George Washington to Major General Chastellux, 21 March 1781
To Major General Chastellux
New Windsor Mar. 21st 1781
I arrived my dear Chevalr at these my Quarters in the fore noon of yesterday; after passing over very bad roads & riding thro very foul weather without any damage—I must again give vent to that sensibility wch your goodness has impressed me with—and again thank you for all those civilities which your politeness heaped up on me at Rhode Island—I shall be grateful for them—& shall wish for opportunities to prove the sincerity of these professions.1
G. Britain is at War with the Dutch—the Manifesto & declaration of that Court I have done myself the honr to transmit to the Count de Rochambeau.2 We have it by report that Adml Des Touches is safe arrived in Hampton Road3—A number of Militia under the command of Baron de Steuben were hovering round Arnold, ready to co-operate with Genl Viominel & the Marqs de la fayette in the moment of their debarkation4—the latter of whom had advanced his detachment to Annapolis to receive more readily the protection & Convoy of the Frigates of Mo[n]sr Destouches.5
General Greene by my last Accts was gathering strength—Ld Cornwallis was retreating but the object of his retrograde movement was uncertain—a little time must discover it.6
Will you do me the favor to present my respects to Genl Viominel & those Gentn to whom I am indebted for unbounded civilities;7 & do me the justice to believe that with sentimts of purest regard & the warmest personl attachment—I have the honr to be Dr Sir Yr Most Obedt
Go: Washington
ADfS, DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW. For Chastellux’s reply, see his letter to GW dated April.
1. For GW’s trip to Rhode Island and time spent in Newport, see his letter to Alexander Hamilton, 7 March, source note; see also GW to William Greene, 12 March, n.8, and to Rochambeau, 16 March, n.1.
2. See GW to Rochambeau, 21–22 March, and n.4 to that document.
3. The source of this report is unknown. For the French fleet’s operations, see Destouches to GW, 19 March.
4. See Steuben to GW, 23 Feb. and 1 March. Major General Lafayette and Major General the baron de Vioménil commanded, respectively, a Continental army detachment recently sent to Virginia and a French expeditionary corps (see GW’s second letter to Lafayette, 20 Feb., source note, and Vioménil to GW, 19 March).
5. See Lafayette to GW, 9 March (first letter); see also Lafayette to GW, 15 March.
7. See n.1 above.
Charles-Joseph-Hyacinthe du Houx, comte de Vioménil (1734–1827), brother of the baron de Vioménil, joined the French army as a lieutenant in 1747, became a captain in 1759, and rose to colonel in 1761. He received promotion to brigadier in 1770 and to maréchal de camp, or major general, in March 1780. After his service in Rochambeau’s army, Vioménil continued in the French service, being named governor of Martinique in 1789. In 1791, during the French Revolution, he emigrated from France, and from 1792 to 1797 he served in French royal armies opposed to the revolutionary regime. In the latter year, the czar of Russia named him a lieutenant general, and in 1801 he became a marshal-general of Portugal. Upon Vioménil’s return to France in 1815, Louis XVIII named him a peer of France and in 1816 a marshal of France. In 1817 he became a marquis.