Rochambeau and the Revolutionary War

When we think of the American Revolutionary War, what comes to mind is the signing of the Declaration of Independence. When asked to name significant figures involved in the war, the first person we probably think of is George Washington – and rightly so, as he was the Commander-in-chief of the Continental Army throughout the entire war and our first President afterwards. We also might think of some of the other famous colonists during this period like Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Nathan Hale, or perhaps Benedict Arnold.

But confining our list of individuals to just the colonists is ignoring the very important role that the French played in helping us win that war. One that might come to mind is Lafayette (*1). But as important as he was in helping the Americans, he was a lone individual who came here seeking glory in war. He was made a major general at only the age of 19, and later was key in leading some of the American troops to block British General Cornwallis (*2) at the Siege of Yorktown where the eventual surrender of Cornwallis marked the end of the significant conflict portion of the war.

Rochambeau

But it was the presence of actual French troops that helped turn the war and forced Cornwallis to surrender. Without them, it is quite likely that Cornwallis would have overpowered the troops led by Lafayette, the conflict would have continued, and the colonists eventually defeated. The French troops who helped change the course of the war were led by Rochambeau (*3).

But in this blog I’m not going to focus on the battles that the French helped us win. Rather I’d like to look at the period of time before the French joined up with Washington near the Hudson River in New York.

There is an excellent summary (*4) on Wikipedia about the route that Rochambeau’s troops took starting from their initial landing in Newport, RI, in July 1780. There is a map which shows this route as well. Another website shows additional details of the march route (*5).

They met up with Washington in early July, stayed in NY for six weeks, then the combined armies went down to VA which is where they joined up with the American troops led by Lafayette and led the Siege of Yorktown which resulted in Cornwallis surrendering. The following fall they returned by roughly the same route, but went back to Boston where they reboarded ships and returned to France.

Route Across Connecticut

Rochambeau led an army of 5,300 men and 450 officers. They left Providence, RI, in multiple divisions over a couple of days in mid-June, 1781, travelling about 15 miles a day. Rochambeau was in the first division. At the end of each day’s march, they would find a new place to camp for the night. If they were in a village, Rochambeau and his top officers would stay in a local inn, but if not, they would camp with their men.

Consider this from the point of view of the villagers. All the towns in Connecticut were populated nearly entirely by individuals from Britain/Scotland/Ireland/Wales. They only spoke English. And here they found themselves being “invaded” by a division of the French Army – men who wore unfamiliar uniforms, who spoke a language that no one in town was likely to understand. And the number of men in each division quite often exceeded the entire population of the town. At some locations they stayed more than one day, but with the divisions being only one day apart that meant that several divisions might be in town at the same time, necessitating multiple camp sites.

And yet, they welcomed these men. The war with England had been going on for about seven years at this point – far longer then most people had expected – and they needed this kind of intervention from the French.

The Inns

Many of the inns that were occupied by General Rochambeau and his top officers are still in existence. The owners of these inns were generally individuals who are cousins of mine from the colonial time of Connecticut.

·       White’s Tavern (*6) – Also known as Daniel White’s Tavern, was operated by Daniel White (1749-1816). He is my fourth cousin, 6 times removed via our common ancestor, John Crow.

·       Elm Street Inn (*7) – Was begun by my great*9 grandfather, William Lewis (1620-1690), in 1655, but at the time of Rochambeau’s march, was being run by Williams’s great-grandson (and my third cousin, 7 times removed), Phineas Lewis (1722-1800).

·       Asa Barnes Tavern (*8) – Had been established as a tavern around 1675 by Asa Barnes (1745-1819), my second cousin, 8 times removed through my great*9 grandfather, Nathan Sutcliffe.

·       Israel Bronson Tavern – As the name implies, was being run by Israel Bronson (1735-1785). He is my second cousin, 7 times removed, by our common ancestors, my great*9 grandparents, John Welton and Mary Upson.

·       Caleb Baldwin’s Tavern (*9) – Was being run by Caleb Baldwin (1724-1797). He is also my second cousin, 7 times removed, by our common ancestor, Nicholas Camp.

East Farms Cemetery

There is one other tavern and one other incident that were a part of Rochambeau’s march across Connecticut. During the trip through Waterbury, two of Rochambeau’s soldiers became ill. As noted in (*10), the local residents helped to care for ill soldiers along the way.

The two men were initially housed in the tavern owned by Joseph Beach (1714-1795) (*11, my second cousin, 7 times removed). But the two men died and Waterbury paid 15 shillings to Joseph to purchase land for a burying ground. He purchased a plot, four rods square, where he buried the two soldiers. This is now East Farms Cemetery (located at 3156 East Main St) (*12). In addition to a monument recognizing the two soldiers which was erected in 1914, there are 163 other graves located there. Included among these are Joseph Beach, the innkeeper, and many of my Pierpont relatives. The cemetery was in the back yard of the house next door to where my grandparents lived, so I had the privilege of visiting the cemetery many times during my growing up years. I did not realize the historical significance at the time!

Notes:

*1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette

*2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Cornwallis,_1st_Marquess_Cornwallis

*3 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Donatien_de_Vimeur,_comte_de_Rochambeau

*4 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%E2%80%93Rochambeau_Revolutionary_Route

*5 - http://w3r-archive.org/history/hist-ct.htm

*6 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White%27s_Tavern

*7 - https://historicbuildingsct.com/elm-tree-inn-1655/

*8 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_B._Frost_House

*9 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caleb_Baldwin_Tavern

*10 - http://www.nextexithistory.com/explore/historical-sites/washington-rochambeau-revolutionary-route-4/

*11 - https://www.google.com/search?q=joseph+beach+tavern+waterbury&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS859US859&oq=joseph+beach+tavern+waterbury&aqs=chrome..69i57j33l2.8083j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

*12 - https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2144086/east-farms-cemetery