45. Ibid.
46. Quoted Unger, Lafayette, 20–21.
47. Laf, Agreement with SD, DEC 7, 1776, ILA 1:17; Bill and Gottschalk, “Silas Deane’s ‘Worthless’ Agreement.”
48. Laf, Agreement with SD, DEC 7, 1776, ILA 1:17. Bendiner, Virgin Diplomats, 71, says that SD assumed Laf was close to the king, who winked at his defection to America, so he granted him his major general’s commission. BF later fell into the same trap.
49. List of Officers…, ILA 1:18. SD, Laf, and de Kalb all signed this attachment.
50. Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:8.
51. Unger, Lafayette, 22–23.
52. Ibid., 23; M. Dubois-Martin to de Kalb, DEC 8, 1776, quoted Tower 1:28; Laf quoted Duer, 9–10.
53. Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes, 83–85, 117; Laf to Carmichael, FEB nd and 11, 1777, ILA 1:19–20.
54. Laf to Adr, FEB 20, 25, and 28, MAR nd and 7, 1777, ILA 1:21-27. French wives accepted their husbands’ philandering but understandably did not enjoy having their noses rubbed in it.
55. Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes, 89–92; Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:9.
56. SD to JH, MAR 16, 1777, and Carmichael to Richard Henry Lee, MAR 17, 1777, ILA 1:33–36; Maurois, Adrienne, 49.
57. Laf to Adr, MAR 16, 1777, ILA 1:32.
58. Lasteyrie, 55–57.
59. Laf to d’Ayen, MAR 9, 1777, ILA 1:29–31.
60. Unger, Lafayette, 25–26.
61. Laf to de Broglie, MAR 23, 1777, ILA 1:37–38. Laf signed the articles of embarkation at Bordeaux as “Sieur Gilbert du Motier, chevalier de Chavaillac, age 20, tall, blond hair.” Laf, Act of Embarkation, MAR 22, 1777, ILA 1:37. He usually signed himself as “Marquis de Lafayette,” and he was indeed Gilbert du Motier, chevalier (knight, or more broadly gentleman) of Chavaniac (Chavaillac was an older spelling). Travel incognito was common among nobles, and well advised in this case.
62. De Kalb to SD, MAR 25, and to Pierre de Saint-Paul, NOV 7, 1777, ILA 1:38–40, 145–59; Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:9–10; BF and SD to Committee of Secret Correspondence, APR 9, 1777, Wharton 2:286–90. De Kalb knew that Lafayette had jeopardized de Broglie’s project. He would change his attitude in coming months, but for the moment he wanted Lafayette to return. “If he had not been aboard the ship and under way,” he wrote his wife, “I think he would have gone home and, in my opinion, it would have been the right thing to do.” De Kalb to Mme de Kalb, APR 1, 1777, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 26.
63. Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin, 334–35; Bernier, Lafayette, 34–38; SD to GW, APR 5, 1777, quoted Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes, 111; SD to Joseph-Matthias Gérard de Rayneval (Ver’s secretary), APR 2, 177, ILA 1:40–41; SD to Ver, APR 5, 1777, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 27; Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes, 125–27; Lord Stormont to Lord Weymouth, APR 2 and 5, 1777, ILA 1:41–43. For further self-defense, see Carmichael to Charles Dumas, APR 21, 1777, and to John Cadwalader, OCT 8, 1777, Ammon, “Letters of William Carmichael.”
64. Marquis de Noailles to Maurepas, APR 8, 1777, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 27.
65. Ver to Marquis de Noailles, APR 15, 1777, quoted Unger, Lafayette, 28; Stormont to Weymouth, APR 9, 1777, quoted Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes, 117.
66. Unger, Lafayette, 26–28; Corwin, French Policy, 92; Duer, 13.
67. De Kalb to SD, APR 17, 1777, and Laf to Carmichael, APR 19, 1777, ILA 1:46, 50–51.
68. Laf to Adr, APR 19, 1777, ILA 1:47, 49.
69. For an account of the voyage by the captain of the ship, see Chinard, When Lafayette.
70. BF to GW, MAY 15, 1777, cited Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes, 129.
71. BF and SD to Committee of Foreign Affairs (and to GW), MAY 25, 1777, ILA 1:51. Also in Wharton 2:324, and LBF 24:73–77.
72. SD to RM, MAY 26, 1777, ILA 1:52. By “avanturier” he meant aventurier (adventurer, meaning a sharp businessman). By living “in character,” he meant as a nobleman should.
Chapter Four
1. GW to PC, FEB 20, 1777, FGW 4:327.
2. Quoted Ganoe, History, 41. See also CW, 17–21; Forman, “Why the Military Academy.”
3. Boatner, 602–3; Walker, Continental Army, 130–33; Heitman 1:390; Walker, Engineers, 8–17; Schoenbrun, Triumph, 90–93. Duportail ended the war a major general and continued to rise in rank back home. He became friendly with Laf in America, then an ally during the French Revolution. GW thought him one of the few foreign officers useful to his cause, ranking him with Laf and FVS. Freeman, George Washington 4:540, 567.
4. GW to Richard Henry Lee, MAY 17, 1777, FGW 4:423.
5. CIG 1:2–20, 52–59; CW, 20–21; Bodinier, Dictionnaire, 403–4; Heitman 1:329; Boatner, 1117–8; Wright, Organization, 205 (Duportail’s role); Flexner, George Washington American, 195; “Coudray’s Observations”; Sanger, Inspector-General’s Department, 228; Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:12 (quotation). Tronson du Coudray’s highest rank in French service had been equivalent to major. These appointments were the first use of the term “inspector-general” in America. CIG 1:5–20, 52–54.
6. Laf to Adr, MAY 30–JUN 15, 1777, and Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:10, 56–60.
7. Memoir by vicomte de Mauroy, ILA 1:53–56.
8. Tower 1:171; Memoirs 1:13 quoted Unger, Lafayette, 31–32.
9. Memoir by the chevalier Dubuysson, ILA 1:73–74. Dubuysson later became adc to de Kalb.
10. Ibid.; Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 3–7; Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:10.
11. Laf to duc de Mouchy, JUN 22, 1777, and to Adr, JUN 19, 1777, ILA 1:60–65.
12. Laf to Adr, JUN 19, 1777, and to Monsieur Duboismartin, OCT 23, 1777, ILA 1:61, 130. Duboismartin was de Broglie’s secretary. Laf’s slave is discussed below.
13. Laf had bought the ship with a down payment of 40,000 livres and still owed 72,000, the note due in JUN. ILA 1:84–85, and de Kalb to Pierre de Saint-Paul, NOV 7, 1777, ILA 1:145–49.
14. Memoir by chevalier Dubuysson, ILA 1:73–84.
15. Journal of du Rousseau de Fayolle, ILA 1:68–72.
16. Laf, Memoir of 1779, and Laf to Adr JUL 17 and 23, 1777, ILA 1:11, 66–68; Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 10–12.
17. Memoir by chevalier Dubuysson, and Journal of du Rousseau de Fayolle, ILA 1:68–83.
18. Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 14–23; Bernier, Lafayette, 42–43; Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:11–12.
19. Resolution of JUL 31, 1777, ILA 1:88. When de Kalb got his commission in SEP, the resolution was typical: “Resolved, that another major general be appointed in the army of the United States; the ballots being taken, the Baron de Kalb was elected.” ILA 1:88n.
20. Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 30–37, 40–42. A native of Gascony, born in either 1743 or 1747, Gimat was a highly rated first lieutenant when he accompanied Laf to America. SD had promised him a commission as a major, and Congress granted that when he became Laf’s adc. He returned to France with Laf in JAN 1779, and back to America with him in 1780. In FEB 1781 GW promoted him to command of a light infantry regiment, and he accompanied Laf to Virginia. He was wounded in the attack on Redoubt Number 10 at Yorktown. In JAN 1782 he returned to France on indefinite leave, and was discharged from American service NOV 1783. He rose to high rank in French service. Boatner, 433–34. La Colombe was born in Auvergne in about 1755, and his family had connections to Laf’s. He was a lieutenant on the reserve list, promised a lieutenancy by SD in the Continental Army. He served as adc to both Laf and de Kalb, often detached to line service in state regiments, until OCT 1779, having been promoted to captain in NOV 1777. He returned to France in NOV 1779 and rose slowly in rank until becoming a brigadier during the Revolution, in 1792, but he was dismissed and fled for his life. He protected GWL in New York during Laf’s captivity, and later returned to France. He was wounded several times in both revolutions. Boatner, 248–49; ILA 1:112n.
21. HL to John Lewis Gervais, AUG 8, 1777, ILA 1:88n.
22. ILA 1:15n.
23. Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:91; Ségur in Chinard, George Washington as French, 36–37.
24. Fl
exner, George Washington American, 214–15; Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 28–29.
25. GW to Laf, SEP 30, 1779, quoted Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 28–29; Flexner, George Washington American, 4.
26. SGW 5:454.
27. “Family” was an Anglicization of famille, but as with other French loans to English after 1066, it did not make the jump with its parent meaning intact. According to OED, the original English meaning of the word was the servants of a household, the second the retinue of a nobleman, and the third the staff of a general. It was recorded first in 1545 to mean all people (including servants) inhabiting one household, and first in 1667 to mean a set of blood relations, its commonest meaning today, although since 1425 it has denoted those descended from a common ancestor. Laf learned the distinction within a few weeks, so that virtually every letter he wrote to GW ended with compliments to Mrs. Washington and also “to the family.”
28. Chinard, George Washington as French, 44.
29. BF and SD to GW, AUG or SEP 1777, LBF 24:485.
30. Massey, John Laurens, 73; GW to JL AUG 5, 1777, and order of appointment OCT 6, 1777, in Townsend, American Soldier, 58–59.
31. Laf to JH, AUG 13, 1777, ILA 1:103.
32. De Kalb to PC, AUG 1, 1777, and additional material, ILA 1:149n. See also Journals of Congress, SEP 8, 1777, Tower 1:186–88.
33. De Kalb to de Broglie, SEP nd, 1777, quoted Kapp, Life of John Kalb, 127. One of the other officers with de Kalb had sent a letter to Congress exposing de Broglie’s plot to become generalissimo. Comte Guillaume-Matthieu Dumas to Committee of Foreign Affairs, AUG 22, 1777, Wharton 2:377–78.
34. Memoirs, 1:19 (pour apprendre et non pour enseigner), rendered variously in Flexner, George Washington American, 215, and Unger, Lafayette, 41; Tower 1:184–85; Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:91 (second quotation). Almost nothing is known about Laf’s slave except that he ran errands in Philadelphia for him in OCT 1777. HL to Laf, OCT 1777, ILA 1:126–28, and 128n. He was a gift from Edmund Brice.
35. GW to Harrison, AUG 19, 1777, ILA 1:104–5.
36. Harrison to GW, AUG 20, 1777, ILA 1:105–6.
37. Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 38–40.
38. Quoted ibid., 39.
39. Flexner, George Washington American, 214–15.
40. Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:91. Shorter men were put into the front rank so that taller men could fire over them. Regular armies often formed three ranks, and height was also graduated from one end to the other, tallest to shortest. What Laf saw reflected an absence of training in close-order maneuvers. Laf often described the men as “naked” (or more often “nacked”). He did not mean bare, but instead indifferently clad, not uniform.
41. Chinard, George Washington as French, 49–51. The nuts were hickory nuts.
42. Ibid., 65.
43. Lefkowitz, Washington’s Indispensable, 64–66, 201–2; Boatner, 1108–9. Because of his loyal service, GW gave him the honor of bearing the official report to Congress announcing Cornwallis’ surrender in 1781.
44. SAH 2:566, quoted Flexner, Young Hamilton, 138. Flexner’s is the best of the many biographies of AH, especially for its concentration on the revolutionary years. The most recent, and more complete, is Chernow, Alexander Hamilton. Also useful are McDonald, Alexander Hamilton, Brookhiser, Alexander Hamilton, and two volumes edited by Morris, Alexander Hamilton and Founding and Basic Ideas.
45. Massey, John Laurens; Townsend, American Soldier; Flexner, George Washington New, 39–40. Huguenots were well represented in the American Revolution, including John Jay and Paul Revere.
46. McDonald, Alexander Hamilton, 14–15, and Flexner, Young Hamilton, 315–16. Taking such language out of context, modern minds think it homosexual, a term coined in the 1890s. It was not a burning issue in the eighteenth century, as it is today, and it is a fallacy to apply the attitudes of the present to the context of the past.
47. The letters between JL and HL on this subject appear in Townsend, American Soldier, 63–66. That Laf was responsible for this sudden vanity is my conclusion.
48. Martin, Philadelphia Campaign, 34–35. Laf’s activities in 1789 are discussed below.
49. Boatner, 16–17; Heitman 1:157; Chinard, George Washington as French, 46; Freeman, George Washington 4:241ff. On Laf’s affairs, see Gottschalk, Lafayette and Close, 427–30. On his relations with Catherine Alexander, see Laf to HL, FEB 7 and 9, and MAR 20, 1778, ILA 1:283, 286, 369. The “most charming Miss Ketty” was at York, the temporary capital, and Laf wanted HL to convey his compliments to her. She stayed with HL, “within very narrow bounds and without the smallest breach of decorum,” HL said. HL to Laf, JUL 18, 1778, ILA 2:108–10.
50. Biographies include Greene, General Greene; Thayer, Nathanael Greene; Greene, Nathanael Greene; Thane, Fighting Quaker; and Golway, Washington’s General. See also Theodore Thayer, “Nathanael Greene: Revolutionary War Strategist,” in Billias, George Washington’s Generals, 109–36; Boatner, 453–56; and Heitman 1:475.
51. De Kalb to Mme de Kalb, JAN nd 1778, quoted Perkins, France in American, 189–90.
52. The campaign of 1777 is summarized in Higginbotham, War, 175–203. See also Pancake, 1777, and Martin, Philadelphia Campaign.
53. Quoted Golway, Washington’s General, 133.
54. Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA l:91–92.
55. Golway, Washington’s General, 135; Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:92.
56. On the Battle of Brandywine in general, see Mowday, September 11; Martin, Philadelphia Campaign, 43–76; Higginbotham, War, 183–87. Accounts of individual Americans involved include Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 43–48; Flexner, George Washington American, 223–24; Freeman, George Washington 4:471–88; Golway, Washington’s General, 134–40; Flexner, Young Hamilton, 171–75; Massey, John Laurens, 73–75. The handiest summary is Boatner, 104–10.
57. Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:94–95.
58. So he told HL, who repeated it, HL to John Lewis Gervais, OCT 8, 1777, quoted Massey, John Laurens, 75.
59. I suggest a rifle rather than a musket ball because of Laf’s description of the wound. A musket ball in the .69- to .75-caliber range, typical for the British (Americans favored a bore around .60-caliber), would have caused much more damage if it had retained enough velocity to go through the leg. Rifles came in smaller calibers, around .30 to .40, and bullets moved at higher velocities.
60. Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 44–47; Flexner, George Washington American, 223–24; Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:95.
61. I believe this “Treat him as my son” line was Laf’s invention, although I cannot be certain. It does not appear in the Memoir of 1779, although it is in Laf to Adr, OCT 1, 1777, ILA 1:114–19. Laf did not include the line in the account he wrote for Sparks in 1828, quoted ILA 1:101n. This is not the only area where Laf was contradictory about his history.
62. I base this conclusion on Laf’s letters over the following months and years, in which he pointedly shrugs off the pain and takes every opportunity to mention that he had bled for the United States. See examples in the next chapter.
Chapter Five
1. AH to Hugh Knox, JUL nd, 1777, Morris, Alexander Hamilton and Founding, 31–32.
2. On Germantown, see Martin, Philadelphia Campaign, 99–120; Higginbotham, War, 186–87; Boatner, 426–30. JL was slightly wounded, at the stone house, during the battle. AH was not.
3. In Chinard, George Washington as French, 20. This answered GW’s circular of APR 20, 1778. JL translated it into English.
4. GW to JH, SEP 11, 1777, SGW 5:59.
5. Laf to Adr, SEP 12, 1777, ILA 1:108, 110. Adr’s letter to Laf has disappeared.
6. Maurois, Adrienne, 55, 58–63.
7. Laf, Memoir of 1779, ILA 1:96–97; Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 51–53. Over 30,000 letters written by Laf survive in one form or another. When Laf left the Moravian settlement OCT 18, the congregation’s diary said: “The French Marquis de La Fayette left us to-day for the army…. We found him a very intelligent and pleasant yo
ungman.” ILA 1:102n.
8. Laf to HL, SEP 25 and 27, 1777, ILA 1:110–13. The “proclamation” Laf referred to was an exercise in bombast Burgoyne had issued JUN 23, 1777. It appealed to Americans to remain loyal to the king, backed up by a threat to unleash thousands of Indians against those who rejected his demand. The message inspired both outrage and ridicule among Americans.
9. The best account of the Saratoga Campaign is Ketchum, Saratoga. Total surrendered, according to American returns, were 4,991—2,139 British, 2,022 Germans, and 830 Canadians. HG’s terms under the surrender “convention” would have sent all of them home, but Congress overrode that, so only Burgoyne and two aides left. The rest of the “convention army” was interned near Boston, then over the years marched to other locations, most ending up near Charlottesville, Virginia. Escapes, death, paroles, and exchanges reduced the force by about half before the end of the war. See also Boatner, 275–76.
10. Laf to Adr OCT 1, 1777, ILA 1:114–19. He referred to a letter from GW, which has disappeared.
11. Laf to GW, OCT 14, 1777, ILA 1:121–24. The letter was all one paragraph, which I have broken up.
12. Laf to HL, OCT 18, 1777, ILA 1:124-26.
13. Gottschalk, Lafayette Joins, 63–65; NG to Mrs. Greene, NOV 20, 1777, quoted Greene, Nathanael Greene 1:514.
14. Amory, Military Services; Boatner, 1070–6; Charles P. Whittemore, “John Sullivan: Luckless Irishman,” in Billias, George Washington’s Generals, 137–62. On JS’s campaign against the Iroquois in 1779, see Williams, Year, and Grenier, First Way, 166–69.
15. Laf to JS, and Certificate for JS, both NOV 1, 1777, ILA 1:139–40; Rossie, Politics, 181–83. Congress had already accepted the court’s findings on OCT 20.
16. Callahan, Daniel Morgan; Higginbotham, Daniel Morgan; Boatner, 735–37; Don Higginbotham, “Daniel Morgan: Guerilla Fighter,” in Billias, George Washington’s Generals, 291–316.
17. Laf to Duboismartin, OCT 23, 1777, ILA 1:128–31.
18. Laf to Maurepas, OCT 24, 1777, ILA 1:131–34.
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