The Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts

TIMELINE

January

 

1781, January 25:     An emergency shipment of 1.5 million livres arrives in Boston.

 

February

 

1781, February 28:   Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse arrives in Boston

on the frigate l’Astree with emergency funds for Rochambeau’s

army. Lapérouse had sailed from Brest on 23 December 1780.

 

March

 

1781, March 2:          Washington departs from New Windsor with Major General

Robert Howe and his aides Tench Tilghman and David

Humphries to meet with Rochambeau in Newport.

 

1781, March 3:           Washington spends the night at the home of Col. Andrew

Morehouse of Duchess County on the Fishkill-Hopewell road,

near the Connecticut State line.

 

1781, March 4:           Washington and his entourage arrive in Hartford were they

meet up with Governor Jonathan Trumbull and his son

Jonathan Jr. Washington and the younger Trumbull continue on

to Lebanon where they spend the night.

 

1781, March 5:           Washington reviews Lauzun’s Legion and continues on to

spend the night in Kingston, RI.

 

1781, March 6:           Washington and his military family take the Narragansett Ferry

to Jamestown and arrive in Newport around 02:00 p.m. Here

they board a barge sent by Admiral Charles René Dominique

Gochet, chevalier Destouches that takes them to Destouches’

flagship the duc de Bourgogne.

 

1781, March 6-12:     Washington visits with Rochambeau in Newport.

 

1781, March 8:           Departure of a French fleet under Admiral Charles René

Dominique Sochet, chevalier Destouches, Destouches with

1,500 troops under the baron de Vioménil for the Chesapeake.

Their aim is to capture Benedict Arnold.

 

1781, March 13:         Travelling from Newport via Bristol Ferry and Warren,

Washington reaches Providence where he spent the nights of

13/14 and 14/15 March.

 

1781, March 15:         Washington and his military family leave Providence and ride

to Lebanon in Connecticut via Canterbury, Scotland and

Windham, traveling more than 60 miles on horseback that day.

 

1781, March 16:         Washington spends the night in Hartford.

 

1781, March 17:         Washington spends the night in Hartford.

 

1781, March 18-21: The itinerary for these days is unknown.

 

1781, March 22:         Washington and his military family are back in New Windsor.

 

1781, March 27:         Destouches returns from Virginia after having engaged a

Royal Navy fleet under Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot off the

Chesapeake Bay.

 

1782, March 28:         The frigate Emeraude arrives in Newport with 4.8 million livres.

She had left Brest on 14 February.

 

The funds are escorted overland by Major DePrez of the Royal

Deux-Ponts to Philadelphia, where they arrive in the second

week of May. With the departure of DePrez all French forces

have left Rhode Island.

 

April

 

1780, April 27:           The marquis de Lafayette arrives in Boston on the Hermione.

May

1781, May 2:               The French frigate l’Engageante arrives in Boston with cash for

Rochambeau’s army.

 

1781, May 6:               The vicomte de Rochambeau returns to Boston on the Concorde

with funds for Rochambeau and the news that there will be no

re-enforcements other than the troops already on their way.

 

The Concorde, which had left France on 26 March 1781, also

brings Jacques Melchior Saint-Laurent, comte de Barras, to

replace Admiral de Ternay as commanding officer of the fleet.

 

 

1781, May 18:             Washington leaves New Windsor and spends the night at

“Morgans Tavern 43 miles from Fishkill Landing”.

 

1781, May 19:             Washington arrives in Wethersfield accompanied by Generals

Henry Knox and Louis Lebègue Duportail and lodges in the

home of Joseph Webb.

 

Rochambeau and Chastellux set out from Newport for

Wethersfield in Connecticut. They spend the night most likely

with Lieutenant Governor Jabez Bowen in Providence.

 

1781, May 20:             Rochambeau and Chastellux spend the night at Daniel “White’s

Tavern at the Sign of the Black Horse” in Andover, Connecticut.

 

1781, May 21:             Rochambeau and Chastellux arrive in Wethersfield and lodge at

Stillmann’s Tavern.

 

1781, May 22:             Washington and Rochambeau meet at Wethersfield to discuss

strategy. They decide to focus on New York City.

 

1781, May 23:             Rochambeau and Chastellux spend the night in Wethersfield.

 

1781, May 24:             Rochambeau and Chastellux spend the night at Daniel “White’s

Tavern at the Sign of the Black Horse” in Andover.

1781, May 25:             Rochambeau and Chastellux spend the night in Providence.

 

1781, May 26:             Rochambeau and Chastellux return to Newport.

 

June

 

1781, June 5:               The town council of Newport votes “to draw up an address of

thanks, to His Excell[enc]y General Rochambeau, for his

particular Attention for the Welfare of this Town during his

command here.”

 

The infantry and artillery of Lauzun’s Legion receive orders to

embark at 6:00 a.m. the next day to cross over to Providence.

 

1781, June 6:               Lauzun’s men spend the night in the barracks at Poppasquash.

 

1781, June 7:               A convoy of eight vessels accompanied by the 50-gun ship Le

                                       Sagittaire carrying 592 infantry replacements incl. 134 sick

soldiers and two companies, 68 men, of artillery, arrives in

Boston from France.

The replacements had been drawn from the Regiments of

Auvergne (71 healthy and 7 sick soldiers) and Neustrie (19

plus 28) for the Bourbonnois; Languedoc (80 plus 6) for the

Soissonnois; Boulonnois (112 plus 36) for Saintonge; Anhalt

(46 plus 4) and La Marck (39 plus 36) for the Royal Deux-

Ponts; and Barrois (31 plus 17) for Lauzun’s Legion.

 

Upon arrival in Providence on 13 June the 407 infantry fit for

duty join their units, the 134 sick will either stay in hospitals in

Boston and/or continue on to Newport once they are able.

35 men of the regiment Languedoc for the Bourbonnois and 25

for the Saintonge are identified as “non arrive” but joined their

units within a few days.

 

A detailed break-down of numbers for the artillery has not

been located. These numbers add up to 668 men, not the 660

reported as having arrived in the Rochambeau papers.

 

Lauzun’s Infantry and artillery reach Providence from Newport.

 

1781, June 7:             The frigate Le Sagittaire arrives in Boston with a letter from

Admiral de Grasse to Rochambeau written on the high seas on

29 March 1781. In it de Grasse informs Rochambeau that he

would be in Ste. Domingue (Haiti) by the end of June and that

he could be in American waters by 15 July.

 

1781, June 10:           Around 5:00 a.m. in the morning of 10 June 1781, the First

Brigade of French forces begins to embark on vessels waiting

for them in the harbor of Newport to take them to Providence.

 

Rochambeau leaves behind in Newport an infantry detachment

of half a dozen officers, 100 NCOs and enlisted men from each

of the four infantry regiments and 30 men artillery under the

command of Brigadier Gabriel de Choisy.

 

He also leaves behind his siege artillery consisting of

twelve 24-lb guns, eight 16-lb guns, four 8-inch and seven 12-

inch mortars and two 8-inch howitzers.

 

1781, June 11:             The First Brigade of French forces arrives in Providence

around 9:00 p.m., too late to set up camp.

 

Those who reach Providence spend the night in the Market

House, others in the Old Work House on the west bank of the

Moshassuk River just north of Smith Street.

 

The Second Brigade embarks.

 

The replacements leave Boston and march to camp in Dedham.

The exact march route is unknown; the stops in Dedham and

Wrentham are based on the route of Rochambeau’s infantry to

Boston in December 1782.

 

1781, June 12:           The Second Brigade of French forces disembarks in Providence

and joins the First Brigade in camp on either side of Cranston

Street between Westminster Avenue and Broad Street.

 

The replacements leave Dedham march to Wrentham.

 

The exact march route is unknown.

 

1781, June 13:           Lieutenant-Colonel Hugau of Lauzun’s Legion receives orders

to march from Providence to Lebanon on Saturday, 16 June,

with the 31 healthy replacements for the Legion from the Royal

Barrois due to arrive that day from Boston.

 

 

1781, June 13:             The replacements arrive in Providence and encamp. Those

unfit to accompany their new regiments to White Plains

continue to Newport.

 

The exact march route is unknown; the stops in Dedham and

Wrentham are based on the route of Rochambeau’s infantry to

Boston in December 1782.

 

 

1781, June 14:           The infantry and artillery of Lauzun’s Legion leave Providence

and spend the nights of 14/15 June in Plainfield, and of 16/17

June in Windham. They arrive in Lebanon on 17 June.

 

1781, June 16:           Lt.-Col. Hugau of Lauzun’s Legion departs from Providence with

the replacements for Lauzun’s Legion for Lebanon where they

arrive on 19 June.

 

1781, June 18:           For the march to New York Rochambeau organized his forces

into four divisions of one infantry regiment each plus its

artillery complement and wagon train. Lauzun’s Legion took a

route separate from the infantry that took it along the coast.

 

The Regiment Bourbonnois as the first French division leaves

its camp in Providence for its next camp at Waterman’s Tavern.

The remaining three Regiments Royal Deux-Ponts,

Soissonnnois and Saintonge follow over the next three days.

 

1781, June 19:           The Regiment Bourbonnois leaves its camp at Waterman’s

Tavern on its way to its camp in Plainfield, CT. The remaining

three regiments, Royal Deux-Ponts, Soissonnnois and Saintonge

follow over the next three days.

 

1781, June 20:             The frigate Concorde leaves Newport for the Caribbean with a

report about the Wethersfield Conference and a request that

de Grasse borrow 1.2 million livres in Martinique or St.

Domingue. Eventually de Grasse will borrow the funds in Cuba.

 

De Grasse receives Rochambeau’s letter of 28 May (with post-

scripts) on 16 July; his response informing Rochambeau that

he would sail to the Chesapeake, leaves St. Domingue on the

Concorde on 28 July, reaches Newport on 11 August, and White

Plains on 14 August 1781.

                 

July

 

1780, mid-July:           The Ile de France carrying 350 men of the Bourbonnois is

separated from de Ternay’s convoy and puts into Boston.

 

 

1781, July 10:             A small French fleet under Captain de La Villebrune sails out of

Newport for Long Island.

 

1781, July 12:             The Romulus and three French frigates from Newport enter the

Sound between Long Island and the mainland in an attempt to

capture Fort Lloyd (or Fort Franklin near Huntington, Long

Island). The enterprise fails.

 

1780, July 11:             Around 10:30 a.m. a fleet commanded by Admiral Charles-

Henri-Louis d’Arsac de Ternay carrying some 450 officers and

5,300 men under the comte de Rochambeau, sails into

Narragansett Bay and anchors between Conanicut, Rose and

Goat Islands.

 

1780, July 12:             “The town (Newport) was beautifully illuminated this evening.”

 

1781, July 14:             The small French fleet under Captain de La Villebrune returns

from Rhode Island to Newport.

 

1780, July 18:             News of safe arrival in Boston of the Ile de France with 350 men

of the Bourbonnois Regiment reaches Newport. The would

indicate an arrival date of 14/15 July 1780.

 

1780, July 20 (?):       The Bourbonnois soldiers set out for Providence and Newport.

Presumably they spend the night in Dedham (?). The departure

date is probably 20 July since it is a three-day march to

Providence where the unit arrives on 22 July.

 

The exact march route is unknown; the stops in Dedham and

Wrentham are based on the route of Rochambeau’s infantry to

Boston in December 1782.

 

1780, July 21 (?):       The Bourbonnois soldiers spend the night in Wrentham (?).

 

1780, July 22:             The Providence Gazette reports that “a Transport with 350

troops on board and a large quantity of Military Stores which

had been separated from the fleet is safe arrived in Boston. The

Troops are on their march for this Town on their way to

Newport and are expected to arrive here To-day.”

 

1780, July 22:             Navy Lieutenant de Valernais of the frigate Hermione is buried

in the cemetery at Trinity Church in Newport, RI.

 

1780, July 22:             The Bourbonnois soldiers arrive in Providence.

 

1780, July 23:           The Bourbonnois detachment marches from Providence to

Newport and rejoins the regiment on 24 July.

 

August

 

1781, August 11:       The Concorde arrives in Newport with a letter for Rochambeau

from Admiral de Grasse in Haiti dated 28 July 1781 stating that

he would sail for the Chesapeake on 13 August but that he

would only stay until 15 October.

 

The letter reaches Rochambeau in the Odell House in

Westchester County, NY on 14 August 1781.

 

De Grasse in fact departed eight days earlier on 5 August with

28 ships of the line, supporting frigates and around 3,300

officers and men from the Gâtinois, Agenois, Tourraine and the

Metz artillery.

 

1782, August 11:         French 80-gun battleship le Magnifique (1749) is wrecked

in Boston Harbor. On 3 September 1782

Congress decided to present the 74-gun-ship America laid

down in May 1777 in Portsmouth, NH to France to replace the

Magnifique. She left Portsmouth on 24 June 1783 and sailed

into Brest on 16 July 1783. In the fall of 1786 she was found to

be severely damaged by dry-rot, probably caused by

construction with green timber, and scrapped.

 

 

1781, August 15:       The French frigate Magicienne arrives in Boston with 1.8

million livres for Rochambeau. The news reaches Rochambeau

on 24 August at his headquarters in King’s Ferry. He orders

Major Louis Aimable de Prez de Crassier of the Royal Deux-

Ponts, who is stationed with 104 officers and men in

Providence to guard French stores, to furnish a detachment of

one lieutenant and 24 men to commissaire de guerre Jean

Baptiste Louis Jujardy de Granville to go to Boston to retrieve

these funds. Granville and the detachment under his command

were to escort the funds from Boston via Springfield to New

Windsor. From New Windsor they were to take the route to

Chester, Warwick, Sussex Court House, Hackettstown and

Coryell’s Ferry to Philadelphia.

 

 

1781, August 23:       Admiral Barras slips out of Newport with nine ships, incl.

seven ships of the line carrying 480 men infantry and 130

men artillery as well as the siege artillery. They arrive in the

James River in Virginia on 10 September.

 

The remaining garrison of Newport, 104 men under Major

Louis Aimable de Prez de Crassier of the Royal Deux-Ponts,

march to Providence, where they arrive on 23 August.

1781, August 25:      John Laurens sails into Boston on the frigate Resolue with

funds and supplies for Washington. Laurens arrives in

Philadelphia on 2 September and re-joins Washington’s staff.

 

The total valued of these supplies was almost 2.3 million livres

in kind and the equivalent of about 500.00 Spanish milled

dollars in silver. Morris used about half it, some 254.000

dollars, to establish the Bank of North America.

 

It took fourteen wagons hauled by fifty-six oxen and lead

horses to convey the specie to Philadelphia where it arrived

nine weeks later on 6 November 1781.

 

 

1780, August 29:       A delegation of Oneida Indians from upstate New York visits

General Rochambeau at Newport.

September

 

1780, September 18: Rochambeau and Admiral de Ternay set out from Newport at

around 9:00 a.m. to meet Washington in Hartford, CT. They

spend the night with Lt.-Gov. Jabez Bowen in Providence.

 

1780, September 19: A broken wheel forces Rochambeau and de Ternay to spend

the night in an unknown Tavern in Scotland.

 

1780, September 20: Rochambeau and Ternay take lodgings in the home of

Jeremiah Wadsworth in Hartford.

 

1780, September 21: Hartford Conference between Rochambeau and Washington.

 

1780, September 22: Another broken wheel at the same spot as on 19 September

forces Rochambeau and de Ternay to again spend the night in

an unknown Tavern in Scotland.

 

1780, September 23: Rochambeau and Admiral de Ternay spend the night with Lt.-

Gov. Jabez Bowen in Providence.

 

1780, September 25: Rochambeau and Admiral de Ternay return to Newport at

around 7:00 p.m.

October

 

1780, October 19:     State of Connecticut offers winter quarters to Lauzun’s hussars

after Providence refused to provide quarters

 

1781, October 26:     News of the surrender of Cornwallis reaches Newport

 

1780, October 28 :     French frigate Amazone under Jean-François de Galaup, comte

de Lapérouse leaves Newport for Brest with Rochambeau’s

son, the vicomte de Rochambeau. The Amazone is accompanied

by the Hermione and the Surveillante. He arrives in L’Orient on

15 November 1780 and is back in Paris on 23 November 1780.

 

November

 

1780, November 1:   French infantry enters winter quarters in Newport.

 

1780, November 9:   Hussars of Lauzun’s Legion ride from Newport to Providence.

 

1782, November 9:   In preparation for the march to the northward Rochambeau

had divided his forces into five divisions of one regiment each

which are to march one day apart. Lauzun’s Legion forms the

first division, the Bourbonnois Regiment the second, Royal

Deux-Ponts the third, Soissonnois the fourth and Saintonge the

fifth division.

 

That structure was maintained until the arrival of the Second

Division, i.e., the Bourbonnois Regiment, in Trenton on 3

September 1782, when Rochambeau re-organized his units

into two-regiment brigades for the march to Massachusetts.

 

Lauzun’s Legion does not join the infantry regiments on the

march to Boston. It marches instead from New York to winter

quarters in Wilmington, Delaware.

 

Coming from Dorrance Tavern in Connecticut the French First

Brigade consisting of the Regiments Bourbonnois and the Royal

Deux- Ponts camp near Waterman’s Tavern in Rhode Island.

                                      

1782, November 10: Coming from Waterman’s Tavern the French First Brigade

consisting of the Regiments Bourbonnois and the Royal Deux-

Ponts camp in Providence.

 

The Second Brigade consisting of the Regiments Soissonnnois

and Saintonge arrives in Providence

 

1780, November 12: Lauzun’s hussars leave Providence for Windham, Connecticut.

 

1782, November 13: The French camp is moved to the property of Jeremiah Dexter.

French forces will remain here until 4 December.

 

1782, November 16: The campaign artillery leaves Providence for Attleborough (?)

Wrentham (?). The route is unknown as are the three locations

of the three encampments.

 

1782, November 17: French artillery leaves Attleborough (?)/Wrentham (?) for

Dedham (?).

 

1782, November 18: French artillery leaves Wrentham (?) Dedham (?) for ?

 

1782, November 19: French artillery arrives in Boston and is quartered in vacant

houses in the harbor. The exact march route is unknown;

the comte de Clermont-Crèvecoeur notes that he left

Providence with the artillery on 16 November and arrived in

Boston on 19 November.

 

December

 

1782, December 1:   Rochambeau, accompanied, among others, by his son, by the

comte de Vauban and the comte de Lauberdière, says farewell

to his troops in Providence and in a heavy snowfall sets out for

Newburgh, NY. They spend the night at Dorrance’ Tavern in CT.

 

1782, December 4:     For the march from Providence to Boston Rochambeau had re-

organized his forces into two brigades with the Bourbonnois

and Royal Deux-Ponts Regiments forming the First Brigade

and the Soissonnois and Saintonge Regiments the Second

Brigade.

 

Lauzun’s Legion does not join the infantry regiments on the

march to Boston. It has already marched from New York to

winter quarters in Wilmington, Delaware.

 

The First Brigade of French forces consisting of the Regiments

Bourbonnois and Royal Deux-Ponts leaves its encampment in

Providence and marches to its next camp in Wrentham.

 

1782, December 5:   The First Brigade of French forces consisting of the Regiments

Bourbonnois and Royal Deux-Ponts leaves its encampment in

Readham and marches to its next camp in Dedham.

 

The Second Brigade of French forces consisting of the

Regiments Soissonnois and Saintonge leaves its encampment

in Providence and marches 19 miles to its camp in Wrentham.

 

1782, December 6:   The First Brigade of French forces consisting of the Regiments

Bourbonnois and Royal Deux-Ponts leaves its encampment in

Dedham and marches 13 miles to Boston and embarks.

 

 

The Second Brigade of French forces consisting of the

Regiments Soissonnois and Saintonge leaves its encampment

in Readham and marches to its next camp in Dedham.

 

1782, December 7:   The Second Brigade of French forces consisting of the

Regiments Soissonnois and Saintonge leaves its encampment

Dedham and marches 13 miles to Boston and embarks.

 

1780, December13:   Rochambeau arrives in Boston. The date of his departure

from Newport and the stops along the way are unknown.

 

1780, December 15: Learning of the death of Admiral de Ternay earlier in the day,

Rochambeau returns to Newport. Route and arrival date are

unknown. Ternay’s funeral was on 16 December 1780.

 

 

1782, mid-December: The troops debark again and are lodged “in the city in an old

magazine where we almost perished from the cold.”

 

1782, December 19: The troops begin to re-embark.

 

1782, December 22: The ships are cut lose from the ice.

 

1782, December 23: In the afternoon the ships begin to raise anchor and sail out of

Boston Harbor.

 

1782, December 24: “In the morning of the 24th, Christmas Day, we raised anchor

to sail to the West Indies. Around 10 o’clock we left the town of

Boston.”