[page 68]
48.
48.
die Kunstabler mit brenden Lunden bey den Canonen fix und fertig zum loßbrennen. Die Regimen ts Stücke in der Mitte vor dem Regimen t Royal Dexponts her welches führet le Baron de Viominille.
Mr le chev[alier] de Viominille führete das 2te Brigad Regimen t : Soissonois und St.Tonge. Die Brigadstücke vorher. Die Kunstabler mit brennden Lunden in der Hand. Die Regimen t Stücke in der Mitte vor dem Regimen t Saintonge her : welches führete Mr le chev[alier] de Chastelux. Nach diesem folgte das Frey-Kohr von Lauzun welches führete Duc de Lauzan, hinter diesen ein Comp[anie] Hussaren zum schliessen.
Die Stadt Philadelpia liegt in einer schönen ebenen Gegend. Und hat in der Länge und Breite 3 englische Meillen, auch ist sie mit vielen merckwürdigen Gebäute gezieret welche seynd das Rath-Hauß das Gebäute des Französchen Ambasadeur, das Spithal etc. Alle Gassen sein auf die Linie gebaut, und wunderschön zu sehen.
Sie ist auch das 3te Theil mit Deutschen bewohnt, aber doch wird mehr Englisch als Deutsch darinen gesprochen. Auch ist diese Stadt mit einem schönen Haffen ver-sehen vor die Kauffmansschaft etc.
Wir erfuhren auch erst alda wo unser Marsch hinaus-ginge, weil wir noch keine gewisse Orter hatten. Es ginge alsdan nach Virginien,
[réclame]
allwo
Strasbourg, Médiathèque André Malraux, ms f 15, p. 68.
Notes
140. Antoine Charles Du Houx, Baron Vioménil, son of François Hyacinthe of the same name, was born in the Château de Fauconcourt (in the Vosges department) on September 30, 1728. He was lieutenant of the Limousin regiment on September 26, 1741, and became captain in 1747, colonel of the Dauphiné volunteers in 1759, brigadier in 1762, maréchal de camp in 1770. He was named executive officer of the expeditionary corps that was sent to America, major general of the first brigade, which included the Royal Deux-Ponts. Under this title he participated in the attack of redoubt 9 in which Flohr’s regiment stood out. He became lieutenant general upon his return to France on June 13, 1783. He was seriously wounded defending the Tuileries on August 10, 1792 and died on October 31 of the same year. [Gilbert Bodinier, Dictionnaire des officiers de l’armée royale, SHAT, editions Mémoires et documents, 2005, p. 468; Jerome A. Greene, Guns of Independence, The siege of Yorktown, Savas Beatie, New York, 2005]. Four members of his family were part of the French expeditionary corps sent to America.
141. Joseph-Hyacinthe Du Houx, Count Vioménil, younger brother of Antoine-Charles, born in Ruppes (in the Vosges départment) on August 22, 1734. He was lieutenant of the Limousin regiment on June 5, 1759, and became colonel of the Dauphiné volunteers in 1761, of the Legion of Flanders in 1763, of the Legion of Lorraine in 1770, then brigadier, and maître de camp of the 3 Regiments of Chasseurs in January 1779. He gained the rank of maréchal de camp on March 1, 1780 before leaving for America with the French expeditionary corps. According to the order of battle for the Siege of Yorktown, he commanded the second brigade known as “Soissonois” as major general. He was the governor of Martinique in March 1789. He emigrated upon his return to France in 1790 and joined the Army of Condé. He served Russia and later Portugal between 1797 and 1802. During the restoration he was named Marshal of France in 1816, then Marquis Hereditary Peer in 1817. He died in Paris on March 6, 1827. [Gilbert Bodinier, Dictionnaire des officiers de l’armée royale, SHAT, editions Mémoires et documents, 2005, p. 468; Jerome A. Greene, Guns of Independence, The siege of Yorktown, Savas Beatie, New York, 2005]. Cf. Pierre Louis Delaval, du Houx de Vioménil (1734-1827), oil on canvas, 1817, Paris, musée de l’Armée [reproduction en ligne - RMN].
142. François-Jean De Beauvoir, Chevalier and later Marquis de Chastellus was the son of Guillaume Antoine of the same name and was born in Paris on May 5, 1734. He was lieutenant of the Auvergne regiment on March 23, 1747, and became captain in 1754, colonel of the Régiment de la Marche in 1759, and of the Guyenne battalion in 1761, brigadier in 1769. He left his regiment in 1771. A friend of Voltaire and d’Alembert, he was the author of De la Félicité Publique, published in 1772, for which he was elected to the Académie Française in 1775. He was maréchal de camp and major general of Rochambeau’s army in America. Upon his return to France, in 1786 he published his Voyages en Amérique Septentrionale dans les années 1780, 1781 et 1782. He died in Paris on October 24, 1788. [Gilbert Bodinier, Dictionnaire des officiers de l’armée royale, SHAT, editions Mémoires et documents, 2005, p. 45]. Cf. Camille Roqueplan, Jean-François, marquis de Chastellux, maréchal des camps et armées, oil on canvas, 1842 [reproduction en ligne - RMN].
143. Louis-Armand de Gontaut-Biron, Duke de Lauzun then Duke de Biron, son of Charles of the same name. Born in Paris on April 13, 1747, he joined the army in January 1761 as ensign of the Gardes Françaises, became sub-lieutenant that same year then lieutenant in 1764, captain in 1767 with a brevet as a colonel. He was colonel of the Royal Legion on February 27, 1774, lieutenant maître de camp of the Royal Dragoons in 1776, then colonel proprietor of the foreign volunteer navy corps on September 1, 1778. He seized Senegal in 1779 at the head of the troops. Named brigadier on March 1, 1780, he went to America with Rochambeau as colonel proprietor of the legion named after him (the Lauzun Legion), made up of foreign volunteers, mostly from his former regiment. He distinguished himself during the Siege of Yorktown by holding back the English in Gloucester. He was named maréchal de camp on June 13, 1783 upon his return to America, and colonel proprietor of the Hussar regiment of Lauzun. He was close to the Duke of Orléans. He abandoned his privileges on the night of August 4 . He was named lieutenant general in January 1792, served the Army of the North, commanded the Army of the Rhine then the Army of Italy, then that of the Côtes de la Rochelle in April 1793. Arrested after suspicions concerning his attitude towards the Chouans, he was dismissed on July 11, 1793, imprisoned, then guillotined on December 31, 1793 for having “participated in a conspiracy against the domestic and external safety of the Republic” according to the Revolutionary Tribunal. According to Rochambeau he was “the man in France who was the most kind, the most spiritual, the most generous, the most loyal, sometimes the wisest, often the craziest, the gayest philosopher”. [Gilbert Bodinier, Dictionnaire des officiers de l’armée royale, SHAT, editions Mémoires et documents, 2005, p. 224].
144. Cf. Jacques Nicolas Bellin, Plan de Philadelphie et environs, map, 1764 [reproduction en ligne - Gallica]
145. This assertion contradicts previous ones mentioned by the author on the troops’ destination after their departure from Newport. Flohr says on page 26 that “Shortly after, we were told that General Arnold was barbarically punishing the province of Virginia [...] They nailed up women by their hands and feet, their arms spread and they had flayed the men alive. The order was given that we prepare to march in the direction of Virginia.” But the decision to march toward Virginia to confront Cornwallis was made only on August 14 when Washington and Rochambeau received the confirmation that Admiral De Grasse was heading toward the Chesapeake Bay. Thus, neither the general staff nor the soldiers could have known that Virginia was their destination upon setting off from Newport. It is only once the army left the camp in Phillipsburg toward the South that certain officers suspected an operation against Cornwallis (Guillaume de Deux-Ponts, Mes campagnes d’Amérique. p. 42: “it is here (in Morristown, on August 27) that I learned, under the strictest confidentiality, from a well-informed friend, that all the maneuvers by which we seem to have it out for New York are but a ruse, and that Lord Cornwallis is the real goal of our march”). Consequently, it seems likely that the Royal Deux-Ponts soldiers or all the soldiers of the army (the “we” used by Flohr) learned of the army’s destination in Philadelphia. Thus we can rightfully consider that when he mentioned the army’s destination before, it was a way for the author to make the reader believe that the Royal Deux-Ponts was heading toward Virginia to save the civilians who were suffering mistreatment at the hands of the English army led by Arnold or Cornwallis.