To Benjamin Franklin from the Baron de Welffen, 30 May 1778: résumé
From the Baron de Welffen
ALS: American Philosophical Society
<Wiesbaden, near Mainz, May 30, 1778, in French: I ask for suitable employment in your army. For almost thirty years, through the end of the last war, I served the King of Prussia, and then was caught in the general reduction of the forces; in the American service, I am convinced, I shall not suffer such a catastrophe, and my search for success so far away will drive me to every sort of bravery.1>
1. At the foot of the second page BF drafted a reply: “Answer, That the Armies of the United States are fully officer’d. That a Number of experienc’d Officers who went from France are actually return’d because they could not be employ’d. We are oblig’d however for his Good Will to our Cause, and return him Thanks.”