From George Washington to Lieutenant General Rochambeau, 16 July 1780
To Lieutenant General Rochambeau
Head Quarters in New Jersey July 16th 1780
Sir,
I hasten to impart to you the happiness I feel at the welcome news of your arrival;1 and as well in the name of the american army as in my own name to present you with an assurance, of our warmest sentiments for Allies, who have so generously come to our Aid.
As a citizen of the United States and as a Soldier in the cause of liberty, I thankfully acknowledge this new mark of friendship from his Most Christian Majesty—and I feel a most grateful sensibility for the flattering confidence he has been pleased to honor me with on this occasion.2
Among the obligations we are under to your Prince, I esteem it one of the first that he has made choice for the command of his Troops of a Gentleman whose high reputation and happy union of social qualities & military abilities promise me every public advantage & private satisfaction.
I beg Sir, you will be the interpreter of my Sentiments to the Gentlemen under your command. Be pleased to assure them, that to the pleasure I anticipate of an acquaintance with them, I join the warmest desire to do every thing that may be agreeable to them and the Soldiers under their command. But in the midst of a War, the nature and difficulties of which are peculiar & uncommon, I cannot flatter myself in any way to attone for the sacrifice they have made; but by giving them such oppertunities in the field of glory as will enable them to display that gallantry and those talents which we shall always be happy to acknowledge with applause.
The Marquis De La Fayette has been by me desired from time to time to communicate such intelligence, and make such propositions as circumstances dictated.3 I think it so important immediately to fix our plan of operations and with as much secrecy as possible, that I have requested him to go himself to New London, where he will probably meet you.4 As a Genl Officer I have the greatest confidence in him—as a friend he is perfectly acquainted with my sentiments & opinions—He knows all the circumstances of our Army & the Country at large; All the information he gives and all the propositions he makes, I entreat you will consider as coming from me. I request you will settle all arrangements whatsoever with him; and I shall only add, that I shall exactly conform to the intentions of His Most Christian Majesty as explained in the several papers put into my hand by his order & signed by his Ministers.5
Permit me to refer you to the Marquis De La Fayette, for more particular assurances of what I feel on this occasion; which I the more readily do from a knowledge of his peculiar affection and regard for you. Impatiently waiting for the time when our operations will afford me the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with you—I have the honor to be with the most perfect consideration and attachment, Your most Obedient & humble Servant
Go: Washington
ALS, enclosed in GW to Rochambeau, 19 July, CtY-BR: Rochambeau Papers and Rochambeau Family Cartographic Archive; Df, DLC:GW; French translation, in Rochambeau’s writing, CtY-BR: Rochambeau Papers and Rochambeau Family Cartographic Archive; LB (in French), DLC: Rochambeau Papers, vol. 7; French translation, FrPBN; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. On the draft, which is in the writing of GW’s aide-de-camp Alexander Hamilton, GW wrote the dateline and the following text after the complimentary close: “His Excellency The Count De Rochambeau Lieutt General of the Armies of his Most Christian Majesty & Commanding his Troops in North America.”
2. Rochambeau’s instructions from the French court specified that he would act under GW’s orders (see Rochambeau to GW, 12 July, n.16).
3. See GW to Lafayette, 15 July, and to David Forman, 10 July, n.1; see also GW to Lafayette, 16 May, and n.3 to that document.
4. GW delayed Lafayette’s departure until the evening of 19 July (see GW to Rochambeau, 19 July, and GW’s first letter to Samuel Huntington, 20 July; see also Lafayette to GW, 20 July). Lafayette’s destination soon changed to Newport, where he arrived on 24 July (see Lafayette to GW, 21 and 26 July [both letters], and William Heath’s first letter to GW, 25 July).
5. GW is referring to documents that Lafayette brought from France with instructions on preparations for the arrival of the French expeditionary force (see GW to James Duane, 13 May, n.8).