Washington's Engineer

by Norman Desmarais

  The companies of sappers and miners still lacked a full complement of officers and enlisted men by the summer of 1780. In fact, despite the influx of foreign volunteers, the Continental Army never had as many engineers as it needed. Washington’s compelling need for technical assistance also forced him to seek the creation of a separate geographer’s department to supplement the work of the engineers. The officers complained that the problem resulted in part because they had never “been put upon a proper footing for the recruiting business.”14 Meanwhile, the officers already on active duty were “acquiring a knowledge of the service to which they . . . were destined,”15 but they waited impatiently to perform some worthwhile service for their country.

  Washington reinstituted drafts from the line in an effort to get the troops he still needed. He proposed to take one man from each regiment. Joseph Plumb Martin was drafted into the Company of Sappers and Miners as a corporal. General Duportail recommended Captain Daniel Nevin to General Washington, who wrote to the president of Congress on January 26, 1780,

  Sir: I have the honor to inclose the copy of a letter from Brigadier General Du Portail. From the character he gives and which I have otherwise received of Capt Neven, I shall be happy it may please Congress to make the appointment solicited. As the Engineers we now have are only for a temporary service and it will always be essential to have men skilled in that branch of military science in this country, it appears to me to be a necessary policy to have men who reside among us forming themselves during the war under the present Gentlemen. Capt Neven has a turn to this profession which joined to his past services induce me to wish he may become a member of the corps; and it seems but reasonable that he should have the rank and from the time mentioned in General Du Portail’s letter.

  I request also the directions of Congress to the Board of War on the subject of Commissions for the officers of Sappers and miners. These Gentlemen in consequence of the resolution of Congress for establishing these companies, underwent an examination by General Du Portail and were found the best qualified among a number of candidates. Considering their appointment as a thing of course they were nominated in General orders [of August 2, 1779] and an arrangement of them sent soon after to the Board of War for the purpose of obtaining commissions. These I now learn they have not yet received. As probably the Board do not think themselves authorized to grant the Commissions, without the instructions of Congress, I take the liberty to trouble them upon the subject. The Gentlemen in question, several of whom left Regiments in the line to come into these companies begin to be anxious about the delay. By the establishment of the Corps of Engineers the men for these companies were to be drafted from the line; but the weakness of the batalions has hitherto suspended it. An attempt has been made to recruit but without success. The officers ’till the companies can be formed are engaged in acquiring a knowledge of the service to which they are destined against the next campaign. These companies if any active operations are to be carried on will be very important; we feel the want of something of the kind whenever we have works to construct; but, at any rate, the officers will be useful in the Engineering line to which their studies are relative and preparatory. The present number of Engineers is not adequate to the exigencies of the service. I have the honor etc.

  The Board of War resolved on February 5, 1780,

  That the officers attached to the companies of sappers and miners be commissioned, and rank as follows:

  Mr. Nevin, captain, April 25, 1779. Mr. Bebee, Mr. Murray, Mr. Du Veil, captains; Mr. Gilleland, Mr. Bushnell, Mr. Cleveland, captain lieutenants; Mr. Welsh, lieutenant; August 2, 1779.16

  The Chevalier de La Luzerne notified General Washington on March 8 that the Comte de Vergennes and King Louis XVI also approved the “Request respecting the Officers in the Department of Engineers.”17 Washington was very pleased.

  The first recruits joined the Corps of Sappers and Miners on May 28, 1781, and General Duportail was ordered to send an engineer to direct and superintend the fortifications to be erected at or near Fort Herkimer. Three days later, Duportail was at Wethersfield, Connecticut, with General Washington to meet with the Comte de Rochambeau and Admiral de Barras, but the British fleet appeared off Block Island, and they (Rochambeau and Barras) did not think it prudent to leave Newport.18

  Congress did not immediately address Duportail’s concerns about the future arrangement of the artillery and engineering departments. He submitted proposals on September 30, 1781, and appealed on October 6 for permission to return to France with General Laumoy and Colonel Gouvion. Congress approved the leave on October 10. As the superintendent of finance subsequently announced that he had no funds for paying Duportail and his officers, the general again appealed to Congress for relief on October 29.19

  1782

  Major Villefranche became the chief of the Corps of Engineers in 1782 during the absence of General Duportail and Colonel Gouvion and pending the release of Colonel Laumoy and Lieutenant Colonel Cambray, the commanding officer of engineers at West Point, both of whom were captured at Charlestown, South Carolina, and were still prisoners of war. Villefranche’s April 1782 report identifies the situation of the different members of the corps:

  RETURN OF THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL 1782

  Name Rank here employed

  Messieurs du portail M. Genl. on furlough

  Koskiusko Colonel Southern army

  laumoy " prisoner

  gouvion " on furlough

  Wuibert Lt. Col. fort pitt

  Cambray " prisoner

  de Brahm Major on furlough

  Villefranche " "

  Rochefontaine " "

  de laren Capt. southern army

  l’enfant " on furlough

  Niven " main army

  Shreibur " prisoner

  West Point, april 12, 1782

  MAJR. VILLEFRANCHE Commanding engineer

  Thaddeus Kosciusko, as ranking colonel of engineers, should have had the post of commandant in the absence of General Duportail; however, he had never been willing to serve under the chief of the Royal Engineers. General Washington had definitely chosen Duportail because the good of the service demanded that there should be but one head, and he had been sent by the French king in 1777. Kosciusko was also friends with General Gates. They had served well together in the Northern Campaign, which ended with General Burgoyne’s surrender at Saratoga. While Kosciusko may not have played a role in the Conway cabal that attempted to replace the commander in chief with Gates in the winter of 1778, he was Gates’s friend, and Washington seemed deliberately to avoid contact with this Polish officer.

  After Gates’s defeat at the Battle of Camden, Kosciusko served faithfully under General Greene until the end of the war. When he left America, Congress, at Washington’s request, made him a brigadier general by brevet, but no special honor was accorded him. However, posterity has more than recompensed Kosciusko for this neglect. His memory is particularly honored at West Point, and historians have recognized his services more than any other engineer of the Revolution.

  Promotions

  Duportail returned to America from his furlough in the middle of December 1782. He began an energetic and persistent demand to both the commander in chief and to the president of Congress for advancement in rank for every engineer who had served the United States as members of the corps. He was not thwarted by any excuses, delays, or difficulties. The Papers of the Continental Congress contain many petitions that were read before that body, and General Washington supported every case.

  The Washington Papers contain the appeals sent directly to the commander in chief. Duportail always pointed out that the requests would not render the position of Congress difficult in any way. He also noted that none asked for more than commission by brevet, so there would be no change in pay. Because all the men were returning to France, their rank on leaving America would not affect the service in this country. When they came to America, they all received promotions to a ran
k above the one they had in France. Now that they were returning to France, their rank would be lowered by one grade, so a promotion would benefit them upon their return.

  Neither Congress nor Washington had any objections. The problem was due to the number of things that Congress had to attend to and the tendency to put off decisions that did not require immediate attention. Duportail understood this and tactfully bided his time without ever giving up the determination to see these men promoted. His efforts failed in just one case, that of his aide-de-camp, Castaing, addressed later.

  The congressional committee appointed to examine Major Villefranche’s and Captain L’Enfant’s cases reported on May 2, 1783,

  The long and meritorious services of these two officers in the important department of the army in which they have acted, and of the proofs which they have produced of the Commander-in-Chief’s entire approbation of their conduct, as well from his own observation of their conduct as the testimonials of other Genl. officers under whom they have more immediately served with distinguished skill and bravery, entitle them to the notice of Congress and to the promotion which they have requested as the most important reward of their services, and strongest proof Congress can give of their approbation.20

  Major Villefranche received the rank of lieutenant colonel, and Captain L’Enfant, that of major by brevet. Cambray was made colonel at the same time.

  Positions in the French Army

  After getting promotions for the officers of his corps, Duportail turned his attention to getting them positions in the French service according to their merits. He begged Washington to write favorably to the French minister about the services of Villefranche and Rochefontaine and sent a very cordial letter to Luzerne on November 6. The French minister replied on November 21, in part, “It gives me the greatest pleasure to receive testimonials from Congress and from Your Excellency of the satisfaction the French officers have given in the service of the United States.”21 The minister then congratulated General Washington on the evacuation of New York and said he expected to attend the celebration on the twenty-eighth.

  In a note left with the Comte de Rochambeau, Duportail also pleaded with the French minister to do what he could to secure a “company in the Royal Grenadiers or in a Provincial Regiment” in France for Lieutenant Colonel Villefranche.22 He asked a similar favor for Major Bichet de Rochefontaine.

  The only American belonging to the Corps of Engineers, as listed by Villefranche in April 1782, seems to have been Captain Nevin (also written Niven and Neven). He was probably of Huguenot descent and came from the region around New York. He had first served as an engineer under Kosciusko, who recommended him for character and qualifications. Later, he was associated with Gouvion, when the latter officer was sent to rebuild the fortifications on the lower Hudson after the destruction by the British when they evacuated in 1779. Duportail wrote to Washington, asking him to intercede with Congress to make Captain Nevin a major. The commander in chief forwarded the request, adding a recommendation of his own: “As the Engineers we now have are only for a temporary service and it will always be necessary to have men skilled in that branch of military science in this country, it appears to me to be a necessary policy to have men who reside among us forming themselves during the war under these Gentlemen.” Congress granted the request, dating Nevin’s commission as major from April 23, 1779.23

  Villefranche’s list mentions Captain de Lauren, but no other information about him can be been found.

  Major Ferdinand J. S. de Brahm joined the Corps of Engineers on February 11, 1778. He was taken prisoner at Charlestown and exchanged on April 22, 1781. Congress appointed him to brevet lieutenant colonel on February 6, 1784. He also asked for money to pay his passage home, which Congress granted, and he retired from the service.

  Peter de Castaing

  General Duportail assiduously recommended Peter de Castaing, his aide-de-camp, to both General Washington and to the president of Congress for promotion. The first appeal was presented after the siege of Yorktown and before Duportail left for France on furlough. He said Castaing was a Frenchman born in Martinique, one of the “oldest lieutenants in the army.” He came over at the very first and always “conducted himself in a way to merit the esteem of French and Americans alike,” but he had never received any particular favor for “extraordinary services.”24 He was appointed Duportail’s aide-de-camp in June 1779 and served loyally and well through the siege of Charlestown and later at Yorktown. The first request for a commission of brevet captain was denied at that time because of the jealousies it would arouse and other difficulties that would result from the promotion.

  Castaing obtained the rank of captain in a Massachusetts regiment after Duportail returned to France. When he returned to America, Duportail renewed his efforts to secure the rank of major for his former aide-de-camp. Shortly before sailing for home, Duportail wrote a letter to General Washington on November 6, 1783, begging for this special favor from Congress and hoping Washington would endorse his request. He said he would take it as a “new proof of that goodness towards me which has attached me till now to America.”25

  Washington forwarded the letter to the president of Congress, which considered the case twice. The committee that reported on it the second time very warmly recommended the promotion, but the motion lost. The Journals of the Continental Congress give detailed proceedings under February 24, 1784.

  Pierre L’Enfant

  Pierre L’Enfant was the only foreign officer of engineers listed by Villefranche in April to remain in America. This young man, who was only twenty-two years old when he was one of the first to enlist on du Coudray’s staff in Paris in the summer of 1776, sailed with that officer from Le Havre on the Amphitrite in December 1776. He returned when the vessel was ordered back, landing at l’Orient in January 1777. Beaumarchais’s letter of February 10, 1777, to his secretary, Francy, at Nantes mentions him:

  I should like to be very sure whether M. du Coudray has taken or left with someone, the commissions of the officers and their money. . . . In any case find out exactly the position of every one and especially that of M. l’Enfant because he has been very highly recommended to me. He has written and seems to be in great need; you might let him have a few louis if there is no way of finding out what has become of his gratifications and appointments on condition they be returned if the latter can be discovered.26

  L’Enfant later joined du Coudray in America. After du Coudray’s death, he was among those volunteers who preferred to serve in the American army without pay until a place could be made for them rather than accept the money from Congress to pay their passage home. Along with Colonel Fleury, Captain Walker, and Duponceau, L’Enfant served under Baron von Steuben for a time when the latter was appointed inspector general of the army. On April 3, 1779, Congress considered the baron’s report setting forth the “great diligence and attention these men had displayed in his service.”27 He also requested a sum of money from Congress for each man according to his rank and expenditures up to that time. L’Enfant was appointed a captain of engineers the same day to have rank, February 18, 1778. Congress voted him the sum of $500 on April 16, 1779.

  Soon after his promotion in the Continental Army, L’Enfant went south and joined Colonel John Laurens’s light infantry. He was wounded at Savannah, taken prisoner at Charlestown, and not exchanged until the beginning of 1782. It seems that Duportail first observed him while a prisoner at Charlestown and remembered him after his (Duportail’s) release. The Rochambeau Papers include the following note:

  M. L’Enfant came to America with M. du Coudray furnished with a brevet of Lieutenant in the Colonial troops. He served in the American army and obtained in 1778 a commission of Captain of Engineers. Later he attached himself to the light Infantry in the Army of the South. He was at the Seige of Savannah and in the assault of that place he commanded an American column. He was wounded a coup de feu and remained on the field of battle. He was at Charlestown during the seige
and was made a prisoner. He owed his exchange to the Comte de Rochambeau; since that time he joined the Army of General Washington where he has been employed as Engineer. M. Duportail intends immediately to request Congress to raise him to the rank of Major. He desires strongly to obtain for M. L’Enfant a company in the Royal Grenadiers or in the provincial Regiments with a pension as for M. Villefranche; those two officers have been obliged to spend the greater part of their fortune in the service of the United States.28

  In the meantime, L’Enfant personally addressed Washington in connection with the question of rank after having learned that Captain Roche-fontaine, his ranking inferior, had been made major after Yorktown. He deplored the fact that his nineteen-months’ imprisonment prevented him from the privilege of serving at that siege. The letter dated February 18, 1782, said, “I do not complain nor pretend to any preference to my brother officers, when I say that in five years I have served the United States, I have sought every opportunity and neglected none that offered, to distinguish myself by love of their service.”29 He gave the following detail of his service in America:

  In 1778 I was honored with the commission of Capt. Engineer. By leave of Congress attached to the inspector general from this moment I have made every possible effort to employ for the public benefit the little theoretic knowledge I had acquired by study—having finished that campaign by working five months successively during the winter of 1778 and 79, and seeing no appearance of an active campaign to the northward—my whole ambition was to obtain leave to attend the southern army where it was likely the seat of war would be transferred. I arrived at Charlestown at the moment when General prevot [Major General Augustine Prevost] retired from before it—and hastened to join the army but finding very little to do in the corps I belonged to and I obtained leave to join the light infantry under lt. col. laurens his friendship offered me many opportunities of seeing the enemie to advantage. . . . I remained attached to the corps of engineers seizing every opportunity to follow the light infantry when any thing offered,—and in this manner I passed the campaign of in georgia.