Lieutenant General Rochambeau to George Washington, 8 May 1781
From Lieutenant General Rochambeau
Newport. May the 8th 1781 10 P.M.
Sir
I this moment received a billet from the Consul of France at Boston in the following words “The frigate La Concorde is arrived at Boston; Sunday at night, after a passage of 42. days; The Commodore De Barras is on board with the Viscount de rochambeau”1 I expect they will arrive here to morrow and your Excellency may well think that I wait for them with great impatience. I believe it will be necessary as soon as we have received our Dispatches that we should have a conference with your Excellency; By the next express, I shall inform you of it.2 your Excellency may, however fix upon the place for our meeting.3 The Commodore is above sixty years of age, a particular friend of Count D’Estaing, he commanded his van-guard when he forced the entry of this harbour.4 I am with respect and personal attachment, Sir, your Excellency’s most obedient humble servant
le Cte de Rochambeau
I beg of your Excellency to send a copy of this Letter, to the chevalier De La Luzerne, if you have an opportunity.5
LS, DLC:GW; LB, in French, DLC: Rochambeau Papers, vol. 9; LB, in French, DLC: Rochambeau Papers, vol. 12. The postscript appears only on the LS.
1. The previous Sunday was 6 May. Both letter-book copies give the rank of the new French naval commander as chef d’escadre. The closest English equivalent to that rank is rear admiral.
Rochambeau’s aide-de-camp Ludwig von Closen recorded in his journal that the French at Newport had learned that “the Concorde, a frigate of 32, which had left Brest March 26, had arrived at last, on May 8, in Boston.
“It brought M. de Barras, cordon-rouge and head of the fleet, to replace M. de Ternay; the Vicomte de Rochambeau, who bore orders from the Court; M. Du Bourg, another aide-de-camp for M. de Rochambeau; and some other officers, who were to join us” (entry for 1 May in , 77–78). Cordon-rouge refers to the red ribbon of a chevalier, or knight, of the royal and military order of Saint-Louis, which Barras had won in 1756. Captain Destouches had held temporary command after the death of Rear Admiral Ternay (see Destouches to GW, 15 Dec. 1780). French captain Berthier wrote in his journal entry for 6 May that the Vicomte de Rochambeau, the French commander’s son, “brought news that a convoy escorted by the Sagittaire was en route with supplies and recruits for the army. It was scheduled to leave Brest with a large squadron commanded by M. de Grasse, who was going to the Windward Islands” (, 1:245). The convoy arrived off Boston on 9 June (see Barras to GW, that date, n.5).
Jacques-Melchior, comte de Barras de Saint Laurent (1719–c.1800) had begun his career in the French navy as a naval cadet in 1734. He became a captain in 1762 and chef d’escadre in 1778. He superseded Destouches in command of the French squadron at Newport on 10 May 1781 (see Barras to GW, 11 May). During the Yorktown campaign that summer and fall, Barras brought his squadron to the Chesapeake Bay with provisions and siege artillery. His ships and the larger fleet of Lieutenant General de Grasse gave the French an overwhelming naval superiority crucial to the allied victory. Barras received the rank of lieutenant general in 1782 and led a squadron that operated in the West Indies. Becoming sick, he returned to France in April and retired from the naval service in 1783. Having previously been made a commander of the order of Saint-Louis in 1781, he received that order’s grand cross in 1784.
2. For the men’s arrival at Newport and the contents of the dispatches, see Barras to GW, 11 May, and Rochambeau to GW, same date, and n.2; see also Chastellux to GW, 12 May.
3. See GW to Rochambeau, 14 May.
4. For Vice Admiral d’Estaing’s entry into Newport Harbor during an allied expedition when the British occupied Newport, see John Laurens to GW, 4 Aug. 1778.