THE CONNECTICUT EXPERIENCE (1781)

7.1 Order and Organization of the March
7.2 The March of Rochambeau's Infantry through Connecticut
7.3 The March of Lauzun's Legion from Lebanon to Ridgefield

  7.1      Order and Organization of the March

 

     Preparations for the march had been going on for months before the French forces broke camp.  In April, Quartermaster-General Pierre François de Beville had used a visit to Washington's headquarters in New Windsor to inspect the roads from Newport to New York. Upon his return his assistants began drawing maps and picking campsites. French purchasing agent Jeremiah Wadsworth began collecting the vast amounts of supplies needed to feed thousands of men, up to 1,500 horses for the officers, 4-500 horses for the artillery and almost 900 horses for the wagon train! By mid-May he had also hired "a number of Laborers employed in building Ovens and making the necessary preparations for the accommodation of said Army on their march." [1]   Rochambeau's force was quite small by European standards: barely 4,800 officers and men on March 1, 1781. [2]

 

REGIMENT	PRESENT OFFICERS AND MEN OF ALL  ARMS	DETACHED	HOSPITALS		TOTAL	Renegades
			Newport	Providence
Bourbonnais	852	30	32	-	914	-
Soissonnais	971	8	16	-	995	2
Saintonge	882	2	26	1	911	1
Royal Deux-Ponts	912	-	21	-	933	-
Artillerie	404	-	9	-	413	-
Mineurs	21	-	2	-	23	-
Lauzan Infantry in New Port	330	12	13	-	355	-
Lauzan Hussars in Lebanon	212	15	6	-	233	-
	_________	________	_________	________	_____	________
	4.584	67	125	1	4.777	3

     On June 11, 1781, just as he was about to leave for New York, a convoy carrying 592 infantry replacements and two companies, 68 men, of artillery, arrived in Boston, but only about 400 were healthy enough to join their units. These replacements had been drawn from the regiments of Auvergne and Neustrie for the Bourbonnais, Languedoc for Bourbonnais, Soissonnais, and Saintonge, Boulonnais for Saintonge, Anhalt and La Marck for the Royal Deux-Ponts, and Barrois for Lauzun's Legion. Of these 660 men, some 260 men afflicted with scurvy and 200 healthy arrivals remained with Choisy as a garrison in Newport. So did the siege artillery with some 30 officers and men, the sick, and a small detachment, about 90 men under Major de Prez of the Royal Deux-Ponts, which guarded the stores in Providence. Rochambeau added 200 men from his regiments to the garrison and was forced, much against his wishes, to detach 700 men to replenish the thinned ranks of the navy. Since Lauzun's Legion, almost 600 men, followed a separate route to the south of the main army, the French forces marching to New York through Connecticut numbered around 450 officers and 2,900 to 3,000 enlisted men.

 

     But the actual convoy was much larger: Rochambeau again hired American wagoners "for two dollars per day," so Lauberdière, and 15 mostly female cooks for the 210 wagons of four horses each in the 15 brigades of his train. [3] As officers completed their equipment, they hired servants and purchased horses: even a poor sous-lieutenant such as Schwerin kept two servants for the campaign. Baron Closen acquired one of the most important status symbols of the eighteenth century, a Black servant, when he hired Peter, "born of free parents in Connecticut," [4] who accompanied him to Europe in 1783. Rochambeau and his fellow generals had 8, 10, or more servants, some free, some slaves. On June 9, 1781, the French advertised in the Newport Mercury that on Wednesday, June 13, "at 10 o'clock in the morning, at Captain Caleb Gardner's wharf, A number of Negro Men, Women and Boys, lately captured by his Most Christian Majesty's fleet" would be sold to the highest bidder. In what seems to have been a pre-public sale, Rochambeau on June 5, 1781, acquired a black slave captured during Admiral Destoches' expedition to Virginia in February 1781 for 170 piastres. [5] If the ratio of two domestics per officer was observed throughout Rochambeau's little army, the practice would have added as many as 1,000 domestiques, the equivalent of a whole infantry regiment, to the march! [6]

 

     As the troops got ready to break camp, tensions ran high among officers anxious for glory and honor. No one wanted to share the fate of aide-major-general Du Bouchet, appointed chief of staff in Newport, who felt slighted though he was the perfect choice for the position. When Lauberdière offered to buy his horses since he would have no need of them in Newport, Du Bouchet took that for an insult and challenged Lauberdière to a duel. Lauberdière was "seriously wounded" in this affair d'honneur," Du Bouchet was almost killed. Mauduit du Plessis, second to both of them, had to help pull Lauberdière's sword out of Du Bouchet's shoulder, where it had lodged underneath the collar bone. "For a few days" Lauberdière's life was in danger, but since he had defended his honor so valiantly in his first duel, he received "demonstrations of the most conspicuous concern … from all his comrades and all the general and superior officers." Once the duelists had recovered, Choisy invited his officers to dinner where the two antagonists embraced. Lauberdière left Newport on June 23, Du Bouchet sailed to Virginia with Barras. [7]

 

     On June 11, 1781, the troops crossed over from Newport to Providence. Blanchard, who traveled with two servants, "set out in the morning (of June 16) for General Washington's camp … stopping at the different places where our troops were to be stationed, in order to examine if anything was needed. The Americans supplied us with nothing; we were obliged to purchase everything and to provide ourselves with the most trifling things. It is said that it is better to make war in an enemy's country than among one's friends." [8] That same day the replacements joined the their units and on Monday, June 18, the First Division set out for Waterman's Tavern in Rhode Island, their first stop. [9] Rochambeau, who marched with the First Division, had established this order:

 

 

1)        The regiment Bourbonnais under the comte de Rochambeau, to leave on June 18

2)        The regiment Royal Deux-Ponts under baron de Vioménil, to leave on June 19

3)        The regiment Soissonnais under comte de Vioménil, to leave on June 20

4)        The regiment Saintonge under comte de Custine, to leave on June 21

 

 

     The eight twelve-pounders and six mortars of the field artillery were divided into four detachments with one detachment attached to each of the divisions. Lauzun's Legion left Lebanon on the 20^th, the day the First Division reached Windham, pursuing a route about 10-15 miles to the south of the main army, protecting its flank (see below)

 

     Each division was led by an Assistant Quarter Master General and preceded by workmen commanded by an engineer who filled potholes and removed obstacles. [10] Then came the division proper. In the case of the First Division, this meant that the vicomte de Rochambeau led the column. [11] Then came the officers and men of the Bourbonnais and the guns of the field artillery drawn by horses. The seven wagons of Rochambeau's baggage headed the baggage train, followed by the ten regimental wagons (one per company) with the tents of the soldiers and the luggage of the officers. Each captain had been allowed 300 pounds, each lieutenant 150 pounds of baggage for a total of 1,500 pounds per regiment distributed on wagons drawn by 4 horses each. Staff was allowed    a separate wagon; a wagon for stragglers completed the regimental assignment of twelve wagons. [12] Besides their muskets, the soldiers, dressed in gaiters, wigs, and tight-fitting woolen underwear, carried equipment weighing almost 60 pounds. Behind the regimental train followed the three wagons assigned to Blanchard, and the division's hospital wagons. Eight wagons carried the military chest under the supervision of chief treasurer Monsieur de Baulay. [13] Wagons for the butchers, loaded with bread, with fodder, the "King's stock," and the brigade of wheelwrights and shoeing smiths brought up the rear. Even the Provost had his own wagon for the instruments of his trade. The make-up of the 2^nd through 4^th divisions followed the same pattern. Behind their QMG guide came the individual regiments, followed by a quarter of the field artillery, part of the baggage train of the headquarters staff led by the baggage of the general in charge of the division and the field hospital down to wheelwrights and shoeing smiths.

 

     In order to avoid having to march in the heat of the day, the regiments got up early: reveille was around 2:00 a.m., by 4:00 a.m. the regiments were on their way. The next campsite, usually 12 to 15 miles away, was reached between 8:00 a.m. and noon, and the soldiers set up their tents. [14] Afterwards they received meat, bread, and supplies "in front of the camp." [15] Until Newtown was reached "we were much too far from the enemy to take any other precautions than those, which our own discipline required," [16] and the convoy proceeded "hardly militarily." The general officers lodged in a near-by tavern, the company-grade officers slept, two to a tent, with their men. The early arrival provided an opportunity to meet the locals who came from afar to see the French, and for dancing with the "beautiful maidens" of Connecticut; music courtesy of the regimental bands.

 

 

7.2      The March of Rochambeau's Infantry through Connecticut, June 18-July 2, 1781

 

     The description of Connecticut from the Americanische Reissbeschreibung of Georg Daniel Flohr is typical for that found in other journals. It contains, in a nutshell, all of the major events along the route. His regiment, the Royal Deux-Ponts, which formed the second division, left Newport on June 10, 1781, for Providence. Then,

 

"On June 19 we broke camp and marched 15 miles to Waterman's House, a pretty

 Gentleman's manor and set up camp there.

On the 20^th we broke camp there again and marched 15 miles to Plainfield, again a

 beautiful Gentleman's manor in a beautiful area.

On the 21^st again 15 miles to Windham, a little town,

On the 22^nd 16 miles to Bolton, also a little town in the mountains.

On the 23^rd 11 miles until Hartford, a rather large town on a much-navigated river, which

therefore has a lot of trade. There we had rest days until the 27^th. [17]

On the 27^th we broke camp from there again and marched 12 miles to Farmington, a little

town. As soon as we had set up our camp there and the Turkish Music could be heard

playing prettily, such a large number of inhabitants assembled there that one was

surprised and had to wonder where all these people were coming from since we had

encountered very few houses along our way during the daytime. This coming together

of inhabitants continued to happen every day. As soon as we reached another camp we 

were immediately surrounded by Americans. Among them one saw very few male

persons however but only women folk: if one saw a man among them it was

unfailingly an old man or a cripple because all men folk from their 14^th until their 60^th   

year had to join the colors. Because of this there was a great dearth of men there.

Almost everyone there nearly perished since the English treated them very badly at the

time. But there was no lack of women folk, which is why they oftentimes came into

our camp to buy out soldiers from among us which was denied them however very

curtly so that they had to go home again with empty hands.

On the 28^th we departed again from there and marched 13 miles to Barne's Tavern, an inn

along the road. We set up our camp very close to it. We again had very numerous

visits from the American maidens who circled the camp on horseback and who

appeared just like English horsemen. This afternoon our MM generals gave a ball on

the open field in front of our camp and invited the American maidens to it. This lasted

into the dark night. All joy could be seen there what with dancing and singing as well

with the soldiers as with the officers who had fun with the English girls.

After that we went to sleep in our tents, but the girls went home all sad.

On the 29^th we broke camp again and marched 13 miles to Break Neck, a little town in

the mountains in a most beautiful area where the entertainments were even greater

what with dancing and frolicking with the lovely beautiful American girls who lived

there. All these entertainments took place in the open air.

On the 30^th we broke camp again and marched 13 miles until Newtown, a little town;

along the way we encountered a nice hamlet called Gutbahr, [18] about 2 English miles

long. We set up our camp quite close to Newtown and had rest days there, which

caused us especially great joy to have time to have fun with the beautiful girls.

On July 3 we broke camp again and marched 16 miles to Ridgebury; along the way we

passed through a hamlet called Danbury. We set our camp up near Ridgebury, a

beautiful Gentleman's manor; there we had numerous visits again.

On the 4^th again 10 miles to Bedford, quite close to the North River and New York.

On the 5^th we made 7 miles to North Castle."

 

  Flohr's account of the march through Connecticut is singular in that it was written by an enlisted man, but it needs to be compared with, and supplemented by, the accounts of officers. The most useful are those of Baron Closen and Cromot du Bourg, both aides-de-camp to Rochambeau, of Lieutenant Clermont-Crèvecœur, who marched with the artillery in the first division, Captain Berthier, the Assistant Quarter-Master General guide of the 4^th division, and of comte de Lauberdière. [19]

 

  In the early morning of June 19, the first division crossed into Connecticut "one of the most productive in cattle, wheat, and every kind of commodity," so Clermont-Crèvecœur. "It is unquestionably the most fertile province in America, for its soil yields everything necessary to life. The pasture is so good here that the cattle are of truly excellent quality. The beef is exceptionally good. The poultry and game are exquisite. (It is) one of America's best provinces. … This country has a very healthy and salubrious climate. We have seen old people here of both sexes who enjoy perfect health at a very advanced age. Their old age is gay and amiable, and not at all burdened with the infirmities that are our lot in our declining years. The people of this province are very hard-working, but they do not labor to excess, as our peasants do. They cultivate only for their physical needs. The sweat of their brow is not expended on satisfying the extravagant desires of the rich and luxury loving; they limit themselves to enjoying what is truly necessary. Foreigners are cordially welcomed by these good people. You find a whole family bustling about to make you happy. Such are the general characteristics of the people of Connecticut."(3)

 

     Plainfield, their first stop, was but "a collection of about thirty houses around its meeting-house" (1). The campsite was located beyond Plainfield; "on the right bordered by a forest and on the left by the road to Cantorbery (sic)."(5) Rochambeau and some of his officers stayed with Captain Eleazar Cady; others were put up in the Eaton Tavern. [20] Their next camp was at Windham, "a charming market town, where, incidentally, there were many pretty women at whose homes we passed the afternoon very agreeably. … As we are still far from the enemy we occupy camps only for convenience, and the distribution of forage, bread, meat, and wood ordinarily is made in front of the camp." (1) Others too found the situation of the little town" of 100 to 150 homes "most agreeable. A mile away is a beautiful river (the Shetucket) with a fine wooden bridge. We camped on its banks very comfortably, though hardly militarily." (3)

 

     On their way to Bolton the following day, the army marched through Columbia, part of Lebanon until 1804, and called Lebanon Crank in the eighteenth century. From there to Bolton, "a very small town," of maybe ten or twelve houses and a church, "the roads were frightful, with mountains and very steep grades." Officers above company grade stayed either at Oliver "White's Tavern" across from the campsite or at Daniel "White's Tavern at the sign of the Black Horse" on Hutchinson Road. Rochambeau spent the night in the home of the Rev. George Colton, on whose land the troops camped.

 

     On June 22, the Second Division arrived in Bolton. In the afternoon Colonel Christian de Deux-Ponts ordered the band of his regiment to play without asking the commanding officer of the division, the baron de Vioménil for permission. According to Gabriel-Gaspard baron de Gallatin, a sous-lieutenant in the Royal Deux-Ponts, a row ensued and Christian ordered the band to cease playing. But as the daily concert had apparently become a source of revenue for the musicians of the band, Vioménil, who dared not order the band to strike up again, gave them "a louis" (24 livres) to make up for the lost income. [21] That left each musician with 1 livre 12 sous, almost a week's wages. [22]

 

   In the meantime the Reverend Colton, the "Presbyterian minister, in this town, a large, fleshy man, very prosperous, married, but childless, suggested to the wife of the grenadier, (Adam) Gabel (sic), of the Royal Deux-Ponts, that she leave him one of her daughters. He would adopt the four-year-old as his own child, in return for some 30 louis to ease the campaign for her. The grenadier and his wife, who were very much attached to this child of four, steadily refused M. Coleban's (sic) offer, and thus proved their fine character and disinterest. This proposed sale was published in all the gazettes, even in France." (1) Cromot du Bourg remembered the incident as well: "We came to Bolton with the greatest difficulty imaginable, so frightful were the roads. The host of M. de Rochambeau was a minister at least six feet three inches in height. [23] … This man, whose name was Cotton (sic), offered the wife of a grenadier to adopt her child, to secure his fortune and to give her for herself thirty Louis in money. She repeatedly refused." [24]

 

     The next stop was in East Hartford for a few days of rest. The Bourbonnais occupied the campsite near the Connecticut River from June 22 through June 24; the Saintonge used the site from June 25 through the 27^th. The Royal Deux-Ponts camped beside them from June 23 through June 25, while the Soissonnais camped along the road from Bolton from June 24 to June 26 on today's Silver Lane. After being stored in the house of James S. Forbes on Forbes Street, kegs of silver were opened at the French encampment to pay soldiers and officers, presumably giving the name of "'Silver Lane' to that locality." [25]

 

     On June 25 the first division crossed the ferry into Hartford and marched on to Farmington via West Hartford, where a field hospital had been established by Blanchard. near the Second Meeting House. [26] The road to Farmington and the seventh camp was  fine enough, and "the village, tucked into the bottom of a pleasant valley, very pretty."(3) Rochambeau and some of his officers boarded at Phinehas Lewis' Elm Tree Inn, others stayed at Peter Curtis' Tavern, while the troops camped on the plains south of Farmington along the road to Asa Barnes' Tavern, their next destination.

 

     For Camp 8 most of the troops put up tents in that part of Southington called Marion at the foot of what is still known as French Hill and where Barnes's Tavern is located. Some of the officers stayed at Barnes', others "at an inn on Queen Street," i.e., Deming's Tavern 6 miles away on the other side of town and at Daniel Allen's Tavern half-way in-beween. The troops arrived at the site early, Berthier' fourth division started setting up camp at 8:00 a.m., and after a good days' rest, they were ready for some fun. Private Flohr, as we have seen, entered into his diary: "On the 28^th (i.e., 27^th) we marched 13 miles to Barnes' Tavern, an inn along the road. We set up our camp very close to it. We again had very numerous visits from the American maidens who circled the camp on horseback and who appeared just like English horsemen. This afternoon our MM generals gave a ball on the open field in front of our camp and invited the American maidens to it. This lasted into the dark night. All joy could be seen there what with dancing and singing as well with the soldiers as with the officers who had fun with the English girls. After that we went to sleep in our tents, but the girls went home all sad."

 

     From Barnes' Tavern the route went to Waterbury, a "village of 50-some houses" and Breakneck, an assemblage of "two or three houses." The roads were "détestables," and the first division reached Breakneck (in Middlebury) on June 27 only with "the greatest difficulty. … the village is frightful and without resources."(2) Clermont-Crèvecœur's detachment of artillery in the first division did not reach the camp "until after three in the morning" on the 28^th, just as the infantry was getting ready for the next day's march! [27]

     After a few hours rest, Clermont-Crèvecœur and his artillery marched on to Newtown via Woodbury across the Housatonic River, called the "Stratford" or "Little Stratford" by the French. Upon arrival in Newtown, the staff officers boarded in Caleb Baldwin's Tavern while the tents of the soldiers stretched all the way back to today's Church Hill Road. Newtown was "full of Tories." For the first time the soldiers also "saw much poverty there among the inhabitants as well as ruined fields and houses. This is the capital of the Tory country, and as you may well imagine, we took great precautions to protect ourselves from their acts of cruelty. They usually strike by night, when they go out in bands, attack a post, then retire to the woods where they bury their arms. … These people are very difficult to identify, since an honest man and a scoundrel can look alike." (3) The First Division rested at Newtown from the 28^th through the 30^th of June; the Second Division arrived on the 29^th and rested on the 30^th.

 

 

7.3  The March of Lauzun's Legion from Lebanon to Ridgefield, June 21-July 2, 1781

 

     Lauzun's Legion derived its name from its commanding officer and colonel Armand Louis de Gontaut-Biron, duc de Lauzun. Born in Paris on 13 April 1747, Lauzun became an ensign in the elite French Guards, commanded by his uncle the duc de Biron, three months before his 14^th birthday; six months after he turned 20, he was breveted a colonel in the Guards. Not quite 19 when he married the 14-year-old Duchess Amélie de Boufflers, he lived separate from his wife and had no legitimate children. In 1769, Lauzun fought in Corsica, five years later he had his own regiment as colonel of the Légion Royale. Then came news of the rebellion in America.

 

     When Louis XVI signed treaties of Amity and Friendship and of Military Alliance with the United States on February 6, 1778, France and Britain understood them as a declaration of war. France quickly realized that she was short of the marines, from 260 men and four officers for a 110-gun man of war to 15 soldiers for a corvette of 16 guns, to provide the infantry supplement for the navy. On September 1, 1778, comte de Sartine ordered the creation of the Volontaires étrangers de la Marine: eight légions of some 70 officers, four companies of infantry, one of artillery, one of workmen plus two escadrons of hussars each. A compagnie générale brought the volontaires to almost 600 officers and 4,500 men. Raised mostly from German-speaking subjects of the crown and étrangers i.e. foreigners, the volontaires were to double the number of French marines. [28]

 

     Lauzun volunteered his services as soon as war was declared and on September 1, 1778, became colonel propriétaire of the volontaires étrangers de la Marine. He did not wait idly for the men to be recruited, equipped, and trained. In January 1779, he commanded the military force that conquered Senegal. Come April, he was back in Brittany with the Second Légion of his volontaires preparing for the attack on England. Commanded by Lauzun, the légion's 32 officers, 523 infantry, and 156 hussars (in June 1779) formed the vanguard of the first wave of assault scheduled to cross the Channel under the command of Rochambeau. But the attack never came. In its place Louis XVI on February 2, 1780, approved plans for the expédition particulière, the ferrying of ground forces to America under the command of Rochambeau. Since Rochambeau wanted light troops as well, Lauzun, eager to participate in the campaign, offered his services. "Too much in fashion not to be employed in some brilliant manner," Lauzun was promoted to brigadier and appointed to command the light troops on March 1, 1780.

 

     Lauzun needed troops, but his volontaires étrangers de la marine were unavailable. The First Legion had been raised in the West Indies and participated in the capture of Grenada in July 1779. The Third Legion was stationed on the Île de France (Mauritius) in the Indian Ocean for deployment in India. But the Second Legion, quartered on the coast of Normandy, was available. On March 5, 1780, recruitment for the remaining five legions of the volontaires étrangers was suspended. Staff, compagnie générale, headquarters hussars, the Second Legion, and four infantry companies of the Volontaires étrangers de Nassau attached to the Second légion since June 1, 1779, were all dissolved.

 

     Out of these men the ordonnance created the Volontaires étrangers de Lauzun: five companies of infantry, i.e. two of fusiliers and one chasseurs with 6 officers, 18 non-commissioned officers, a frater, two tambours and 144 men each, and a grenadier company of 6 officers and 102 NCOs and men. The cannonier company had 6 officers and 165 men for its four four-pounders, and the two escadrons of hussars consisted of 6 officers and 168 men each. A staff of 5 officers, 14 NCOs, and a provost completed the unit, whose nominal strength stood at 1,196 officers and men. Lauzun became its colonel proprietaire and inspecteur. Now that a regimental size unit of cavalry and light infantry under the department of the navy had been created for Lauzun expressly for use across the ocean, he was set to go. [29]

 

     On April 5, Lauzun, his staff, and most of his men boarded the Provence, a 64-gun ship; the remainder embarked on the Baron D'Arras, some 60 men made the crossing on the Lyon. Due to a lack of shipping space, only some 250 men of the hussars, grenadiers, chasseurs, and cannoniers, some 600 men in all, made the crossing; another 400 men and the hussar's horses had to be left behind. On July 11, 1780, the convoy sailed into Narragansett Bay; Lauzun's troopers were deployed around Brenton Point, southwest of Newport. On July 16, General Heath informed Washington that "The French troops are landed and encamped in a fine situation South East of the Town … . The troops make a good appearance. The Legion under the command of the Duke de Lauzun, (the officer who took Senegal last year) is as fine a Corps as ever I saw; it is about 600 Strong." [30]

 

      Lauzun's forces were to go into winter quarters on 1 November 1780, just like the rest of the French troops. But where? Rochambeau had planned to quarter the Legion at Providence. But since "the immoderate cupidity of the neighboring inhabitants" around Newport, Rochambeau wrote to Governor Trumbull on October 19, 1780, had "raised forage to an extravagant price in hard money, I have had a conference about it with Colonel Wadesforth whom you love, and he agreed that I would write to Your Excellency to ask that a winter quarter be assigned to the Cavalry of the Duke of Lauzun in Connecticut State." [31] On the 23^rd, the legislature it resolved "that the said Duke of Lawzun's cavalry may be quartered in the towns of Windham, Lebanon and Colchester, or any of them, and that Colo. Jeremiah Wadsworth, David Trumbull, Esqr, and Mr. Joshua Elderkin be impowered and directed … to provide suitable quarters for the officers and barracks for the men for said legion in all or any of the towns aforesaid." [32]

 

     Rochambeau charged Dumas with "the establishment of the quarters of the legion," [33] and on November 10, the Legion left Newport for Providence. Two days later, it took up camp in Windham, where it stayed for a week. [34] Next Lauzun and some 220 hussars found themselves in Lebanon. Assuming that only the best would be good enough for the duke, David Trumbull offered Lauzun his home "Redwood," the only one with a carpet in it. Lauzun was not impressed. "I started for Lebanon on the 10^th of November; we have not yet received any letters from France. Siberia alone can furnish any idea of Lebanon, which consists of a few huts scattered among vast forests," he wrote. [35] The legionnaires arrived none too soon, there was "no time to be lost for the barracks." [36] It rained during much of October, and the first snow fell on November 13. The men were cold and hungry in their barracks west of the Meeting House and on the southern end of the village street.

 

     Relations between the hussars and the locals were not always cordial over the next few months, and visits by dignitaries such as Rochambeau in December 1780, by Chastellux on January 5, 1781, or George Washington on March 4-5, 1781, did little to break the monotony of life in Lebanon. [37]   It was Lauzun and Chastellux who went squirrel hunting, [38] it was Lauzun and Rochambeau who huddled in the War Office before dinner with the Governor, but for the enlisted men, such visits meant drill, polishing equipment and parades. And so the hussars languished in "Siberia" until early summer, when replacements from the Regiment Barrois, which had arrived in Newport in early June, brought the strength of the Legion back up to just over 600 men. They were ready and anxious for the campaign to begin, and so were the citizens of Lebanon. [39]

 

     Establishing an itinerary for Lauzun's troops poses a number of problems. Schedule and route were tentative, and "no detailed maps of its marches have been found. … The conflicting evidence concerning the exact route can perhaps be explained by the fact that the Legion … did not necessarily march in a single column. In carrying out the Legion's general assignment detachments of hussars presumably ranged over wide areas and would thus have appeared in scattered localities not on the principal route." [40]

 

     The marching order for the Legion specified that "Lauzun's entire Corps of Foreign Volunteers will leave Lebanon" the day the First Division of the French infantry left its camp at Windham. [41] That day was June 21, 1781. From Lebanon, so de Béville's itinerary, the Legion was to "proceed to camp along the Middletown road 7 miles beyond Colchester on the west bank of Salmon Brook opposite the landslide caused by flood waters. This brook can easily be forded. The bed is good but stony. Major Sheldon will be assigned to lead this column." [42] The march was to be 15 miles, a leisurely pace for cavalry and light infantry in a screening pattern.

 

     Departure date and route are confirmed in a letter John Carter wrote from Waterman's Tavern in Rhode Island on June 18: "I forgot to acquaint you that the Legion after leaving Lebanon take a different Rout from the rest of the Army: they consist of 300 Infantry + 300 Horse and it will be necessary to send some person Immediately to Provide forage wood and meat for them they leave Lebanon on the 21^st + encamp at Salmon Bridge, 22^nd at Middletown where they remain until the 1^st Division of the Army leaves Farmington and then they encamp at Wallingford -- then at Oxford, New Stratford where they stay one day -- Ridgefield, Pinesbridge." [43]

 

     But only a few miles outside Lebanon, Lauzun's men apparently deviated from this route: as the 600 troops reached the inter-section of today's Routes 207 and 16 in the Exeter section of Lebanon, the Legion separated into two detachments. [44] One took the right-hand, north-westerly road (Route 207) to Hebron, while the other continued on the left-hand, southerly road (Route 16) to Colchester, past John Taintor's Tavern on Buckley Hill Road and the home of Colonel Henry Champion at the intersection of Routes 16 and 149 and camped most likely on the evening of the 21^st in the vicinity of (or in?) the modern-day Salmon River State Forest near Old Comstock Covered Bridge. The northern group encamped just north of Amston on Amston Lake (west side of Route 207 just before it becomes Route 85) where the men found water for cooking and for their horses.

 

     The second day's march on June 22, was to go "From the camp on the west bank of the Salmon Brook … to camp [at Middletown] on the west bank of the Connecticut River, taking care to ferry its infantry across first. If the entire corps should not be able to make the crossing in one day, the rest could cross the next day." [45] Such a route would have meant that while the northern detachment had to march from its camp at Amston Lake through Marlborough and East Hampton toward Middletown, the southern group would have turned southwest away from the coast toward East Hampton to meet up with the northern detachment in Middletown. But only the northern group seems to have marched for Middletown where it remained from June 22 through Sunday, June 24, 1781.

 

     The instructions for the third day of the march read: "As the First Division of the right column (i.e., the infantry is not scheduled to leave East Hartford for its camp at Farmington until the seventh day of its march, Lauzun's Foreign Volunteers will not leave their camp at Middletown until this day, marching through Wallingford, Oxford, North Stratford, Ridgefield, Bedford, and Pines Bridge, to cover the left flank of the army. This road has not yet been reconnoitered. All that is known is that it is passable."

 

     If these instructions were followed, the Legion left Middletown on June 25, the day Rochambeau's troops left East Hartford for Farmington. The northern detachment set up camp in Wallingford along East Center Street, Scard and Northford roads. The next day, June 26, this group marched south along the Quinnipiac River through North Haven to New Haven, where it united with the southern detachment which had taken the road to East Haddam (Route 149) where it crossed the Connecticut River and continued toward the coast along the route through Chester to Pettipaug, where it entered the Boston Turnpike. It is unknown where these men camped on the evening of the 22^nd, or, for that matter, the evening of the 23^rd, 24^th, and 25^th. [46] The next time we encounter them is on Monday, June 26, when Ezra Stiles reported the presence of the complete Legion, all 600 men, in New Haven. "This Afternoon arrived and encamped here the Duke de Lazun with his Legion consist^g of 300 Horse & 300 foot Light Infantry.  They pitched their Tents in the new Town half a mile East of the College. I paid my Respects to the Duke and was received very politely at the House of the late Gen. Wooster. He does not expect much from the Congress at Vienna, nor does he expect peace this year or next. He is marching to joyn G. Washington on N^o River." [47]     

 

     The following day, June 27, Stiles informs us that "The French Troops marched at six o'clock this morn^g in their way thro' Darby." The exact site of the camp in Derby/Oxford is unknown, but there is a local tradition that the troops spent the night on Sentinel Hill and that Lauzun and some of his officers stayed with a Mr. Beard in his home "Brownie Castle." Depending on who marched where from Derby on the 28^th, Lauzun's men crossed the Naugatuck and/or Housatonic Rivers and marched either southwest to North Stratford, i.e., Trumbull, as Rochambeau thought they would and as de Béville's itinerary indicates. Or they marched northwest to New Stratford/Monroe, as John Carter and Alexandre Berthier thought they would and where Lauberdière located them from the evening of June 27 for the next three days until June 30. That day, Lieutenant-Colonel David Cobb, Washington's aide, also wrote his commander-in-chief from Newtown: "the duke's legion ... is now at New Stratford." [48]

 

     There is of course the possibility that the Legion divided once again, possibly even into a number of smaller parties. One detachment may have marched from Derby to Ripton/Huntington on to North Stratford/Trumbull and North Fairfield to Ridgefield. To the north, the other detachment would have crossed the Housatonic about 2 1/2 miles north of its confluence with the Naugatuck and then continued due west to New Stratford and Redding [49] to Ridgefield. Local lore has troops along both routes: until recently there was a sign on Mountain Hill in Abraham Nichols Park, home of the Trumbull Historical Society, commemorating the camp of some 15 troopers of the Legion. In 1781, they would have seen the Sound from the hill. As the French entered "Connecticut's Tory Towns" such scouting parties increased in frequency and importance." [50]

 

     The larger part of Lauzun's Legion does seem to have marched northwest to New Stratford/Monroe to a camp just south of the city center. Monroe welcomed the French with a dance in the evening in the 11x24 foot second-floor ballroom of the Daniel Bassett homestead on June 30. That night, Lauzun and his officers went to sleep in the tavern kept by Nehemiah de Forest. When a son was born to de Forest, Dillon gave the boy his sword for a memento; in gratitude the proud father named his boy "de Lauzun." [51]