1To Benjamin Franklin from Robert Morris, 2 October 1783 (Franklin Papers)
Langdon had made an unsuccessful attempt to supply the French navy with masts in 1778:
2To George Washington from d’Estaing, 8 January 1784 (Washington Papers)
Charles-Hector, comte d’Estaing (1729–1794), as vice admiral in the French navy and senior naval officer in American waters during the Revolutionary War transported the first contingent of French land forces to Rhode Island in 1778 and participated in 1779 in the siege of Savannah. He supported the Revolution in France......the society the captains in the French navy who had served in...
3To George Washington from Barras, 23 January 1784 (Washington Papers)
GW wrote Barras on 17 May that the general meeting had altered the institution of the society to make the French navy captains eligible for election to the Society of the Cincinnati. See
4From George Washington to Chastellux, 1 February 1784 (Washington Papers)
.... Founded in 1664 by the French East India Company on an inlet of the Bay of Biscay and bought by the French government in 1782, Lorient was a free port and was to become an important station for the French navy.
5To Benjamin Franklin from John Paul Jones, 23 March 1784 (Franklin Papers)
comments on that now-missing extract in his reply of March 25, below. Sartine, at that time, was minister of the French navy. Most of the letter concerned the sale of the
6II. Winthrop Sargent’s Journal, 4–18 May (Washington Papers)
...—the Chevalier Ryguille—the Chevalier du Quesne—the Count de Trevalies—the Chevalier Manlivriers—the Chevalier de Vallonge—the Count de Capelles & Captains & Commanders of ships & Frigates of the French Navy who were employed on special Service on the Coast of America & who are mentioned particularly by his Excellency the Minister of France, are entitled by the Spirit and Intention...
7Appendix III: From Pierre-Charles L’Enfant, 10 May (Washington Papers)
...to you: I shall not expatiate on the title which Several of them have to your consideration, being well persuaded of the equitable intentions of the Society, & not doubting that if you will weigh the merit which the French Navy has acquired in the service of the American cause, it will appear to you that they have an equal title with the Land Troops to your attention and favour.
8Appendix VII: To d’Estaing, 17 May 1784 (Washington Papers)
...who have co’operated with the Armies of the United States”—are laterally included, and it is the expectation also of the Society that it will effectually comprehend all the Officers of the French Navy who have been particularly recommended by your Excellency. The Generals and Colonels of the Land forces are provided for in the previous part of the same article: and the society, careful...
9To George Washington from La Touche-Tréville, 15 June 1784 (Washington Papers)
He was given command of a ship in 1780 and cruised American waters under the orders of La Peyrouse until he was captured by the British in 1782. La Touche-Tréville was a vice admiral in the French navy at the time of his death.
10To Benjamin Franklin from [François de Fontanges], 30 June 1784 (Franklin Papers)
Though the Society of the Cincinnati had made eligible for membership generals and colonels who had fought under Rochambeau, it had omitted those who had fought under d’Estaing. This omission, like the exclusion of officers of the French navy, was immediately pointed out by prominent French members and was rectified at the society’s general meeting in May, 1784: Asa B. Gardiner,