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

After getting promotions for the officers of his corps, Duportail turned his attention to getting them positions in the French service according to their merits. He begged Washington to write favorably to the French minister about the services of Villefranche and Rochefontaine and sent a very cordial letter to Luzerne on November 6. The French minister replied on November 21, in part, “It gives me the greatest pleasure to receive testimonials from Congress and from Your Excellency of the satisfaction the French officers have given in the service of the United States.”21 The minister then congratulated General Washington on the evacuation of New York and said he expected to attend the celebration on the twenty-eighth.

In a note left with the Comte de Rochambeau, Duportail also pleaded with the French minister to do what he could to secure a “company in the Royal Grenadiers or in a Provincial Regiment” in France for Lieutenant Colonel Villefranche.22 He asked a similar favor for Major Bichet de Rochefontaine.

The only American belonging to the Corps of Engineers, as listed by Villefranche in April 1782, seems to have been Captain Nevin (also written Niven and Neven). He was probably of Huguenot descent and came from the region around New York. He had first served as an engineer under Kosciusko, who recommended him for character and qualifications. Later, he was associated with Gouvion, when the latter officer was sent to rebuild the fortifications on the lower Hudson after the destruction by the British when they evacuated in 1779. Duportail wrote to Washington, asking him to intercede with Congress to make Captain Nevin a major. The commander in chief forwarded the request, adding a recommendation of his own: “As the Engineers we now have are only for a temporary service and it will always be necessary to have men skilled in that branch of military science in this country, it appears to me to be a necessary policy to have men who reside among us forming themselves during the war under these Gentlemen.” Congress granted the request, dating Nevin’s commission as major from April 23, 1779.23

Villefranche’s list mentions Captain de Lauren, but no other information about him can be been found.

Major Ferdinand J. S. de Brahm joined the Corps of Engineers on February 11, 1778. He was taken prisoner at Charlestown and exchanged on April 22, 1781. Congress appointed him to brevet lieutenant colonel on February 6, 1784. He also asked for money to pay his passage home, which Congress granted, and he retired from the service.

Peter de Castaing

General Duportail assiduously recommended Peter de Castaing, his aide-de-camp, to both General Washington and to the president of Congress for promotion. The first appeal was presented after the siege of Yorktown and before Duportail left for France on furlough. He said Castaing was a Frenchman born in Martinique, one of the “oldest lieutenants in the army.” He came over at the very first and always “conducted himself in a way to merit the esteem of French and Americans alike,” but he had never received any particular favor for “extraordinary services.”24 He was appointed Duportail’s aide-de-camp in June 1779 and served loyally and well through the siege of Charlestown and later at Yorktown. The first request for a commission of brevet captain was denied at that time because of the jealousies it would arouse and other difficulties that would result from the promotion.

Castaing obtained the rank of captain in a Massachusetts regiment after Duportail returned to France. When he returned to America, Duportail renewed his efforts to secure the rank of major for his former aide-de-camp. Shortly before sailing for home, Duportail wrote a letter to General Washington on November 6, 1783, begging for this special favor from Congress and hoping Washington would endorse his request. He said he would take it as a “new proof of that goodness towards me which has attached me till now to America.”25

Washington forwarded the letter to the president of Congress, which considered the case twice. The committee that reported on it the second time very warmly recommended the promotion, but the motion lost. The Journals of the Continental Congress give detailed proceedings under February 24, 1784.

Pierre L’Enfant

Pierre L’Enfant was the only foreign officer of engineers listed by Villefranche in April to remain in America. This young man, who was only twenty-two years old when he was one of the first to enlist on du Coudray’s staff in Paris in the summer of 1776, sailed with that officer from Le Havre on the Amphitrite in December 1776. He returned when the vessel was ordered back, landing at l’Orient in January 1777. Beaumarchais’s letter of February 10, 1777, to his secretary, Francy, at Nantes mentions him:

I should like to be very sure whether M. du Coudray has taken or left with someone, the commissions of the officers and their money. . . . In any case find out exactly the position of every one and especially that of M. l’Enfant because he has been very highly recommended to me. He has written and seems to be in great need; you might let him have a few louis if there is no way of finding out what has become of his gratifications and appointments on condition they be returned if the latter can be discovered.26

L’Enfant later joined du Coudray in America. After du Coudray’s death, he was among those volunteers who preferred to serve in the American army without pay until a place could be made for them rather than accept the money from Congress to pay their passage home. Along with Colonel Fleury, Captain Walker, and Duponceau, L’Enfant served under Baron von Steuben for a time when the latter was appointed inspector general of the army. On April 3, 1779, Congress considered the baron’s report setting forth the “great diligence and attention these men had displayed in his service.”27 He also requested a sum of money from Congress for each man according to his rank and expenditures up to that time. L’Enfant