This paragraph extracted and translated from Dubourg’s letter,2 the original of which has disappeared, introduced a man who played a considerable role in the first two years of the war. The Chevalier Gilles-Jean Barazer de Kermorvan (1740–1817) was the scion of a Breton family. He entered the French army at eighteen, but five years later his corps was disbanded; he then took service with the Ottomans during their war against Russia, and rose to be a brevet colonel of engineers.3 The end of the war left him unemployed, and by March of 1776 he was in Paris. A fellow officer introduced him to Dubourg, who concluded after one conversation that Kermorvan was “un zelé defenseur, un preux Chevalier qui ne craint point de franchir les monts et les mers, pour chercher de glorieuses aventures, et combattre pour la liberté des hommes comme les anciens Preux pour l’honneur des Dames.” The Chevalier was leaving the next day, Dubourg added, to offer his services to America.4 He reached New York in June and, as one of the first French volunteers, attracted immediate interest. Washington supplied him with a letter of introduction to Congress, and Gates with one to Franklin. He was cordially received in Philadelphia, and within a few weeks was put to work. By late July he was outlining to Franklin his ideas for defending the coast.5