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Box 212 Monroe, CT 06468
Included in comte de Rochambeau's French Army was a detachment of cavalry/light infantry commanded by Armand Louis de Gontaut-Biron, duc de Lauzun, a member of one of the greatest French families. They were the Voluntaires-etrangers de Lauzun, known as Lauzun's Legion. The rank and file of the Voluntaires-etrangers de Lauzun included subjects of 15 European countries.  On the march, the Legion included the French Army's field artillery, war commissaries and the baggage train. One eyewitness account of the Legion's passing mentions 810 wagons, each pulled by two yoke of oxen and a lead horse.On a site southeast of the Monroe Centre Green, in June, 1781, "Lauzun's Legion" encamped on their way to meet General George Washington's Continental Army and eventually race to Yorktown, Virginia, to defeat the British Army under the command of General Lord Cornwallis. Imagine the excitement of the people in old Monroe (New Stratford) when they found out that 600 foreign soldiers under the leadership of the French Duc de Lauzun would soon be camping around the Monroe Centre Green. In a letter written by advance man Peter Colt in New Stratford on June 27th, 1781 to Jeremiah Wadsworth he wrote, "I have just arrived at this post in order to make provision for the Legion& I left them in Derby for want of boats. They expected to have teams (of oxen and horses) ford the river& I fear that the baggage teams will be delayed in Derby for want of boats." The women of New Stratford got busy and prepared mountains of food. Imagine the feast that was prepared for these tired, dusty and hungry men by the good cooks of the town. There was a spirit of all for one and one for all as everyone was helping their country. The colonists who were accustomed to herb dyed homespun fabrics must have been impressed with the brightly colored uniforms that were vivid blue, yellow and scarlet and heavily trimmed in gold. The soldiers also wore large plumed hats. Never before had such brightly uniformed men come to this small New England town. The villagers admired the fine look of this visiting army of men. It was a contrast to the drab garb which the Connecticut Militia wore- in fact sometimes they had no uniformto distinguish them - only their commonly used three cornered hats.  The townspeople must have been enthralled by the massive and spectacular show of force as the troops marched with soldierly precision into town. Nehemiah de Forest, an important innkeeper in the community was waiting for the handsome Duc as he rode briskly up to the inn and tethered his horse. The innkeeper was a direct descendent of a French Huguenot family. The townspeople greeted the foreign soldiers with open arms and the festivities began. William Scott rallied his neighbors and hastily mowed his nearby meadow, northeast of the Green, by moonlight to provide enough fodder for the animals. On June 30 there was a great celebration with dancing on the Green in honor of the troops. The French military band played their instruments which they had carried all the way to America from their European homeland. Another dance for the officers was held that evening in the ballroom of the Daniel Bassett House north of the Green. This ball was reenacted by the Monroe Historical Society in 1970 and in 1973 for Monroes sesquicentennial. While most of the troops camped in fields nearby and on the Green itself, the officers were made guests in the neighboring homes and Lauzun was accommodated at the Nehemiah De Forest Tavern, whose gambrel-roofed Georgian Inn faced the Common on the west. One night during their stay, Mrs. de Forest gave birth to a boy who was given the French officer's name. For generations the name Lauzun de Forest was passed down through this family as well as the Nichols family. Another officer, Col. Dillon, an Irishman was also honored by the William Scott family who named their newborn son, Dillon. Col. Dillon presented Squire Samuel Lewis, who lived on the northwest corner of the Green, with a rapier for his support of the French encampment. This summer marks the 225th anniversary of a nine-state march from Connecticut and Rhode Island to Yorktown, Va., where French and American forces won a decisive victory over British troops, causing an end to the major battles of the American Revolutionary War. Historians often remark that the Revolution could not have been won without the help of the troops supplied by our French allies.  The troops that camped in Monroe (New Stratford) consisted of French, Irish, Polish, Germans, and Hungarians who were hired as soldiers of fortune. Nearly 6000 highly trained soldiers had been sent from France by King Louis XVI to Newport, Rhode Island. General Rochambeau and General George Washington met in May of 1781 in Wethersfield to plan strategies to defeat the British. Finally in June of 1781 the troops began their march south. From there they divided into smaller contingencies under the leadership of General Comte de Rochambeau. On June 27, 1781, the Duc de Luzon and his 600 men (300 cavalry and 300 light infantry) known as Lauzun's Legion left their camp on Sentinel Hill in Derby. Early the following morning they had to cross the Naugatuck River (some by ferry) and ford the Housatonic River at the Narrows with a large number of cattle teams and many wagons of heavy supplies. Their trip from there was up, up, up over the rugged White Hills of Ripton (now Shelton) in order to reach their destination, the hilltop parish of New Stratford. In the process of climbing these hills, they were forced to build double corduroy roads for the artillery and heavy baggage train. A remnant of this road was found in 1888 when the Derby extension railroad (Stevenson line) was built. Duc de Lauzun-s main force reached its camp at New Stratford "under the
stars" which means late the night of the 28th or early in the morning of the 29th. . In the book, The Saltbox House, by Jane de Forest Shelton, a descendent of Nehemiah de Forest, references were made to the corduroy roads as well as the French troops passing Beardsley Road in the White Hills and entering our town at Barn Hill Road. From there they marched to the Green. In a letter written on June 30, 1781 to Washington, Rochambeau reported that Lauzuns men were in New Stratford. The 225th Anniversary of De Lauzun's Encampment in Monroe will be celebrated this weekend, Friday, June 30th and Saturday, July 1st on the Monroe Green. "The French are Coming" steering committee under the leadership of Richard Orr, members of both churches on the Green, the Monroe Historical Society representatives, and the town historian, Ed Coffey, met for several months planning events and the celebration. On Friday night, at 7:30 the Congregational Church Bell Choir will kick off the celebration with a performance on the Green. Two Boy Scout Troops will pitch tents and camp overnight. They will present cooking demonstrations and will be building and using catapults. A dozen Revolutionary War Re-enactors, who are following the entire route to Yorktown, Virginia, will be camping on the Green from Thursday until Saturday. They will talk about their involvement in this historic event and bring the history of the American War for Independence to life for children and adults. Dressed in colonial costumes of this period, they will be firing their muskets.  On Saturday morning at 10 AM, a 13 star American flag and a Sons of Liberty flag will be raised. Also a new sign commemorating the route of the French allies will replace one that hung for over 30 years south of St Peter's Church. Michael Nigro of Monroe and other descendents of Revolutionary War soldiers and members of the Gold Selleck Silliman branch of the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR), will install the new sign made possible by a generous donation from the Sons of the American Revolution. A granite post will be dedicated to mark the Green as a National Landmark and the site of this historic encampment.Monroe author and Masuk High School English teacher Joan Verniero will sign copies of her children's book Victory or Death - Stories of the American Revolution from 11 am to noon on the Green. The Monroe Historical Society will offer hands on history activities for children. Dignitaries who will be present include U.S. Representative Christopher Shays, State Representative, DebraLee Hovey, Mme. Cauvin, Deputy Consul from the French Embassy, and Serge Gabriel, Connecticut Chair of the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route. Also in attendance will be Mary Donahue who, with Dr. Robert Selig, wrote the book En Avant with our French Allies, which honors the comte de Rochambeau and Lauzun's troops for their contribution to American Independence. The Governors Horse Guard will participate. Monsignor Sabia of St. Jude Roman Catholic Church will speak about the first Catholic Mass performed in New Stratford (now Monroe) in 1781 during the encampment of the allies. On Sunday at daybreak on July 1, 1781, the French bugles blew the reveille and the camp prepared to depart. Most likely a Catholic chaplain traveled with the French troops and performed a Roman Catholic mass, the first of its kind in our town. On Saturday, July 1 the re-enactors will depart as the soldiers did 225 years ago and head to Ridgefield and then onto Bedford, New York. Two of the 12 re-enactors will actually be walking the entire 600 miles through nine states to Yorktown, Virginia. They will walk an average of 15 miles per day as de Lauzun's troops did and plan to be in Yorktown on October 19th for the reenactment of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis. The re-enactors will be sharing their experiences while they camp on the Monroe Green Thursday and Friday during Monroe's 225th celebration of Lauzun's encampment. To find out more about the re-enactors and follow their march to Yorktown, you can log onto www.marchtoyorktown.org or www.brigade.org.. In Boston in early summer of 1765 a group of shopkeepers and artisans who called themselves The Loyal Nine, began preparing for agitation against the Stamp Act. As that group grew, it came to be known as the Sons of Liberty. By the end of that year the Sons of Liberty existed in every colony. Their most popular objective was to force Stamp Distributors throughout the colonies to resign. Wherever these groups existed they were either directed in secret by leading men in the community or actually lead by them. Their most effective work was performed in newsprint. A great many of the Sons were printers and publishers themselves and even those who were not, were sympathetic to the cause. It was they who would pay the most in duties, after all. Nearly every newspaper in the colonies carried daily reports of the activities of the Sons. In the early months of 1766 there was such chaos that many of the royal governors had gone into hiding. The Sheriffs and Militia that they might have counted on to keep the peace were mostly members of the Sons of Liberty. Correspondence between the various groups began, toward the mutual support and defense of the cause. It was expected that eventually British troops would land and attempt to reassert control. So it was that the first efforts to unite the colonies were not undertaken by their respective legislatures, but by these independent radical groups. The Battle of Yorktown was the climax of the Revolutionary War. The combined forces of General Washington, General Rochambeau, Admiral de Grasse, and General Lafayette all converged on the greatest concentration of British troops in America. It took great amounts of planning, courage and skill to execute this attack. In spite of the success of the Revolutionary Army in the years 1776 and 1777, the battles of 1780 were devastating to Washington's army. British General Lord Cornwallis had defeated the southern Continental Army and captured Savannah and Charlestown. Many soldiers and officers were abandoning their hopes and deserting the Armysuch as General Benedict Arnold. In the autumn of 1780, the British cause did seem near triumph. A crisis with respect to money then also came to a head. Fierce mutinies broke out because there was no money to provide food, clothing, or pay for the army. At that critical moment, the King of France dispatched an expeditionary army of 5000 troups led by Jean Baptiste de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, to join the American Forces. The convoy sailed into Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island on July 11, 1780. The citizens of Newport celebrated the arrival of the French fleet with proper festivities. The French brought with them gold, and the New England merchants liked this relief from the Continental currency. In 1781, after abandoning a plan to attach New York City, held by the British, the combined armies of Washington and Rochambeau began racing south to Virginia. The bombardment of Yorktown began on October 9, 1781. Lauzun's men were masters of the battlefield. Though outnumberd by British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton, they forced Tarlton to retreat behind earthworks near Yorktown in the first action of the battle. On the morning of October 18, 1781, terms of surrender were negotiated. The formal surrender ceremony has become a legend unto itself. General Cornwallis was not present, but had remained at Yorktown claiming illness. He was represented by his second-in-command, Brig. General Charles O'Hara. O'Hara first attempted to surrender to French General Comte de Rochambeau, but Rochambeau refused and pointed him to General Washington. Washington's only reaction was to ask him to surrender to his own second-in-command, Maj. General Benjamin Lincoln. An hour after the garrison at Yorktown had surrendered, about 1,100 Englishmen, Scotsmen, Welsh, Germans and loyalist Americans filed out of Gloucester (across the York River from Yorktown )and grounded their arms in front of "100 of Lauzun's men and 200 men from the American militia." Lauzun sailed for France with the news of the victory. He had the honor of presenting this great news to the King of France, who was delighted. Just over eight years after the Declaration of Independence, the United States of America was fully established as an independent nation. On May 11, 1783, Lauzun, the 307 men left of his legion, and most of the remnants of the expedition sailed from Wilmington for Brest, France, where his ships docked June 11, 1783. Later, the French Revolution began. France declared war on Austria, and as the war went from bad to worse, the French Revolution turned on itself. Among the victims was Lauzun, who even though being a noble had initially welcomed the uprising. Despite faithful service in the Vendee, and in spite of the protest of his last words that he was faithful to the principles of the Revolution, some of which he had learned in America, Lauzun ascended the guillotine on December 31, 1793. |