Washington's Engineer by Norman Desmarais (speed reading book TXT) 📕

before becoming a novelist promoting revolutionary ideas. He was also a playwright, journalist, politician, and diplomat and first attracted attention with the first part of his novel Les Amours du chevalier de Faublas (Paris, 1787), part of his Histoire du chevalier de Faublas (The Adventures of the Chevalier de Faublas). It was translated into English in 1793 as Love and Patriotism! or The Extraordinary Adventures of Mons. Duportail, Late Major-General in the Army of the United States: Interspersed with Many Surprising Incidents in the Life of the Late Count Pulaski. The account went through several editions and variant titles, such as

Vie Du Chevalier De Faublas

The Interesting History of the Baron de Lovzinski, Written by Himself: With a Relation of the Most Remarkable Occurrences in the Life of the Celebrated Count Pulaski, Well Known as the Champion of American Liberty, and Who Bravely Fell in Its Defence before Savannah, 1779: Interspersed with Anecdotes of the Late Unfortunate King of Poland

Love and Patriotism! or, The Extraordinary Adventures of M. Duportail, Late Major-General in the Armies of the United States: Interspersed with Many Surprising Incidents in the Life of the Late Count Pulauski

De Couvray’s Love and Patriotism, his best-known novel, is disguised as Duportail’s account to his friend, the Baron de Faublas, about his friendship with Kazimierz (Casimir) Pułaski (also spelled Pulauski and Pulawski). It is a stilted romance, purporting to relate Duportail’s adventures in Poland, where his title, according to the author, was Baron de Lovzinski. The author also says Duportail went to Poland after the American Revolution. A subplot details the adventures of Duportail’s daughter and “Pulawski,” who is described as having died at the siege of Savannah in 1779 and who appears to have been the father of Lodoiska, Duportail’s wife. In reality, there are no records indicating that Duportail ever married or fathered any children. There was certainly none named as his heirs or beneficiaries. Moreover, besides the grotesque absurdity of its contents, the book’s style is so different from that of Duportail’s other writings that it could not have been written by him.

Since the publication of Kite’s biography, several critical editions of the papers of some of the important players have been published, greatly facilitating research. Some are still in the course of publication. These sources include:

Deane, Silas. The Deane Papers . . . 1774–[1790]. Edited by Charles Isham. New York: Printed for the Society, 1887–1890.

Franklin, Benjamin. The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Edited by Leonard W. Labaree and Whitfield J. Bell Jr. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1959. http://franklinpapers.org/.

Greene, Nathanael. The Papers of Nathanael Greene. Edited by Richard K. Showman, Margaret Cobb, Robert E. McCarthy, Joyce Boulind, Noel P. Conlon, and Nathaniel N. Shipton. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press for the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1976.

Laurens, Henry. The Papers of Henry Laurens. 1st ed. Edited by Philip M. Hamer. Columbia: Published for the South Carolina Historical Society by the University of South Carolina Press, 1968.

Washington, George. The Papers of George Washington. Edited by Philander D. Chase. Revolutionary War Series. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1985.

As The Papers of George Washington is only up to 1778, The Writings of George Washington from the Original Manuscript Sources, 1745–1799: Prepared under the Direction of the United States George Washington Bicentennial Commission and Published by Authority of Congress, edited by John C. Fitzpatrick (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1931), and The Diaries of George Washington, 1748–1799, edited by John C. Fitzpatrick (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1925), still remain the standard sources.

The Internet also provides access to important resources, such as the Journals of the Continental Congress and The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, greatly facilitating research.