud ! Later, when he writes his
Commentaires, he will come to persuade himself that
he it was who had pushed his redoubtable enemy toward
the sea, and that his principal object had been "to
force him between the rivers in such a way that he
would have no means of retreat." But he had not
premeditated that much. La Fayette did not ma
noeuvre Cornwallis. However, in following the inspira
tion of prudence, tempered by audacity at the right
moment, dogging his enemy's footsteps, at last he found
the means to gain the superiority over him. "As if by
enchantment," yes, in very truth, "by enchantment,"
Cornwallis was to be blocked by sea and land. As
La Fayette grew older, it appears to me that he forgot
himself a little, by posing. He did not think of it —
and he was simply and gently heroic — when he wrote
those pretty letters to Washington, where we see him
apply himself conscientiously to profit by the marvelous
circumstance, to comprehend it, astonished at his good
fortune, trembling for fear that he might lose it, as if he
did not think himself entirely worthy; but he was, as
the execution of it will demonstrate. His letter to his
wife on August 24th is charmingly free from all boasting.
He cannot resist writing to Vergennes at the same time :
"When you have Cornwallis ahead of you, Monsieur
le Comte, and when you are running after him through
the sands of Virginia. . . ." And then he says in an
other letter, one to Maurepas: "By your interest in

164 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
me you would be alarmed at the role which they have
given my youth. Five hundred miles from any other
troops, they have wished to oppose me to the fortunes of
Lord Cornwallis. ..." And he returned to his ac
tivities without being too hopeful of the result. "While
the enemy is establishing himself permanently at York-
town and Gloucester, upon the two opposite banks of
the James River, protecting a good anchoring place by
his cross fires," explains Dumas, "La Fayette encamps
at Williamsburg, between the James and York Rivers, a
march from Yorktown."
Now since August 2d Rochambeau has had the re
sponse from Admiral de Grasse. Very bold and
enterprising — he was called the French Rodney — De
Grasse, who was sixty years old in 1781, did not seem to
have the power of making himself beloved. Trading
D'Estaing carried on openly, while he was accused of
having a contempt "for the low interests of a common
tradesman." The officers reproached him for haughti
ness in the command. They even blamed him for his
unusual corpulence. "Flanked with flesh, a gabion of
fat — in a word, nature and art, in walling up the ram
parts of his soul, thought more of the sheath than the
sword." All of this has influenced many historians
who, consequently, have not done him full justice. For
us, he is simply the commander who, with Rochambeau,
made the taking of Yorktown possible. He had just
taken Tabago, and had collected a convoy of 200 sails
ladened with booty, and anchored off Cape Francais,
at San Domingo, when he received, on July 16th, the
dispatches from Rochambeau and De la Luzerne. De
Grasse did not lose a moment : the colonists of the island
refused to advance the 1,200,000 livres; he offered to

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 165
guarantee his own colonial possessions. The Spanish
Commissioner and Admiral de Solano, however, were
pricked with a sense of honor, and went off and made
up the adequate sum in Havana. He took on board
the regiment of Saint-Simon, departed the 8th of
August, and, taking an unaccustomed route through
the Bahama Straits, he baffled the English, and ar
rived August 28th in Chesapeake Bay. We will see
that he is not the only one at the rendezvous.
On the 19th the army of Rochambeau set out on the
march, without knowing its destination. Deux-Ponts
was lost in conjectures; the general pretended he was
going to make an attack upon New York. A downpour
of rain left the roads in a frightful condition; wagons
were broken ; for troops that did not understand this kind
of work, it was very hard to endure. In three retrograde
marches, the French corps reached King's Ferry, whence
they passed the Hudson; then redescended, and going
along the west bank moved in sight of Staten Island,
before Chatham; there, in order to better deceive the
enemy, De Villemanzy, Commissary of War, established
some bread-ovens, and simulated getting ready to pro
vision the army; upon this, Rochambeau made a quick
turn to the right, and went through the Jerseys up to
the Delaware, where he passed the Ford of Trenton on
the 1st and 2d of December. Since the 27th of August
Deux-Ponts knew, "under the greatest secrecy, from one
of his well-informed friends" (Fersen, perhaps), "that
the object of these marches " was Virginia. The crossing
of the Jerseys had been a fete for Closen; it was called
the garden-spot of America; he translated it pays de Co-
cagne. He had the pleasure of hearing from the lips
of Washington, and upon these very battle-fields, the
positions taken in the battles of Princeton and Trenton.

1 66 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
On the 3d, in Philadelphia, Deux-Ponts was in a bad
humor. "Congress came across our path, and we gave
it all the honors that the King ordered ; thirteen members
took off their thirteen hats at each salute of the flag,
and salute of an officer, and this was all that I saw that
was civil and noteworthy." Our Abbe Robin, however,
had his eyes opened wider: "The arrival of the French
at Philadelphia resembled more of a triumph than a sim
ple passage through the city. . . . The streets were
crowded with people, and the ladies elegantly dressed.
All Philadelphia was astonished to see travelers so fresh
and clean. Such good-looking Frenchmen ! They said :
'We thought you were all pygmies.' The French troops
defiled before Congress, and their Minister Plenipoten
tiary, and camped on a vast field, watered by the
Schuylkill. The next day, the Soissonnais Regiment had
manoeuvres; 20,000 persons at least, and many fine
carriages remarkable for their elegance and lightness,
embellished this scene, while the pleasant situation and
serenity of the day added still more. The rapidity of
the evolution of the troops, their perfect unison, their
precision, astonished the spectators and made them most
enthusiastic; their interest increased upon seeing among
the officers 'the Ally'; the friend of the young hero to
whom they owed so much (this was the Viscount de
Noailles). . . . We were amused at the mistake of the
people, who took for a general one of those men that
our great nobles often have in their suite to carry mes
sages. His short doublet, his rich tunic fringed with
silver, his rose colored shoes, his cap with its armorial
device, his cane with a large knob at the end, appeared
to them so many signs of a high dignitary. The Presi
dent of Congress honored the occasion with his presence,
in a fine coat of black velvet."

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 167
In the midst of a dinner given by La Luzerne a mes
sage was received from Admiral de Grasse which an
nounced his presence in the Chesapeake. The abb6
also saw the great delight of the populace when they were
informed of it. "Some fun-makers mounted upon saw-
horses pronounced the funeral oration of Cornwallis,
and pretended to lament over the distress of the Tories.
The people gathered in crowds before the house of the
Minister of France; they saluted him with cries of Vive
le Rot." And suddenly Deux-Ponts's frown disappears.
No one tells better than he, about the joy of General
Washington: "The expression of his whole face, his
bearing changed in a trice; he forgot, for the moment,
his position as arbiter of North America, and became an
ordinary citizen overjoyed at the good fortune of his
country ; a child who had had all of his wishes gratified
could not have been happier." When Rochambeau,
leaving Philadelphia on the 5th, rejoined his army by
way of boat to Chester, he perceived Washington on the
bank of the river waving his handkerchief. "Hardly
had Rochambeau landed," Closen tells us, "when
Washington, usually so perfectly composed and wrapped
in deep gravity, threw himself into his arms." All his
troubles were forgotten. And yet the American troops
under the command of Lincoln, nearly all originally
from the East, had manifested in Philadelphia their
discontentment at being sent to the South. Morris,
the Comptroller of Finances, had not been able to ad
vance them a month's pay. There remained 100,000
crowns in the French coffer; it was divided between the
two armies.
"Come quick, General," wrote Du Portail to Rocham
beau. The two generals arrived September 7th, 1781,
at the Head-of-Elk, "the source," as Deux-Ponts said,

168 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
"of Chesapeake Bay." They found there Saint-Cesare,
captain of the admiral's ship (De Grasse). But what this
officer could not know was that on September 5th the
squadron of Admiral Graves having appeared off the
Capes of Charles and Henry, De Grasse, whom Barras,
leaving Newport on the 25th of August, had not yet
joined, cut his cables and set sail immediately; and in
less than an hour, in spite of the absence of 90 officers
and 1,800 men employed in landing the troops, he was
under sail and formed in line of battle. The combat
lasted from four o'clock in the afternoon into the night;
the action fell upon the vanguard of the ships, of which
the honor was due, principally, to Bougainville. The
five ships of the English vanguard, commanded by Sir
Samuel Howe, were badly treated; one of them burned.
The chase was discontinued on the 7th, and De Grasse,
as he re-entered Chesapeake Bay, had the pleasure
of finding Barras there, who, with his eight vessels, four
frigates, and eighteen transports, brought the siege
artillery and the detachment of De Choisy. All went
well, so well, in fact, that from time to time, if one can
believe the Memoires of La Fayette, the admiral urged
the marquis to raise the siege of Yorktown without wait
ing for Rochambeau. It is true that the Correspondance
does not mention this; what it says upon the subject is
entirely contradictory: " It would be folly to attack with
only the forces that we have now. The Marquis de
Saint-Simon, the Count de Grasse and General du Por
tail are of my opinion."
The generals, making sixty miles a day, were at Wil
liamsburg on the 14th. Chastellux and Choisy arrived
the next day. But the troops did not go so fast. At the
Head-of-Elk there was only shelter enough for 1,200
men. The vanguard alone embarked; Custine com-

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 169
manded the French elements: the grenadiers of Sois
sonnais with Noailles, the grenadiers of Bourbonnais
with the Viscount de Rochambeau, and the infantry
and legion under Lauzun. The descent of the Chesa
peake was difficult, and this first detachment, which set
sail on the 9th, did not enter the James River until the
19th. As for the major part of the army, it was first detained
on the left bank of the Susquehanna. A few flatboats
were hardly sufficient for the slow transport of the men.
Mathieu Dumas, who was charged with directing the
passage, went for information, and learned from the peo
ple of the country that this wide river "was fordable in
the good season a little below the Falls, about twenty
miles from its mouth." Over bad roads he went to the
place, and sounded the ford, upon a width of six or seven
hundred toises, amid the broken rocks "and boiling
torrent; the bottom everywhere was moving pebbles,
but it was not washing away, and the depth of the water
was from three to four feet. I did not hesitate an in
stant to indicate to the generals this prompt way of
crossing, although a little dangerous for passing over the
artillery, the horses and all our impediments." There
were some losses and the munitions were submerged;
but all of this was reparable.
At Baltimore, on September 13th, Viomesnil charged
Deux-Ponts and Laval-Montmorency to try and em
bark the troops. It was judged impossible to put these
troops on the mean small boats, not suitable for the
purpose, and "expose them to the torture of an uncom
fortable, cramped position." They decided to go by
land. On the 16th, however, a letter came from De
la Villebrune, commander of the Romulus, who was at
Annapolis with the transports coming from Rhode Isl-

170 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
and, two frigates and some small boats captured by
Admiral de Grasse. The troops then set out on the
march for Annapolis. All the war material was em
barked on the 19th and the 20th, the troops on the 21st,
and the Gentille, the Diligente, the Aigrette, the Iris, in
all, fifteen sails, bore the Allies, "by a fresh wind which
kept up all the way," to Hogs Ferry, where they landed
on the 24th. The ascent of the James River with sound-
Hng-line in hand was, as usual, very difficult, and more
than one boat went down. Upon the Diligente Deux-
Ponts found Lord Rawdon and two other English officers
as prisoners. On the 26th they encamped at Williams
burg. On the 28th the combined army set out on the
march to go into camp around Yorktown. They began
a siege of three weeks.
Meanwhile, Cornwallis strongly intrenched himself,
since he had given up the hope of escape through North
Carolina. Had he known that La Fayette had been
prevented from following him for lack of boats to trans
port his army from one side of the James River to the
other, he would probably have attempted the evasion.
In his wa^ the marquis played him a trick, and we must
recall it, in order to do him honor, and also to give praise
to his accomplice, the soldier Morgan. He was a brave
man who for the good of his country resigned himself
to feigning desertion. It was not to his taste; if he
should die, for example, under the uniform of an English
soldier, would it ever be known why he put it on ? What
a disgrace to his name ! La Fayette promised that if he
should have bad luck, the truth would be published,
down there in the little village where he was known, by
the journals of New Jersey. Morgan consented; he
played the deserter; and one day Cornwallis asked him

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 171
if La Fayette had many boats. "I should say so !" he
exclaimed innocently, "as many as he needs to cross the
river." History relates that his lordship did not ques
tion him further. As to the brave Morgan, he returned
to the American camp, and when the marquis wished to
make him a sergeant, he refused because he did not
think he knew enough. And how about money, then ?
No; but during his absence some one had taken his gun;
he would like to find it. The gun was found for him;
he never suspected that he had acted like a hero of
antiquity. Admiral de Grasse gave Washington the alarm again;
he had learned that Admiral Digby was replacing Graves,
and he expected an attack; he gave notice to the generals
of his resolution to go out to sea and meet the naval
forces of the enemy. Washington begged him not to
do it; La Fayette supported the reasons of his com
mander-in-chief. If the French fleet should go away,
Cornwallis could abandon his artillery, his baggage
even, and his sick, and escape them. The admiral
yielded and sacrificed a glorious plan in order to stand
by one that was more certain. And then, after all,
Digby did not appear. On the 27th of September
Washington felt reassured.
And yet he had other annoyances with which to con
tend. The country was bare of everything; the mili
tary stores had not arrived, and they were out of food.
La Fayette himself did not disdain the calling of "quar
termaster and collector," at the risk of bursting his head.
And then they began to draw supplies from the fleet:
once De Villebrune gave them some of his flour; the
admiral consented, but he complained that he was
skinned alive, that they would reduce him to a state of
starvation. ' ' Rochambeau did not leave him anything,"

172 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
he said. He did not have any fire-wood, or fresh water,
or fresh provisions; his row-boats, used for carrying
freight, were nearly all put out of commission, "because
of the heavy seas that beat them at their moorings, and
because they were obliged to run aground on the coast."
The army stole everything he had; finally, he became
angry, and sharply refused thirty pounds of candles
for the artillery: "Damn it! You have stretched the
blanket a little too tight !" Writing to Rochambeau
a few days later, he excused his bad humor thus: "I
am a Provencal and a sailor, which is. enough to entitle
me to a quick temper, and I acknowledge my fault and
trust in your friendship." Another time, Washington
asked him for 800 sailors, to reinforce the posts around
Gloucester, held by the Lauzun Legion and the militia
of Virginia under General Weedon. De Choisy was
charged with the mission. The admiral gave up his
sailors, but he protested that they would ruin him in men.
At other times he was anxious to move on ; he reminded
them continually that he could not remain longer than
October 31st; and then he would predict all kinds of
misfortunes. He saw Cornwallis overpowering De
Choisy, cutting his way out, crossing the York River
to go back to the North. Rochambeau coolly warded
off these mournful prognostications: "Our operations,
my dear Count, are always well calculated."
Their operations were in fact calculated with extreme
precision, and everything was carried out as the generals
had planned. We had about 12,000 men: 4,000 in
the corps of Rochambeau, 3,000 with Saint-Simon, 2,000
with Washington, nearly as many as that with La
Fayette, and 800 sailors. The besieged had about 8,000.
On September 28th, at break of day, Rochambeau left
Williamsburg and moved on Yorktown ; the investment

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 173
began "from the head of the York River to the marshes;
they took advantage of the woods, clumps of trees and
the marshy creeks, drawing closer and closer to the
enemy until they were within pistol range of his forti
fications"; the three French brigades on the open field
were shielded by cannon. On the 29th Washington,
after having repaired the broken bridges, crossed the
swamp and stationed his left there, and then placed his
right column on the York River. The investment
was "complete and pressed as close as possible to the
fort." The following night the English withdrew their
advance-posts and retired within the walls of the forti
fications. On the 30th Rochambeau with Deux-Ponts
reconnoitered the abandoned posts. They were found
to be not very solid, with narrow parapets, on sandy
ground; defended, however, by excellent abatis of pine
wood, but this of course was easy to catch fire. The
Bourbonnais Grenadiers were placed in one of them
and the chasseurs of Deux-Ponts in the other. The
English directed the fire of their cannon eight or ten
times toward them, but without doing any damage.
The volunteers of Saint-Simon, urged on by Viomesnil,
became masters of a little wood in front of our left;
an hussar was killed; and an officer of the Agenais
regiment had his hip broken. The same day Lauzun ran
into Tarleton's cavalry, and De Choisy carried his ad
vance-posts to within a mile of Gloucester.
From the ist of October the Americans worked upon
a redoubt, which was to unite the abandoned works of
the enemy, some from the American side, others from the
French side ; the first day, the English fired 300 rounds
of cannon upon them; fewer the second day; hardly
any were killed. On the 5th the line was continued;
during the nights of the 4th and 5th French patrols

174 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
frequently glided into the intrenchments of the place;
their guns, well filled, made the besieged restless, and the
whole night "they fired off cannon incessantly"; and
even during the nights of the 5th and 6th. De Grasse
sent a message to Rochambeau: "All the evening and
night I have heard a considerable noise. Evidently,
you are tuning your instruments to accord with those of
Lord Cornwallis. Make him dance lively for me."
On October 6th, "all being prepared, the fascines, the
clayes and saucissons made ready, nearly all the siege
artillery having arrived, the place around the trench well
reconnoitered, the General gave the order to begin the
attack that evening." At five o'clock Bourbonnais
and Soissonnais went to the end of the trench ; Viomesnil
disposed them over the space of ground they had to
cover; at nightfall the engineers put the workmen in
their places: "250 men from each of the four regiments
who were not on trench duty." Work was well con
ducted in perfect silence; our parallel left the river at
200 toises from Yorktown, and extended to the new
American redoubt, situated at 250 toises beyond. Tou
raine was ordered to construct, on the enemy's right, a
battery for eight pieces of cannon, and six howitzers or
mortars, "which were to serve as a false attack."
From the 7th, Agenais and Saintonge, who relieved
the trench at noon, were able to place their first battal
ions there; the second battalions remained in reserve
in the ravines at the back. The trench was spread over
700 toises, "defended by four redoubts palisaded, and
five batteries." "The ground," explains Fersen, "cut
by numerous small ravines, greatly aided our approach,
and we were able to arrive in safety as far as our trench,
without being obliged to make a side trench." On
the 9th an American battery and the Touraine battery

SOLDIERS AND SALLORS OF FRANCE 175
began firing; and on the' bth our forty-one mouths of
fire, "as many cannon as mortars and howitzers," all
played together as they were suddenly unmasked. Our
cannon were well aimed; but the balls, without doing
great damage, were buried in the sand of the fortifications ;
already, however, we learned from the deserters that
the bombs were fast becoming effective, and the number
of dead and wounded were increasing rapidly. The
English had only small pieces of cannon; from the 10th
they shot on an average of six rounds an hour during
the day; but "they threw many bombs and royal
grenades," and at night their flying batteries became
active again.
Here, with Chastellux, we must render homage to
the American artillery. General Knox, "thirty-five
years old, very corpulent, but agile, possessing a good-
natured, happy disposition, showed much intelligence
in assembling, transporting, unloading and putting in
place on the batteries 30 cannon or mortars of gross
calibre that he often took the trouble to point himself.
It can be said that if, upon this occasion, the English
were astonished at the correctness of our aim, and of the
terrible execution of the French artillery, we were none
the less amazed at the extraordinary progress of the
American artillery, as well as of the capability and
instruction of a great number of their officers."
In Yorktown there was an old man who had been
for thirty years employed under the English Govern
ment as Secretary of the Council of Virginia; he was
called Secretary Nelson — and was the uncle of the gen
eral. "Too advanced in age to desire a Revolution, too
prudent to try to stop it if it were necessary, too faithful
to his fellow-citizens to separate his interests from
theirs," he lived there in a fine house, decorated with

176 SOLDIERS AND SAjILORS OF FRANCE
I
bas-reliefs of marble, upon aft ligh hill, in the neighbor
hood of the most important fortifications. The house
of the aged man attracted the fire of our bomb-throwers
and gunners. The secretary had two sons among the be
siegers; one of them sent a messenger with a flag to
ask safe-conduct for his father; and Chastellux saw his
anguish, as he watched the gate of the town, which
would remain perhaps closed; but it was opened to let
him pass, and in Washington's quarters the old man told
"with a serene countenance of the effect of our batter
ies, of which his house had tested the first shells."
Again on the ioth the enemy ventured to send some
troops up the river on flatboats in order to attack De
Choisy in the rear. Our cannon obliged them to return.
At last, on October 14th, as the Gatinais and Royal-
Deux-Ponts regiments were coming to relieve the trench,
the final attack was decided upon for that night. "Now
Gatinais," Rochambeau tells us, "had been made up
from the Auvergne regiment. ... I said to them:
'My children, if I need you to-night, I hope that you
have not forgotten that we have served together in that
brave regiment of Auvergne sans tache.' They promised
that if I would have their name of Auvergne returned
to them, they would die to the last man ; they kept their
word, fought like lions, and lost a third of their troops."
Rochambeau kept his word also; and King Louis XVI
of France restored the fine name of Royal- Auvergne to
these grenadiers who did not allow themselves to be
conquered under the name of Gatinais.
It was then the 14th. Viomesnil sent an order to
Guillaume de Deux-Ponts to "come and find him at the
end of the trench." He separated the grenadiers and
chasseurs from the two regiments, and gave the count
the command of the battalion thus formed, saying

SOLDIERS AND S.MLORS OF FRANCE 177
that this was a mark 0/ his confidence. Deux-Ponts
understood; he put his men under shelter, and, in the
course of the afternoon, with Viomesnil, De Lestrade,
Lieutenant-Colonel de Gatinais, and two sergeants,
"as brave as they were intelligent," he made a recon
noiter, "with the greatest exactitude," of the road over
which he would have to go during the night and the
redoubt in question to be raised. At the right of the
French the Americans under the command of La
Fayette were to attack the redoubt that overlooked the
river. We have his recital of the event, the report of
Viomesnil, and the Journal de Guerre of Deux-Ponts;
the latter gives us the best and most complete informa
tion. "Viomesnil wished to conduct the column of attack
himself: he left Custine in the trench. When night
came, the battalion of assault, passing through the troops
of workers, and the grenadiers (who wished it success
and glory, although they were filled with envy to take
its place) arrived at the rendezvous fixed by Viomes
nil. Deux-Ponts arranged his column in the order of
attack, and waited the given signal: 'six bombs fired
consecutively from one of our batteries.' The Gatinais
chasseurs, in columns by squads, were at the front, the
first fifty carrying fascines, eight of them with ladders.
Two sergeants of the Gatinais regiment, and eight
carpenters, four from each regiment, preceded the rest.
The chasseurs of Agenais and Bourbonnais, one hundred
steps in the rear of the battalion stood ready to come to
its aid; while the Count de Rostaing held himself in
reserve, with the second Gatinais battalion.
"Six shells were fired; the besiegers defiled in perfect
order and silence. It was forbidden to shoot before
arriving on the top of the parapet, forbidden to jump,

178 SOLDIERS AND SANLORS OF FRANCE
without an order, into the intrenchment. At a hundred
and thirty steps away a Hessian sentinel cried out:
"Wer da I" The assailants kept silent and quickened
their speed. Under a volley of fire they reached the
abatis, which stopped them for a few moments; they
left some of their comrades there, but the rest jumped
resolutely into the ditch, and made their way through
the fraise which protected the parapet; the carpenters
made breaks in the palisades. The brave Deux-Ponts
did not succeed in getting over it, and fell back into the
trench; De Sillegue, a young Gatinais officer, held out
his hand to assist him, and received, nearly at the same
instant, a bullet in the thigh. As far as the eye could
see, the parapet was covered; the French had opened
fire and the effect was terrible. Deux-Ponts was
about to give the order to jump into the redoubt and
charge with bayonet, when the enemy laid down his
arms." "We jumped then with more tranquility and less
risk. I immediately started the cry of: ' Vive le Roil'
which was taken up by all the grenadiers and chasseurs,
and repeated by all the troops of the King in the trench;
to which the enemy responded by a general salvo of
artillery and firing of guns : never have I seen a grander
or more majestic spectacle!" Viomesnil was already
there, and was preparing for a vigorous defensive;
there was a rain of bullets, and it seemed that the Eng
lish were going to counter-attack. A sentinel who ob
served their movements called Deux-Ponts; he looked
over the parapet; a bullet passed near his head, "cover
ing his face with sand and gravel." This was the end
of it; the affair had lasted seven minutes. We had
ninety killed or wounded, of which twenty-one were of
the regiment of Royal-Deux-Ponts. De Berthelot was

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 179
killed, De Sireuil died of his wounds. Count de Damas
and Chevalier de Lameth had taken part in the attack
as volunteers; Lameth had "his knee-pan broken, and
his thigh pierced by a ball." De Vauban was there' also
to render an account to Rochambeau. "With troops
as good, brave and well disciplined as those that I had
the honor to lead against the enemy, one could under
take anything," said Count Guillaume; "I owe the
greatest day of my life to them."
The same spirit and the same success was noticeable
upon the American side. While Colonel Laurens, with
eighty men, was making a turn of the redoubt, the
troops of Colonel Hamilton, seconded by Gimat, at
tacked the front. Not a shot was fired. "The ardor of
the troops," La Fayette assures us, "did not give the
sappers time to cut the way for them." La Fayette
had strong American sentiments, and would not allow
any one to treat his men as novices. It seemed to him
that Viomesnil had, a tendency in this direction. The
marquis took his revenge : as the Americans were hold
ing their redoubt, and "the French firing was still going
on, he sent an aide-de-camp to ask Baron de Viomesnil
if he had need of the Americans to help him." This
is taken from his Memoires; La Fayette forgot, however,
to mention Viomesnil's answer. It was perhaps be
cause his messenger arrived just at the time that the fact
itself responded; that is, the capitulation of the English.
Here is the version of Deux-Ponts and also that of
Fersen: "On the 15th we worked all day under a shower
of bombs, up to the second parallel. On the 16th, at
five o'clock in the morning, the men on guard, worn out,
had become careless and many slept; certain batteries
were deserted and the pickets suspected nothing."
According to the recital of De Noailles the English re-

180 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
sorted to a ruse. He does not cite his witness, but says
that they pretended they were Americans and cried out
not to shoot. Rochambeau does not allude to anything
of this kind. As many as 600 English soldiers pene
trated into the parallel and spiked four pieces of cannon,
but did not have time to do their work well. Chastellux
interrupted them, and Noailles ended their discomfiture.
Before noon, through the care of Colonel Aboville, com
manding our artillery, the pieces that were badly spiked
were in working order again.
Cornwallis was in great extremity; he was out of
food and munitions with 1,500 sick soldiers in the hos
pitals. On the 17th he displayed his flag of truce and
parleyed about the terms of capitulation; Laurens and
Noailles were commissioned to draw up the articles
signed on the 19th by Washington, Rochambeau, and
Barras, at Moore House. Through the windows of this
little house, set upon a high cliff, where the great event
took place, the generals could view the Chesapeake —
the sea, whence came their salvation. Seven thousand
soldiers and 1,000 sailors fell into our hands, with 214
cannon (74 of which were bronze) and 22 flags. Rocham
beau and Washington made sure that the wounded
received every attention. Blanchard, quartermaster-
general, and the chief surgeons Coste and Robillard
were assiduous in their care of all — "friends and enemies
alike." On the 2 ist, Mathieu Dumas was the one selected to
go and meet the prisoners of the garrison; he placed
himself at the left of General O'Hara, who commanded
it. Cornwallis was suffering. "On approaching the
trenches, O'Hara said to me : ' Where is General Rocham
beau?' 'At our left,' I answered, 'at the head of the
French line.' The English General spurred his horse

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 181
in order to go and present his sword to the French
General. Foreseeing his intention, I galloped after him
so as to place myself between him and General Rocham
beau, who just at this moment indicated to me, General
Washington, facing him at the head of the American
Army. 'You are making a mistake,' I said to General
O'Hara, 'the General-in-Chief of our Army is at the
right.' I conducted him there, and just as he raised his
sword, General Washington prevented him, saying:
'Never, from such a good hand.' I remember that
Colonel Abercromby (the same who afterward died on
the field of battle in Egypt where he was victorious, at
the moment that the enemy-troops were laying down
their arms) moved rapidly away, covering his face and
biting the end of his sword."
Neither the Americans nor the French gloated over
the humiliation of the vanquished. It is rather pity
and admiration for a noble misfortune which dominates
the French Memoires. Closen accompanied Rocham
beau to see Lord Cornwallis; he contemplated with re
spect this great soldier, who could have no reason for
reproaching himself. His whole attitude showed an ele
vation and tranquility of soul. Pontgibaud notices also
the "noble confusion of all these brave and unfortunate
soldiers." No expression of triumph over the faces of
the conquerors; there were no spectators admitted.
"A general silence," said Henry Lee, "was observed in
this vast assembly of men." It was not only benevo
lence and courtesy, on the part of these Paladins — as
Viomesnil called those men who had just shown such
pure courage — on the part of those magnanimous rebels,
by no means surprised or disconcerted by their sudden
ascendancy; but it was all surmounted by a grave, re
ligious feeling, and by the realization of the capricious-

1 82 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
ness of Destiny, who threatens those she lifts up, and
renders sacred those she strikes down.
Cornwallis dined on November 2d with Rocham
beau ; he spoke freely of his campaign in Carolina, of his
partial victories, of the cause of his present misfortune.
He knew that the French fought, not so much to lower
the power of England, as through an enthusiastic im
pulse of head and heart. In his report published in
London, he spoke of the delicate way that they showed
their sympathy for him and for his officers ; offering them
money; being kind and cordial to them; leaving, in
truth, such an impression upon the hearts of the English
that it could never be effaced.
And what of Clinton ? On the 27th he appeared off
Cape Henry with twenty-seven ships; he realized that
the drama had been played, and he returned to England.
Rochambeau avoids all recrimination in his Memoires;
he tells what occurred; he does not like to allude to
that which might have occurred. It is through a high
sense of honor that he keeps silent upon the discomfiture
that followed his triumph ; he would like to have led his
troops to the attack of Charleston, to push on farther
and continue his success while he had such a good chance.
But he had to have the fleet, and Admiral de Grasse was
impatient to go back to the West Indies. He set sail
on November 4th with the Saint-Simon corps; Wash
ington returned to the Hudson; and La Fayette went
South to reinforce General Greene. "The French re
mained at Yorktown, Gloucester, Hampton and Wil
liamsburg, where they took up the quarters, which the
enemy had counted upon occupying, reconstructing
the houses destroyed by the operations of the siege."
Rochambeau had sent to France, upon two frigates,

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 183
Lauzun and Deux-Ponts, charged with the articles of
capitulation. Viomesnil also sailed for France.
But Chastellux remained and took a trip through
Virginia — a well-earned rest that was permitted him.
Greene brought back new victories; he had forced the
English to re-enter the lines at Charleston. At the end
of the campaign they were only in possession of this
city, Savannah, and the islands around New York.
The fortifications of Portsmouth, fraised, palisaded, sur
rounded by strong abatis, were demolished or burned
by Mathieu Dumas, so as to prevent any notion that
the English might have of landing there. Much alarm
was still caused in the Carolinas by the report that aid of
4,000 men from Ireland was coming for the English.
At the urgent solicitation of Greene, Rochambeau first
calmed his excitement with a little philosophy; and then
he sent the legion of Lauzun under De Choisy up to
and along the frontier of North Carolina, and ordered
Mathieu Dumas to keep up his reconnoitering, and "to
prepare for the march" in case a part of the army had
to be sent to the South. Dumas through his tact and
intelligence came to an understanding with the legisla
tures of Virginia and Carolina. All these precautions
are just so many more proofs of the zeal and vigilance of
the French.

CHAPTER X
THE ARMY OF ROCHAMBEAU AFTER YORKTOWN — THE WAR
CEASES — THE SQUADRON OF VAUDREUIL AT BOSTON
— FRANCO-AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP
Rochambeau had dispatched to the King two mes
sengers of victory: Lauzun and Deux-Ponts. Lauzun
arrived the first; he was at Versailles on Novem
ber 19th, 1781. Maurepas, dying, received him "in
the most touching manner." Great was the supreme
joy of the old Minister, who had, with all his influence,
seconded the views of Vergennes; great was the joy of
the King; immense the joy of the public. A dauphin
was born. And to complete the general rejoicing, the
convoy from San Domingo put upon the market 2,000,-
000 pounds of sugar, coffee, and spices. On November
27th Paris, upon the order of her echevins (magistrates),
was illuminated; and upon that day Notre Dame, for
the first time in many years, chanted the Te Deum, the
"divine dithyrambic" of victory.
Franklin smiled; his predictions had come true.
Many came to the house in Passy to congratulate him.
But Volney, the Abbe de la Roche, Turgot, Morellet,
and Cabanis, whose young face was so pleasing to the
patriarch, and, finally, Madame Helvetius, Madame
Brion and her two daughters, what did they not say to
their old friend ! He told them one day: "At your age
the soul is outside; at mine, it is inside and looks out the
window at the noise of the passers-by." Franklin
opened wide the windows of his soul, and the acclamation
of France was sweet to him. 184

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 185
The King wrote a personal letter to Rochambeau
on November 26th: "The success of my armies will
never flatter me except when they are on the road to
peace." And to Vergennes he said: "You have ren
dered our arms most brilliant and laid a stone of expecta
tion upon which I hope we will build an honorable edi
fice of peace." But he was left without the order.
The Lion had not yet brought him, in June, 1782, the
instructions that he had solicited. He only knew that
"the English had made to France propositions of peace
as advantageous as she could possibly hope for; but, as
America was not comprised in it, the King had rejected
it, absolutely."
America spontaneously responded to our constancy by
an equal fidelity. General Carleton, who had relieved
Clinton, proposed, in the name of his government, the
recognition of the independence of the United States
provided they detached themselves from their alliance
with France. Congress responded that the republic
was bound by duty and honor never to make a separate
peace. The State of Maryland declared enemy to the
nation any one who would speak of a treaty without
including France; Virginia, then all the colonies, adopted
the same resolution. The Assembly of South Carolina
refused to lay down arms. And La Luzerne reported
this news to Versailles by Chevalier de Clouard.
But Rochambeau was disturbed. He thought that
the English would not give up so easily. He learned in
June of the disaster of Dominica and other French
islands: Admiral de Grasse surprised by Rodney; his
fatal manoeuvre; the Ville de Paris, the admiral's ship,
sunk; the admiral taken prisoner; 3,000 Frenchmen
killed. However, he knew that the English were re
signed to the evacuation of Charleston and Savannah.

1 86 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
In the absence of orders, he decided to do the best he
could; that is, to join his troops to those of Congress
in the North, so as to threaten New York. On July 27th
his army was assembled at Baltimore. A detachment,
under the command of De la Vallette, that Rochambeau
had left behind to take away the artillery from York-
town and Gloucester and raze these places, arrived by
slow stages ; from the commander to the last soldier, all
were ill. It was necessary to remain in Baltimore a
month, until after the season of great heat had passed.
Meanwhile, the enemy had evacuated Savannah;
and Rochambeau had a letter from De Vaudreuil, "who
was setting sail, with what was left of the fleet of De
Grasse, for Boston." Vaudreuil came to anchor on the
26th of July at the entrance to Chesapeake Bay, to see
if he could be of use to the general ; he offered to land
his men (it was no longer seasonable) and he asked him
for 100 artillerymen with two companies of grenadiers,
to attempt an operation upon Penobscot, 100 miles to
the north of New York. Rochambeau knew how diffi
cult it would be ; it was no easy matter to take this post.
The preceding year Washington had distinctly advised
against this expedition, after the combat of Destouches
in the Chesapeake. Consulted again, he thanked Vau
dreuil, "with a heart full of gratitude for the noble offer
of his assistance"; but he persuaded him to give up so
dangerous a design; the least of the perils was to be
surprised by the fleet from New York, at the lower part
of the bay, with a southeast wind. However, the ap
proach of Vaudreuil had alarmed the English ; the con
voys of troops and munitions dared not go as far as New
York and took refuge at Halifax. At New York, even,
all the vessels were drawn up behind Sandy Hook and
they made ready to sink eight ships, so as to bar the

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 187
port. There was a rising of the masses. They did not
recover from their fright until the 4th of September,
upon the arrival of Admiral Pigot, who, after a long in
terval, succeeded Rodney. And Rochambeau hurried,
then, to the Hudson.
The war ceased as of itself. While in the preceding
years, the English corsairs, after the departure of De
Grasse, had ravaged the coast of Delaware, in August,
1782, at Philadelphia, Fersen noted that the English
seemed to conduct themselves in a less hostile manner
in the country : they had forbidden all of their partisans
called Tories or Refugees (all of that loyalist canaille, as
Chastellux called them, who had spitefully pillaged the
Carolinas and Virginia, and whom Lord Cornwallis had
so much trouble to conduct and keep within bounds)
to make any incursions without a permission signed by
the commandant of the place. Perhaps a like horror of
the hardships of war was impressed upon Louis XVI
when he learned that Vaudreuil had sent La Perouse
with some frigates into Hudson Bay to destroy all of the
English possessions; the Correspondance Secrete claims
that the King speaking upon this subject to his Minister
of Marine, De Castries, said: "This manner of making
war gives me great displeasure."
But this, perhaps, was only a report given out by the
Anglomaniacs ; there were many others: upon the pre
tended discord that reigned between the French and
American armies; upon the extravagant project nour
ished by the monarchy of making Washington a stad-
holder with the power of a Roman dictator, etc. Then
there were the recriminations of the Chamber of Com
merce : the United States was taking away from us, for
the profit of Great Britain, a part of our commerce with
our own colonies; this war opened, to our (French)

188 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
disadvantage, a brilliant career for the commerce of the
neutral countries. The orators in the cafes became so
indiscreet "that M. L'Hopital, one of the declaimers at
the head of the Anglomaniacs, received notice to keep
quiet"; and because De Freville, of the party of the
Economists, spoke too much and too badly, he was put
in the Bastille, and afterward in the prison of La Force.
In truth, even after the news of the disaster of the
Saintes (French islands in the West Indies) the resolu
tion of the King was sustained by the whole nation.
His Majesty ordered put on the docks, immediately,
12 vessels of the line of no, 80, and 74 cannon; his two
brothers, the states of Bourgogne, the provosts of the
merchants, and six companies of the merchants of
Paris, and those of Marseille, Bordeaux, and Lyon,
offered to the King vessels of no cannon. Then the
farmers-general, the companies of finance, and individ
uals brought their contributions. Diplomacy had al
ready entered upon its work, and again France armed.
However, in the meanwhile, on March 4th, 1782, the
British Parliament had declared enemy of the country
whosoever would attempt to continue an offensive war
fare against the Americans. The work of peace had
begun. And so we have but little else to relate except ad
ventures and impressions of travelers. Having left
Baltimore on the 23d of August, Rochambeau, still
suffering from intermittent fever, encamped on the 16th
opposite King's Ferry, where upon the left of the Hud
son the Americans awaited us. "It was a family fete,"
said Mathieu Dumas; and Rochambeau adds in his
Memoires: "General Washington, wishing to show his
respect to France and his gratitude for her beneficence,
made us pass between two rows of his troops, dressed,

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 189
equipped and armed for the first time since the begin
ning of the Revolution, partly from goods and arms com
ing from France, partly from the magazines of York-
town. He had the drums beat the French march during
the whole of this revue." Encamped before Crompond
on the mountain, the French corps were just a march
from New York, or Staten Island.
It was there that Viomesnil, promoted lieutenant-gen
eral, rejoined the army, after a return voyage that we
should call more romantic than unfortunate. All the
young nobility of France wished to go to America with
him; upon the frigates the Gloire and Aigle he brought
the Prince de Broglie, eldest son of the marshal; the
Count de S6gur, son of the Minister of War; the Count
de Lomenie and Alexandre de Lameth; and Lauzun
and the Baron de Montesquieu returned. Segur gives
the best account of the adventure, with his incorrigible
gay humor.
First they had a naval combat. During the night
of the 4th of September, off the Bermudas, was sounded
"the clearing of the ships." As soon as the ships were
cleared, and the gangways closed, every one was at his
post. The darkness was so thick that on board the
Gloire, commanded by De Vallongue, they first had the
impression that it was a merchant ship that they had
perceived. The enemy ship and the frigate ran along
side, gradually approaching each other. When they
were within gun range there was no longer any uncer
tainty. Vallongue answered shot for shot. Unfortu
nately, La Touche, his senior officer, who commanded
the Aigle, made him a sign to turn the ship to the
wind; he hesitated, obeyed, tacked about, and at that
moment he presented the poop to the enemy ship,

190 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
receiving her whole volley — a volley of seventy-four
cannon — from stern to bow. A lieutenant of the mer
chant marine saw Vallongue's embarrassment; he took
charge of the manoeuvre, and so well did he do it that
the Gloire arrived in her turn on a level with the enemy's
stern, and gave her back a good broadside; upon this,
Vallongue embraced Lieutenant Gandeau. He thought
he was lost but he wished to die courageously. With
intrepid bravery, he hailed the English captain: "Down
with your flag!" The Englishman called out, "All
right," and a terrible volley followed his reply. They
(the French) recognized the Hector that the English had
taken from De Grasse. The Aigle, arriving unexpect
edly, changed the fate of combat ; the two boats were so
near each other that the gunners could fight with their
ramrods. What a fete ! A yard-arm of the Hector
caught in the mast of the Aigle; Viomesnil cried out:
"Board her!" But the English captain preferred to
cut his cable which held him to the Aigle, and go and
sink a little farther away. On that day the Baron de
Montesquieu learned what he had been ignorant of;
what Segur had not then desired to tell him. A double-
headed shot — two balls joined together by a bar of
iron — broke on the quarter-deck, just as they were
descending, with Broglie, LanTeth, and the others.
"Do you want to know," said he to Lomenie, "what a
' dangerous liaison' means? Look! Here it is."
On the nth the two frigates, on arriving at the en
trance of the Delaware, fell upon an English flotilla.
For lack of a pilot, they steered into a channel closed up
by a sand-bar. De la Touche and De Vallongue re
solved to go as far as possible, and, when they could
go no farther, to turn out broadsides and sell their lives
dearly. As to the land officers, they disembarked with

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 191
the dispatches and 2,500,000 livres in gold. They
found themselves exhausted, without food, in the woods
and marshes of an unknown country, where the horse
of Segur came near being lost in the quicksands. De
Lomenie, De Chabannes, De Melfort, and De Talley
rand were commissioned to look for beef and wagons;
but wherever they went they were received as suspects.
They finally found what they needed. Viomesnil, at
the break of day, on the 13th, saw some sloops arriving
loaded with the precious coin; he had just unloaded
two tons of the gold when he saw other sloops approach
ing, manned by red coats; quickly he threw the money
overboard and sailed away, going in the direction of
Dover; he found out, en route, that it was possible at
low tide to fish up the said tons of gold, retraced his
steps, fished them up, and set sail again. They (the
Frenchmen in the sloops) were "naked, without any
equipment or valets," but would have been the happiest
souls in the world had they not left the frigates behind
them in extreme peril. The Aigle, in fact, was captured
by Admiral Elphingston. Those who saved the treasure
were eighteen sailors and five officers; one of them was
called the Marquis de MacMahon.
Arriving at Philadelphia, Segur was pleased with
everything. How often a happy menage has been de
cried in this century ! The Count de Segur writes thus
to his wife: "I have thought of thee so much, and
in the midst of the hail of bullets and balls whistling
around my ears, I tenderly kissed thy portrait in the
presence of the Prince de Broglie, who was very much
touched, and also kissed it; under any other circum
stances I should have been jealous." He gave his dis
patches to La Luzerne, admired the wide, straight
streets, the elegant residences, the whole city in fact,

192 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
which was "a noble temple raised to tolerance." At last
he falls asleep ; an officer awakens him ; order from Vio
mesnil to go at once to the North to take the messages of
the court of France to the generals. On the way to
the Hudson the enchantment continues; he found polite
ness, kindness, and zeal for the common cause; towns
well filled with inhabitants; poverty or coarseness not
to be seen; a pleasing landscape full of beauty. At
Crompond, on October 5th, he celebrates in lyric terms
the magnificence of the Hudson, "a sea flowing between
two vast forests centuries old." Duplessis in his work
Un Romain comments upon the landscape with his sou
venirs of the war. And why not let us quote again
from this letter to the Countess de S6gur, which gives
such a good idea of the spirit of the times: "I should
like to live in this country with thee; believe me, it is
much better than ours for people who love virtue. . . .
The forests, still a little deserted. . . . This is the only
country for honest people; the beginning of civilization
is the time for their reign. Before this epoch, there
was too much vulgarity, since then one is too blase to
be virtuous. ... I have re-read Telemaque, it is the
best lesson for a young man who goes into the army."
The Prince de Broglie was happy, witty, in fact, quite
contented with himself; contented also with others.
De la Luzerne loaned him a shirt and invited him to go
to the house of a Mrs. Morris, who was "very fairly
adorned." He took twelve cups of tea, which gave him
such lively impertinence that his Souvenirs show the
result of it. I like his impressions of Newport better.
De Vauban took him one day with Fersen to the house
of a Quaker: "Suddenly a door opened and we saw the
Goddess of grace and beauty enter. Minerva in person,
who had dropped her attributes of war for the more

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 193
pleasing garments of a simple shepherdess; it was the
daughter of the 'trembleur,' the Quaker. Her name was
Polly Leiton. . . . She spoke to us using thee and thou,
but with a simplicity and gracefulness that I could
not better compare to anything but her costume; it
was a kind of English style of dress, fitting close to the
form and white as snow, a muslin apron of the same
purity, a very simple fichu, high at the neck; her head
adorned with a little, plain, round, pleated bonnet of
batiste, which allowed half an inch of her hair to show
and gave Polly the air of a Madonna. She did not seem
to realize her charms; she talked, with perfect ease and
the use of thee and thou of the Quakers, about polite
and innocent things. She enchanted all of us, was
conscious of it a little and did not appear displeased at
having charmed 'her friends,' as she called us. I must
admit that this little seductive Leiton appears to me to
be one of nature's masterpieces."
This angel, whose eyes "reflected, like two mirrors, the
sweetness of a pure and tender soul," asked Segur why
he followed "the horrible vocation of war." He an
swered: "For you." She replied: "Thee must not
meddle with the affairs of others, unless it be to prevent
bloodshed. ... I am sure that thy wife, if she be a
good heart, is of my opinion." Polly Leiton did not
suspect how much justice she was doing the French.
The army did not leave Crompond until October 22d.
Segur had brought the order to be in readiness to de
part with the squadron of Vaudreuil, so as to go to the
islands as soon as the English would evacuate Charles
ton. Vaudreuil did not feel safe in Boston. He feared
that the task was beyond his power. He was reassured
by Rochambeau, who sent De Fleury to him. He had
"perfect knowledge of the use of the language and the

194 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
manners of the country," and gave a good standing to
his militia. Finally, on November ioth, Rochambeau
also drew quite near to him ; he encamped at Providence.
Decidedly it must have been known that Charleston was
evacuated. It was the moment to rush to the aid of
the French islands in the West Indies. But the ships
of Vaudreuil were in need of repair. They waited until
the 4th of December. Newport was but ten miles dis
tant; the officers, who had such pleasant memories of
it, went there to bid farewell to their friends. At Provi
dence, Rochambeau gave " frequent assemblies and nu
merous balls" that were attended by the people from far
and near. "I do not recall," says Segur again, "having
seen, in any other place, a reunion more full of gayety
and less confusion, more pretty women and happy cou
ples, more grace and less coquetry, a more complete
blending of persons of all classes, among whom an equal
modesty prevented any shocking difference to be seen.
This modesty, order, simple liberty — this happiness of
the new Republic, so mature in its infancy, formed the
nucleus of our conversations with Chastellux." Upon
Washington also they must have talked at length; like
the chevalier, Segur admired in him the purest of
heroes. We might almost say that at the moment the French
were leaving America, the union of the two nations was
entering its honeymoon. They had never understood
each other better, nor loved each other more. The
French had formerly made slighting remarks in regard
to the instruction, discipline, and uniforms of the
American soldiers; S6gur does not make them now;
everything seems to him the "picture of order, reason,
and experience"; he infinitely enjoys "the noble air,
the fine bearing, the kindly nature of these officers and

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 195
their generals." — All of the prejudices of the Americans
against the French had also vanished. A deputation
of Quakers from Philadelphia made the following speech
to Rochambeau: "General, it is not for thy military
qualities that we have come to make thee this visit.
We do not take much into account talents for war;
but thee art the friend of men, and thy army lived in
perfect order and discipline. This is the reason that
we have come to pay thee our respects." When the
French army crossed Connecticut on its way to Provi
dence, the aged Trumbull told his fellow citizens "not
to raise a penny on the price of food when the French
soldiers passed through the State." And they gener
ously conformed to the order given. Rochambeau could
report that the French army "left America with univer
sal gratitude of its allies in all of the thirteen States,
without exception."
From the 1st of December the French troops were
directed successively toward Boston. Segur left, with
great regret, this country "where one is what one ought
to be; frank, honest, loyal and free. Here one is not
forced to be rich, low, false, foolish, a courtier or a
soldier; one can be simple or extraordinary, a traveler or
a sedentaire, politician, litterateur, merchant, occupied or
idle; no one is shocked. . . . I am truly heavy-hearted
upon leaving this country. ' ' Up to the 20th of December
there were festivities and balls. Boston, the Puritan
city, first showed its joy; then came its sorrow at the
approaching separation. They commended an eigh
teen-year-old sergeant, Va-de-bon-cceur, formerly Count
Bozon de Talleyrand P6rigord, aide-de-camp to Chastel
lux, because he preferred, rather than go back to France,
or to fight in the West Indies, and since no one wished
to take him as an officer, to don the cap of a grenadier

196 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
and the epaulettes of wool, and hide himself, if one may
express it that way, in the regiment of De Saint-Maime.
We can judge of the welcome of the French troops by
the manner in which Chastellux was feted the preceding
month in the homes of the Bostonians. "On November
14th, the Association Ball was opened by the Marquis
de Vaudreuil with Mrs. Temple; the elder M. de 1' Ai
guille (a naval officer) and M. Truguet danced, each one,
a minuet and did honor to the French nation by their
graceful and easy performance." The next day there
was a soiree at the home of Mr. Cushing, deputy-gover
nor, and tea at the same place on the 16th. "M. de
Parois, nephew of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, sent for his
harp and played with much charm and talent." Chas
tellux loyed to meet the very sensible and amiable Mrs.
Tudor, who understood French and spoke it very well,
and what was more than wit, she had "gracious and
charming manners." He enjoyed the pleasure of a
quiet conversation, interrupted from time to time by
music; Mathieu Dumas and Parois sang duos, agreeable
to the ears, while the beautiful Mrs. Whitemore "took
charge of the pleasure of the eyes." Messrs. Brown,
Brick, Bowdoin, and Mr. Russell, "an honest merchant
who made a splendid host," and the Consul of France,
M. de Letombes, gathered around the chevalier the gay
est and finest company. And farther on, Chastellux
renders thanks to Vaudreuil: "One can hardly believe
how much the presence of the squadron here has been
conducive to the drawing together of the two nations.
The noble bearing of M. le Marquis de Vaudreuil, his
affable manners which are an example to all, as well as
his simplicity and kindness, have captivated the hearts
of a people who have not been, up to this time, always
friendly toward us. The officers of our Navy have been

¦J..., %,.?f*-:-r.AK«^S ST"

PEACE— AN ALLEGORY.
Note the effigy of Louis XVI and the bust of Vergennes.

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 197
received everywhere, not only as allies, but as brothers.
They have been admitted into the greatest intimacy in
the homes of the ladies of Boston, without the least in
discretion, or single pretension, or even appearance of
foppishness to trouble the confidence and innocence of
this intercourse."
It was necessary to depart. "In the midst of the
acclamations and gratitude of the Americans, who sa
luted the French flag with their hurrahs," the squadron
of Vaudreuil left Boston on December 24th, 1782.
"The winds blew from the west, the sea was beautiful,
the sky serene." Suddenly, the wind changed to the
east, a storm arose. This was the beginning of a new
series of trials; it is not our mission to tell how the
French arrived at Porto Cabello, on the coast of Vene
zuela. In April Vaudreuil received orders there to take
the troops back to France.
Rochambeau had left his command. He went to
take leave of Washington at Newburgh on December
7th ; they tenderly took farewell of each other, and the
whole of the American army was eager to give to the
French general the most sincere assurance of eter
nal brotherly affection. "On January 8th Rocham
beau embarked upon the Emeraude, which awaited him
at Annapolis, on the Chesapeake Bay; he took on board
De Choisy, De Beville, De Vauban, De Montesquieu,
the Viscount de Rochambeau (the son of the General),
and twelve other officers. The frigate passed the
Capes, the 14th; she had hardly left the entrance of
the bay when she was chased by an English corvette."
The captain of the French ship dropped some of his
masts and yard-arms and the cannon of the forecastle,
and was finally lost to sight by the enemy ship, after
having made eighty miles to the south. On the 16th

198 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
the frigate went through the most violent wind-storm
that the oldest sailors on board had ever witnessed.
Another time lightning struck the foremast and broke
it. On February ioth (1783) the Emeraude cast anchor
at Saint-Nazaire. Rochambeau started at once for
Versailles, and did not stop until he reached his destina
tion. The King said that it was to him, and the tak
ing of the army of Cornwallis, that he owed peace;
Rochambeau, faithful in prosperity to his high char
acter, asked permission to divide this praise with a man
whose misfortunes were only known to him (the King)
through the public papers, adding, "that he would never
forget, and he hoped His Majesty would not forget
that, without the co-operation of M. de Grasse, we
would never have taken the Army of Lord Cornwallis."
Rochambeau had the entree to the King's chamber,
the Cordon Bleu, the government of Picardy; but "that
which flattered him the most," and we must believe it,
was that he was granted all the favors he asked for his
officers and soldiers.
What is then this peace of which the King has spoken ?

CHAPTER XI
A PEACE OF RECONCILIATION — CONCLUSION
It was a peace of reconciliation.
As Doniol has finely emphasized, Count de Vergennes
and Lord Shelburne "were convinced that they were
closing, definitely, a fatal period." They both thought
that free exchanges commercially would increase the
moral obligations among men, rendering wars less fre
quent, closing the era of conquests and submissions.
In order that the agreement could be realized, it was
necessary for Shelburne to become Prime Minister.
Beginning December, 1781, for the duration of three
months, there were preliminary parleyings, official
exchanges between David Hartley, the emissary of
Lord North, and Dupont, the future Dupont de Ne
mours, one of the best leaders of the Economist party.
In seeking the services of a man well-versed in the
philosophical study of commerce, Vergennes certainly
indicated that, in order to bind the two nations to
gether, he counted upon the common doctrines and the
same moral aspirations which, for years of constant in
tellectual intercourse, had united, across the Channel,
those minds careful of the future of the human race.
Dupont, however, did not declare himself in this way,
but rather took pride in remaining "in the vagueness of
principles." England's game then was to lead America into a
separate peace, and Hartley believed that Franklin
would accede to it. The reply was definite. "This,"
wrote the doctor, "has always given me more disgust
199

200 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
than my friendship permits me to express. I believe
there is not a man in America — a few English Tories
excepted — that would not spurn the thought of desert
ing a noble and generous friend for the sake of a treaty
with an unjust and cruel enemy. Congress will never
instruct their Commissioners on such ignominious terms;
yet if it were possible for them to give such an order as
this, I should certainly refuse to act. I should in
stantly renounce their commission and banish myself
forever from so infamous a country."
North fell, after the semi-pacific vote of March 4th,
1782. Franklin, through Lord Cholmondeley, who was
returning from Nice to London, and at his request, sent
Shelburne a cordial, dignified note, after his fashion.
He told him that before he died it would give him infinite
pleasure to contribute to the making of peace, and he
thanked him, in the name of Madame Helvetius, for the
present of some gooseberry-bushes with which she and
her friends were greatly pleased. Shelburne answered:
"I shall be glad to consult with you about the means of
aiding in promoting the happiness of mankind. It is
a much more agreeable subject to my nature than the
most marvelous plans to spread misery and ruin." And
again he sent over an Economist, Richard Oswald.
Oswald and Adam Smith were in constant communica
tion with Vergennes. Oswald was only accredited for
American affairs ; Thomas Grenville for those of Europe.
Franklin kept Vergennes informed of everything.
London wished to establish, as a point of departure,
the disastrous treaty of 1763. The very mention of it
gave Vergennes "a chilly sensation." It was necessary
to begin entirely on a new basis, "founded upon justice
and mutual agreement." Shelburne had the same
thought and his ideas had acquired full authority by

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 201
July, 1782, when he became Prime Minister. Hence
forth his word was law. Fox, who had just resigned,
would have given the greatest advantages to the United
States, but would have refused everything to France, in
the hope, as Franklin perceived, "to embroil us with our
allies, and then, having to deal with us alone, take back
little by little that which they had given us." Shel
burne thought that this Machiavellian way of manag
ing home affairs proceeded from an exceedingly short
sighted policy; from the free development of American
forces, from the commerce with America, he frankly
expected for his country a new destiny, a new expansion
of power, "a supremacy of a new kind."
About the middle of August another emissary went
to France from England; it was Admiral de Grasse. He
had been a prisoner too much spoiled, too sensitive to
the flattery of our adversary, had been decried in France,
but was afterward half -pardoned, and finally commis
sioned by Shelburne to communicate to Vergennes the
views of the English Ministry; they were practically the
same as our own. On the ioth of September Rayneval,
the brother of Gerard, was in London. He stipulated
for America independence without restriction ; for France
some advantages which we will find in the treaty. For
Spain, however, the agreement was more difficult; she
wanted Gibraltar.
This is not the place to speak of the trouble that
Spain caused us. It will be sufficient to indicate that,
in order to obtain from England the unreasonable satis
faction which she exacted through our intercession,
France resolved upon serious sacrifices. But it was the
American Commissioners who thought of putting us in
a false position. Franklin must be absolved from all
blame. While he conducted affairs, he held to the great

202 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
principle: "Let there be no separate peace!" Un
luckily, from the first days of July, 1782, gout confined
him to his arm-chair, and Jay took charge of things.
Now Jay, although he had formerly professed a warm
affection for us, presented the phenomenon of one of
those rapid evolutions which is called, according to the
point of view, conversion or defection ; he was a colleague
of Oswald, who was a Whig in England as he a Whig in
America. Becoming frightened by the idea which came
near duping Congress at one time, "about the engage
ments which riveted America to France," he passed over
to the English side. His policy, "strong and decided"
as he called it, as well as that of his accomplice, John
Adams, consisted in signing the preliminaries of peace
with England without consulting or giving notice to the
French Minister.
They betrayed their mission and exposed themselves
" to the execration " of all the Colonial Assemblies. Even
Massachusetts, in spite of Samuel Adams, asserted that
she would reject "with the greatest horror any propo
sition of a separate agreement." When, on the 13th
of March, Congress learned of the proceedings of John
Adams and Jay, its members were most indignant, and
our Minister Plenipotentiary, De la Luzerne, had to
interfere to prevent trouble. As to Vergennes, he did
not hide his surprise from Franklin: "Are you not
convinced that you owe something to the King of
France?" Franklin could reply in perfect good faith:
"There was never a prince more beloved in his own realm
than is the King of France by all the people of America.
. . . And there is no one who feels more deeply than
I do what every American owes to your King."
It was not that France had pretended to arrogate to
herself the privilege of giving to America the royal

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 203
present of her independence; better and more highly
inspired, she desired, on the contrary, that the United
States, a sovereign power, would establish for itself, and
alone, its national statutes with England. In our own
negotiations we had avoided any proceeding that would
have suspended the recognition of the independence.
In denying their solidarity with the French Ministry,
Jay and Adams not only risked French interests but
they offended social laws. To our extreme consideration
they returned defection, disloyalty. Their divergence,
however, brought no result. The Ministers of George
III, in their last analysis, did not draw up anything de
rogatory to us from this premature agreement. And
Vergennes had the American Commissioners sign a
declaration which subordinated their articles to the peace
still to be concluded between France and England.
"We hope," read the declaration, "that this truth,
made known, will dissipate all the suspicions that some
persons have tried to cast upon a young Republic, whose
honor and interests equally demand that it establish
itself in public opinion, as placing above everything
else, its fidelity and constancy to its engagements."
The secret treaty of America is dated November
30th, 1782. The preliminaries of peace were signed at
Versailles, January 20th, 1783, between England and
France. Spain was given Minorca and Florida. The
boundaries of our Newfoundland fisheries were re-made ;
we acquired Saint-Pierre and Miquelon; we kept Saint
Lucia and Tabago; we gave back Grenada, Domenica,
and Saint Vincent. In Africa, we recovered our Senegal
possessions, lost in 1763; in India, some unimportant
districts; and, lastly, there was no longer any question
of an English Commissioner at Dunkerque (Dunkirk).
And now about the treaty of commerce. Signed in

204 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
1786, it was much criticised in France. It was very
good for our agricultural interests, deplorable for cer
tain of our industries, encouraging for others. We will
not undertake to discuss it here. One thing is certain:
the American war greatly changed, in the way of free
trade, the commercial intercourse of the world, and it
caused the regeneration of our islands. Another thing
is true: France, morally, had never been so great.
The Citizen-King, as Vergennes called Louis XVI, whose
citizen-soul had guided him into giving to the monarchy
one of its purest glories, had done good work for the
future. Shall we render an account here of what France had
done for America? On the sea, 63 ships of the line,
3,668 cannon, 32,609 officers and sailors; on the land,
697 officers and 11,983 soldiers, an expense equal to
$50,000,000, according to the estimate of an Ameri
can, Mr. Randolph Keim — the balance-sheet of French
liberality. As imposing as it may be, when we consider the cir
cumstances and the time, how feebly this, alone, sym
bolizes the valiant and efficient confidence which our
country, the country of ancient traditions, welcomed in
America the promise of a new humanity, happier and
nobler than the old ! Simply in the name of justice and
kindness, France loved these people who dared to under
take to live according to the true standard of humanity,
and, for their welcome into the world, she covered them
with the prestige of her ancient honor.
Our ancestors had faith in liberty. Upon the soil of
our ancestors made sacred by their secular virtues and
endurance, in their turn, these heirs of a great past
wished to create a new world. It was a noble courage

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 205
and a bold risk, to cast off the chains of tradition and
throw themselves into a future of adventure. Our
friend Doctor Cooper looked upon our resolution in a
different light: "Take care, young men," he said at
Boston, in 1782, in the midst of a circle of French officers,
"take care that the triumph of the cause upon this vir
gin soil does not incite your hopes to go too far; after so
many centuries of corruption, you will have to surmount
untold difficulties; it has cost us much bloodshed to gain
our liberty, but you will pour out torrents before you
will establish it in your Old Europe."
As the years passed by, it seemed that America
had decided to leave France and Europe a prey to the
witchcraft of the past. What mattered to her our pain
ful memories, our ineffaceable regrets, our just resent
ment? She had grown accustomed to our complaints;
she saw us the heirs of an oppressive inheritance, de
voured by rancor, lost in disputes, which, periodically,
set the nations of Europe against one another. She
considered the Old World as, fundamentally, compro
mised; never would her calm and brilliant destiny be
troubled by our affairs.
To-day America has discovered a higher truth. She
feels that if the old home-fire of thought and humane
generosity in the Old World is extinguished, the light
that burns on the new continent will also die out. She
loves, in their venerable source, the old things eternally
young, nourishing, and life-giving. She discovers an
idealism which springs from the sorrows of the past ages,
and, for which reason, it is all the more chivalrous and
courageous. She comes, in order to save her ideal, to
defend with us the fruit of long-suffering humanity.
Through this idealism the national unity of the United
States is nourished and will accomplish its destiny.

206 SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE
The Americans live, not, as they formerly believed, to
enjoy an easy bed of happiness and prosperity, upon a
soil that is inexhaustible; but, for a great purpose —
to see that complete justice is rendered to all men who
have inhabited this world in an unhappy state for so long
a time. Americans can read again with pride the letter that
Washington wrote to La Fayette on April 5th, 1783:
"Behold us now in the rank of the nations of the earth,
but we have a reputation to acquire. Experience
bought at the price of trials and difficulties, alone con
vinces us that the honor, power and true interests of
this country are the honor, power and true interests of
the entire continent, and that any separation would
break the bond which holds us together," and cause the
destruction of the ideal in the name of which the colo
nists appealed to arms. National unity, the unity of
American aspiration, was formerly threatened by the
eruption of disparaging elements, and saw only, in the re
public that Washington had made, a prodigious financial
market with an immense syndicate of material interests
to exploit. But to-day, for the salvation of her honor,
in this bloody contention into which she has thrown her
self (the World War begun in Europe in August, 1914),
America reconquers her original soul — a soul closely
allied to that of France. Near us she meets England.
When the mother country had recognized the sover
eignty of the United States, her statesmen knew how to
be nobly intelligent enough to wish a great destiny to
those whom they no longer called rebels, but brothers.
They thought that America's greatness and England's
greatness should be identical ; and they had no need of a
mediator. And now, to-day, England and America are

SOLDIERS AND SAILORS OF FRANCE 207
drawn close to each other in the land of France, and their
blood mingles with ours to drench the soil where sleep
our dead. In this significant event, the highest order
of human interest, there is the promise of a great future.

APPENDIX
france-amerique
The society called Le Comite France-Amerique, which edits
the library to which this book belongs, was founded the lat
ter part of the year 1909 by a large number of notable per
sons, who sent forth the following appeal, which is a resume
of the object of the association:
The Frenchmen who sign this appeal have just founded an
institution which is consecrated to an urgent work of closer
connection and sympathy between France and the American
Nations; it is called Le Comite France-Amerique (The Franco-
American Committee).
Le Comite France-Amerique is to work for the development
of the economic, intellectual, and artistic relations between
the nations of the New World and the French Nation; to
found a monthly review and to classify therein the most
complete information upon the economic and intellectual life
of the American peoples; to attract to France students and
tourists from the two Americas and give them a cordial wel
come; to encourage all work and activity which will make
known America to France, or France to America; such will
be the direction given to our efforts.
The undersigned appeal to those in France who interest
themselves in the Americas, and to those in the Americas
who interest themselves in France, for co-operation and
active devotion.
This association was welcomed with so much enthusiasm
that, as early as 191 1, the number of its active and honorary
members reached one thousand. At that date, after being
well organized in France, it began to organize corresponding
Committees in America. 209

210 APPENDIX
In North America the following Committees were organized
under the presidency of: At Montreal, the Honorable Raoul
Dandurand, Senator, former President of the Federal Senate;
at Quebec, Mr. Ferdinand Roy; at New Orleans, the Hon
orable Judge Breaux, former President of the Supreme Court
of Louisiana; at Los Angeles, Mr. L. W. Brunswig; at San
Diego, Mr. Eugene Daney, former President of the Cali
fornia Bar Association; at Salt Lake City, Major Richard
W. Young, etc. The society, "The Friends of France" of
San Francisco, is also affiliated with the Comite France-
Amerique. The France-America Society of New York is thus consti
tuted: President: Doctor Nicholas Murray Butler, President
of the University of Columbia; Vice-Presidents: Frederic R.
Coudert, Chauncey M. Depew, William D. Guthrie, Myron
T. Herrick; Treasurer: J. Pierpont Morgan; Secretary:
S. Reading Bertron; President of the Executive Committee:
F. Cunliffe-Owen; Members of the Board of Directors: Robert
Bacon, Peter T. Barlow, George W. Burleigh, William A.
Clark, Paul Fuller, Warren L. Green, McDougall Hawkes,
A. Barton Hepburn, E. H. Outerbridge, George Foster Pea-
body, Edward Robinson, Henry W. Sackett, Herbert L. Sat-
terlee, W. K. Vanderbilt, Henry Van Dyke, Whitney Warren,
Henry White, George T. Wilson.
In Latin America Committees are formed, or about to be
formed, at Santiago, in Chili, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Mon
tevideo, La Paz, Bogota, Costa Rica, etc. The Committee of
Sao Paulo, notably, organized in 191 3 a brilliant Exposition
of French Art, of which the Memorial Section has served to
constitute the first permanent Museum of French Art in
South America.
Besides this, in France, a special section, called Liguefran-
caise de propagande, has organized a service of information
and propaganda in America in regard to touring in France,
instruction in the French language, French art, and the
products of French industry.

APPENDIX 211
Le Comite central de Paris, which has its social centre at
21 rue Cassette, is composed of an Executive Board, Board of
Directors, and active and honorary members. The Executive
Board of France-Amtrique is formed at present of the fol
lowing personages:
President of the Comite: M. Gabriel Hanotaux, of the
French Academy, former Minister of Foreign Affairs; Presi
dent of the Ligue frangaise de propagande : M. Heurteau, the
delegate-general of the Board of Administration of the Com-
pagnie d' Orleans; President of the Section France-Amerique
latine: M. Francois Carnot; President of the Section France-
Etats-Unis: General Brugere; President of the Section France-
Canada: Viscount R. de Caix de Saint-Aymour; Honorary
President of the Ligue frangaise de propagande: M. Georges
Pallain, Director of the Bank of France; President of the
Commission on Instruction: M. Appell of the Institute Dean of
the Faculty of Sciences; President of the Commission of Fine
Arts: M. Francois Carnot, President of the League of Deco
rative Arts; President of the Commission on Industry and
Commerce: M. de Ribes-Christofle, Member-Treasurer of the
Chamber of Commerce of Paris; President of the Commission
on Touring: M. Edmond Chaix, President of the Commission
on Touring of the Automobile Club; Treasurer: Count R. de
Vogue; Director: M. G. Louis-Jaray, Member of the Council
of State.
The Comite has been publishing, since January i, 1910, a
monthly review, France-Amerique, which is the property of
the Comite, with its supplementary reviews : France-Etats- Unis,
France-Amerique latine, and France-Canada. This review
makes a study of the life of the American Nations in all their
activities: political, national, economical, financial, social, in
tellectual, artistic, etc. It publishes, regularly, articles and
reviews from the best-known and most able writers. It is a
review de luxe, which has about one hundred pages of large
size, and publishes, each month, illustrations and maps, besides

212 APPENDIX
the text. It also gives a complete account of the various
activities and organizations of the Comite.
One number (France and foreign countries): 2 francs, 50
centimes (50 cents).
Yearly subscription: 24 francs (France); $5.00 America; 26
francs, other foreign countries.
France-Amirique has appeared since January, 1910; each
year is sent postpaid for 25 francs ($5.00).

LIBRAIRIE FELIX ALCAN
BIBLIOTHEQUE FRANCE-AMERIQUE
Histoire du Canada, par F.-X. Garneau. Cinquieme Edition, revue, an-
notee et publiee avec un avant-propos par son petit-fils, Hector Gar
neau. Preface de M. Gabriel Hanotaux, de l'Academie francaise, presi
dent du Comite France-Amerique. 2 forts volumes in-8°. Tome premier
(1534-1744). Un volume in-8° avec portrait de l'Auteur. 1913. 10 fr.
Tome second. Un volume in-8° (sous presse).
Les Promesses de la Vie amlricaine, par H. Croly. Traduit de I'anglais
par Firmin Roz et Fenard, introduction par Firmin Roz. Un vol. in-8°.
1913. 3 fr. 50.
Les Etats-Unis et la France, par E. Boutroux, P.-W. Bartlett, J. M. Bald
win, L. Benedite, W. V. R. Berry, d'Estournelles de Constant, L. Gillet,
D. J. Hill, J. H. Hyde, Morton Fullerton. Un vol. in-8°, avec 18 pi.
hors texte. 1914. 5 fr.
La France et la Guerre. Opinions d'un Amiricain, par James Mark Bald
win. Une brochure in-8°. 1915. I fr.
Le secours amiricain en France (.American Aid in France), par William G.
Sharp et Gabriel Hanotaux. Une brochure in-8°. 1915. 1 fr.
Le Devoir des Neutres, par Ruy Barbosa. Avant-propos: La Sentence du
Juge, par Graca Aranha. Traduit du portugais par Cardozo de Bethen-
court. Une broch. in-8°, avec une planche hors texte. 2° edit. 191 7.
2fr.
Le Chili et la Guerre, par C. Silva Vild6sola, ancien directeur du Mercurio
de Santiago du Chili, traduit de l'espagnol par Cardozo de Bethencourt,
ancien bibliothecaire de l'Acad6mie des Sciences de Lisbonne. Une
brochure in-8°. 1917. 1 fr. 80.
L' Allemagne et I'Amtrique latine. Souvenirs d'un voyageur naturaliste, par
Emile-R. Wagner, correspondant du Museum de Paris, avec preface

APPENDIX 213
de M. Edmond Perrier, membre de l'lnstitut, directeur du Museum
d'Histoire naturelle. 1 vol. in-8°, avec une carte hors texte. 1918. 3 fr.
50.
L' Union des Etats-Unis et de la France, par G. Hanotaux, de l'Academie
francaise, president du Comit6 France-Amerique (texte francais et texte
anglais, traduit par W. Morton-Fullerton). 1 brochure in-8. 1918. 1 fr.
(net).
La Republique de Costa Rica. Son avenir economique et le Canal de Panama,
pax le comte Maurice de Perigny, prec6d6 d'une preface de M. Mar-
tinenche, Secretaire general du Groupement des Universites et des
Grandes Ecoles de France pour les relations avec l'Amerique latine.
1 vol. in-8° avec 10 pi. et une carte hors texte. 1918. 5 fr.
La France et la Guerre de V Indipendance Americaine : 1776-178 3, par le
Capitaine Joachim Merlant, professeur-adjoint k la Faculte des Lettres
de l'Universit6 de Montpellier. 1 volume in-8°, avec 6 planches et I
carte hors texte. 1918. 3 fr. 50. (Texte francais traduit en anglais
par Mary Bushnell Coleman. 1920).
Pages choisies de Jose Enrique Rodo, avec introduction de M. Hugo D. Bar-
bagelata. I vol. in-8°, avec un portrait hors texte. 3 fr. 50.
Pages choisies de Ruben Dario, avec introduction de M. Ventura Garcia
Calder6n. 1 vol. in-8°, avec un portrait hors texte. 3 fr. 50.
La Ripublique Argentine et sa vie economique, par Georges Lafond, secre
taire g6neral de la Chambre argentine de Commerce de Paris, 1 vol.
in-8° (sous presse).

YALE UNIVERSITY L

. ¦

' • ¦ o;