Editorial Note
Editorial Note
Lieutenant General Rochambeau had suggested in August that he and Rear Admiral Ternay meet GW to devise a strategy for taking New York City from the British. GW promised to meet them when it was safe to do so and directed Rochambeau to specify a location. Rochambeau chose Hartford, and GW then picked 20 Sept. for the gathering.1
Erroneously convinced that a fleet under French rear admiral Guichen would soon arrive from the West Indies and enable an attack
Map 4. Allied leaders, including Washington and Rochambeau, met at Hartford for a strategy session. (Illustrated by Rick Britton. Copyright Rick Britton 2019)

The conference began at Jeremiah Wadsworth’s home on 20 September. Rochambeau’s aide-de-camp Hans Axel von Fersen left a contemporary description of GW and the proceedings when he wrote his father from Newport on 16 Oct.: “Rochambeau sent me in advance to announce his arrival, and I had time to see that illustrious, not to say unique, man of our era. His noble and majestic, but at the same time gentle and honest face agrees perfectly with his moral qualities; he has the air of a hero; he is very cold, speaks little, but is polite and civil. An air of sadness pervades his whole countenance, which is not unbecoming to him, and makes him the more interesting. … The two generals and the admiral were shut up together during the whole day we stayed at Hartford. The Marquis de Lafayette was called in as interpreter, for General Washington can neither speak French nor understand it.”5 Rochambeau later wrote that “the operations were fully discussed and agreed upon, under the supposition of the arrival of our second division, or of a reinforcement of our naval forces being sent or brought out to us by M. de Guichen. But our plans were soon frustrated by the arrival (of which we were almost immediately informed) at New York of the English fleet, under Admiral Rodney.” The “unexpected intelligence” abruptly ended the conference because “the French generals were anxious to return to their respective posts,” and GW likewise “was anxious to get back to his army, where his presence was indispensable.”6
Rochambeau and Ternay left Hartford on 22 Sept.; GW departed the next day. The Connecticut Journal (Hartford) for 28 Sept. reported: “Both Parties, on their going in, and returning from Hartford, were saluted by a Discharge of thirteen Cannon. General Washington, had also a Conference with Governor Trumbull.”7 Rochambeau’s chief commissary, Claude Blanchard, commented after the French officers had returned to Newport on 24 Sept.: “They had had an interview with General Washington, from whom they returned enchanted: an easy and noble bearing, extensive and correct views, the art of making himself beloved, these are what all who saw him observed in him. It is his merit which has defended the liberty of America, and if she enjoys it one day, it is to him alone that she will be indebted for it.”8
The Norwich Packet; and the Weekly Advertiser (Conn.) for 3 Oct. printed a notice datelined Fishkill, 28 Sept.: “On Monday last [25 Sept.] his Excellency General Washington, passed through this town on his way from Hartford, and his arrival at West-Point was announced by the discharge of thirteen cannon, about eleven o’clock same day.” GW’s return to his army was delayed when he learned about the treachery of Maj. Gen. Benedict Arnold, who had conspired with the British to betray the West Point garrison and perhaps even capture GW.9
1. See Rochambeau to GW, 10, 14, and 25 Aug., and GW to Rochambeau, 21 Aug. and 8 September.
2. See GW’s second letter to Rochambeau on 13 Sept.; GW to Arnold, 14 Sept., postscript; and GW to Greene, 16 and 18 Sept.; see also Hamilton to John Laurens, 16 Sept., in , 2:431–32, and General Orders, 17 September.
3. See GW to Samuel Huntington, 15 September.
Col. Israel Angell wrote in his diary entry for 17 Sept.: “His Excellency Set off it is Said for hartford this Morning” (Thomas’s Massachusetts Spy Or, American Oracle of Liberty (Worcester) for 21 Sept. reported: “The Hartford post informs us that a meeting of the General officers in the American and French armies was soon to take place at Hartford; and that his Excellency General Washington, and a number of other officers of distinction were expected there yesterday.”
, 118).4. See Rochambeau to GW, 16 Sept., found at GW to Rochambeau, 13 Sept. (first letter), n.2; and , 66.
5. , 30–31.
6. , 18. GW assessed the conference as inconclusive (see his letter to James Duane, 4 Oct.)
8. , 67; see also Du Bouchet to GW, 28 Sept., and , 20.
9. See The Discovery of Major General Benedict Arnold’s Treachery, 25 Sept.–24 Nov., editorial note.
GW’s aide-de-camp Richard Kidder Meade recorded the expenditures GW incurred between 18 and 29 Sept. related to his trip to Hartford. The docket of that document reads: “Septr 30th 1780 Lt Colo. Meads, account with the Vouchers. inclosd of 8,000 dollars drawn for the use of the Commandr in Cheif—by Major Gibbs. 7584 dollars expended 416 repaid Major Gibbs … N.B. This money was drawn of the Dy P.M. Genl the 15th Septr” (Revolutionary War Receipts, June 1775–December 1783, DLC:GW, ser. 5).