human
The troops which his Majesty is sending to America are auxiliary to those of the United States, his allies, and placed under the orders of General Washington, to whom the honors of a marshal of France will be rendered. The same with the President of Congress, which avoided the possibility of any trouble as to precedence, no one in the French army having such a rank.
gpt
In case of an equality of rank and duration of service, the American officer will take command.... The troops of the King will yield the right side to the allies; French troops will add black to their cockades, black being the color of the United States, and some such hats, with black and white cockades, are still preserved at Fraunces' Tavern,[18] New York.
human
The intention of his Majesty, the general continues,
gpt
Even
human
will be punished.
gpt
To make the punishment the harder for the French soldier, he will be barred from military service during his detention.
human
and that he would allow the use of our ships
gpt
[19]--a very minute enormity from our modern point of view.
human
There were among the land troops, says Closen,
gpt
at the prospect of being on terra firma again. The troops, owing to their having been fed on salt meat and dry vegetables, with little water to drink (on board the _Comtesse de Noailles_ water had become corrupt; it was now and then replaced by wine,
human
and illuminated its windows, but that might be a mere matter of course: of these illuminations the then president of Yale, Ezra Stiles, has left a noteworthy record:
gpt
The bell rang at Newport till after midnight, and the evening of the 12th Newport illuminated; the Whigs put thirteen lights in the windows, the Tories or doubtfuls four or six. The Quakers did not choose their lights should shine before men, and their windows were broken.
human
that is, the West Indies; and what took place there, which might have so much importance for continental operations, had constantly to be guessed or imagined, for lack of news. Worse than all, the reputation of the French was, up to then, in America such as hostile English books and caricatures, and inconsiderate French ones, had made it. We knew it, and so well, too, that the appropriateness of having our troops winter in our colonies of the West Indies was, at one time, considered. Our minister, Gérard, was of that opinion:
gpt
The Americans are little accustomed to live with French people, for whom they cannot have as yet a very marked inclination. [21]
human
The old-time prejudice kept up by the English, wrote Mathieu-Dumas in his _Souvenirs_,
gpt
human
It is difficult to imagine, said Abbé Robin,
gpt
wrote Mathieu-Dumas,
human
During
gpt
says Closen,
human
After the second week, Rochambeau could write home that, if Clinton appeared, he would be well received. Shortly after, he feels sorry the visit is delayed; later, when his own second division, so ardently desired, did not appear, he writes to the war minister:
gpt
In two words, sir Henry Clinton and I are very punctilious, and the question is between us who will first call on the other. If we do not get up earlier in the morning than the English and the reinforcements they expect from Europe reach them before our second division arrives, they will pay us a visit here that I should prefer to pay them in New York.
human
I can answer for the discipline of the army; not a man has left his camp, not a cabbage has been stolen, not a complaint has been heard. [23] To the President of Congress he had written a few days before:
gpt
I hope that account will have been rendered to your Excellency of the discipline observed by the French troops; there has not been one complaint; not a man has missed a roll-call. We are your brothers and we shall act as such with you; we shall fight your enemies by your side as if we were one and the same nation. [24] Mentioning in his memoirs the visit of those
human
who had been formerly under French rule and persisted in remaining friendly to us, he adds:
gpt
The sight of guns, troops, and military exercises caused them no surprise; but they were greatly astonished to see apple-trees with their apples upon them overhanging the soldiers' tents.
human
This result, he concludes,
gpt
The French are a fine body of men, and appear to be well officered. Neither the officers nor men are the effeminate beings we were heretofore taught to believe them. They are as large and likely men as can be produced by any nation.
human
I would be delighted to be under your orders, and to give up for that the command in chief I enjoy here. And he supplies him, in the same unpublished letter, with a most interesting account of Cuba, just visited by him:
gpt
This colony has an air of importance far superior to any of ours, inhabited as it is by all the owners of the land, so that the city (Havana) looks rather a European than a colonial one; society is numerous and seems opulent. If Spain would extend and facilitate the trade of Cuba the island would become exceedingly rich in little time. But prohibitory laws are so harsh and penalties so rigorous that they cramp industry everywhere.
human
Montbrun, writes Saint-Simon,
gpt
shortly after his arrival, he observes, concerning his own military career:
human
If I have been lucky enough to preserve, up to now, the confidence of the French soldiers ... the reason is that out of 15,000 men or thereabout, who have been killed or wounded under my orders, of different rank and in the most deadly actions, I have not to reproach myself with having caused a single one to be killed for the sake of my own fame. He seemed, Ségur said in his memoirs,
gpt
The convoy will cross much more safely now under the guard of two warships, he had written to Montbarey,
human
And again, after having embarked on the _Duc de Bourgogne_:
gpt
For Heaven's sake, sir, hasten that second division.... We are just now weighing anchor. But weeks and months went by, and no news came of the second division. Washington with his ardent patriotism, Lafayette with his youthful enthusiasm, were pressing Rochambeau to risk all, in order to capture New York, the stronghold of the enemy and chief centre of their power.
human
I am confident, Rochambeau answered,
gpt
and he felt the more anxious that, with the coming of recruits and going of veterans, and the short-term enlistments,
human
Washington would command now 15,000 men, now 5,000.