Robert Dillon is one of the most colorful officers in Lauzun’s Legion, Rochambeau’s most colorful unit. His recently discovered journal/autobiography, which ends on 3 October 1781, shortly after his arrival in Gloucester, Virginia, provides intriguing insights into what this 24-year-old Franco-Irish officer found worth recording in the New World as he rode the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail with his unit and how he interpreted his encounters with the multitude of racial and ethnic groups, their customs and habits, which he met between Lebanon and Gloucester.

Partial funding for this program provided by The National Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route Association (www.W3R-US.org), trail partner to the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail.