|
Rochambeau’s Army in Connecticut
Reprinted from Connecticut Preservation News,
January/February 2003
Connecticut’s
role in supporting Rochambeau’s
expedition went well beyond simply
allowing the column to pass through
the state. Connecticut patriots such
as Jonathan and Joseph Trumbull, Henry
Champion, and Jeremiah Wadsworth were
instrumental in arranging for the acquisition
of draft animals, food, and other supplies
for both the American and French armies,
earning Connecticut the name "the
Provisions State." Both civil
and military officials participated
in important strategic meetings, and
the hostility of shoreline communities
helped prevent the British from establishing
a land presence from Long Island Sound.
Finally, local historical traditions
in a number of Connecticut towns assert
that some young men, impressed by the
size and scope of the French movement,
enlisted as combatants and traveled
with the French to Yorktown.
In addition to its military significance, the French march through
Connecticut engendered a host of cultural and social encounters
that left their mark on both sides. Local citizens flocked to see
the spectacle of the French column, alive with martial music and
sometimes stretching from horizon to horizon. People came by the
hundreds to visit the camps, both to hear musical programs put
on by the French musicians and to trade local produce for French
silver. Local notables entertained the officers in their homes,
while other officers visited local taverns. Officers were lodged
overnight in private homes and inns as conditions allowed, furthering
the social interaction between the French and local families. For
their part, the journals kept by the French show them to have been
interested, and often surprised, by their meetings with Americans.
Their position as European noblemen made them see most Americans’ houses
as rather poor habitations, and they found many Americans unsuitably
tight-fisted in their dealings. Although to a man they deplored
the conditions of Connecticut roads, they regarded the countryside
as beautiful and intelligently cultivated. Imbued perhaps with
the ideals of the Enlightenment, most were complimentary regarding
the middling economic level seemingly enjoyed by most Americans,
and they admired the plain and forthright conversation of their
Connecticut hosts.
—Reprinted from Connecticut Preservation News, January/February
2003
|
