[page 202]

138.

138.

and never ceased to believe that the French had their sights set on this region. As they did not appear to be leaving, they received thanks a 2nd time for the help they had brought.

sondern glaubten noch allezeit daß die Franzosen dieselbe Gegend wolten zu Nutz machen. Weil sie doch gar nicht davon weichen wollen, liessen sie sich zum 2ten mahl bedancken vor die geleiste Hilfe.

We then thought of returning to Newport, which is 30 miles from Providence. But the fleet that came to fetch us headed toward Boston. Later we learned that we were to go to Boston to set off toward the West Indies with Captain Wotzelle’s flotilla[275].

Wir glaubten damals wiedrum nach Nieport zu marschieren, welches 30 Meilen von Providens ist. Aber das Escadr welches kame uns abzuhollen fuhr zu Boston an. Allwo wir hernach beordert wurden uns zu Boston einzufinden vor nach West- Indien zu seeglen mit der Flotte des Herrn Wotzelle Comandant.

On December 4th we set off again to travel 19 miles to Readham, a small town endowed with a very beautiful town hall. We made our camp nearby in very bad weather.

Den 4ten Xbr brachen wir alda wiedrum auf 19 Meilen biß Readham ein Städtgen mit einem gantz schönen Rathhauß gezieret. Wir schlugen gantz nahe dabey unser Lager bey sehr wüstem Wetter.

On the 5th, another 16 miles to Baltham, a small town. We made our camp in a glacial cold that was hardly bearable. The day before it had rained, in the evening it cleared up and there were very violent winds.

Den 5ten wiedrum 16 Meilen biß Baltham ein Städtgen. Wir schlugen das Lager alda bey einer grimmigen Kälte daß es fast unaustehlich ware. Den Tag zuvor regnetet es, gegen Abend wurde es hell, nebst ein gewaltigen starcken Winde.

On the 6th, we packed up the camp in a freezing cold to travel 13 miles to Boston[276],

Den 6ten brachen wir bey grimmiger Kälte auf 13 Meilen biß Boston

[réclame]

eine

https://gallica.bnf.fr/iiif/ark:/12148/btv1b10110846m/f102/pct:0,0,50,100/,700/0/native.jpg

Strasbourg, Médiathèque André Malraux, ms f 15, p. 202.

[agrandir]

 Notes

275. Louis-Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil, was born in Rochester in 1724. He was a marine guard in 1740, a captain in 1765, a fleet commander in 1779 and became lieutenant general in 1782. He commanded the Fendant in Ushant, a backup fleet for d’Estaing in 1779, the Triomphant in the Guichen fleet. He joined de Grasse in 1782, and took command of the fleet after the Battle of the Saintes where he was wounded. He died in 1802. Cf. Jean-Pierre Franque, Louis-Philippe Rigaut, marquis de Vaudreuil, oil on canvas, Versailles, Château de Versailles et du Trianon, first half of the 19th century [reproduction en ligne - RMN].
276. The city of Boston was founded in 1630 by a group of Puritans led by John Winthrop, the president of the Massachusetts Bay Company. It was the second colony of what was to become New England, and it rather quickly surpassed the older colony, Plymouth, as the economic and political center of the region. The Puritans established a colony governed according to strict religious rules. The first school of North America was opened in Boston in 1635, as well as the first university, Harvard, founded in 1636. Boston was the most populated city of North America until the mid-eighteenth century, when it was overtaken by Philadelphia. Boston remained nevertheless an important intellectual center and a major port in the Atlantic trade. The inhabitants of Boston were at the forefront of the protest movement against the London Parliament’s laws creating new taxes and restricting liberties. When Flohr says of the city that “it is here that the rebellion began”, he is referring to the incidents that resulted from the conflict between citizens opposed to taxation without representation (thus questioning the London Parliament’s legitimacy in legislating on behalf of unrepresented territories and citizens) and the colonial authorities (the governor, the army), i.e. the Boston Massacre (March 5, 1770), the Boston Tea Party (December 17, 1773), then the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, and finally the Battle of Bunker Hill in Charleston, near Boston. After Boston’s liberation by Washington after a short siege in March 1776, the city was relatively sheltered from combat. Cf. Louis Garneray, Port de Boston, print, c. 1842 [reproduction en ligne - BNF].