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

which case, the instruments would belong to the state. He then offered to meet with Franklin the following Monday evening to sign their agreement. He suggested that if Franklin drew up the agreement in advance, he should use their French titles and leave a space after their real name to indicate another name that they would assume.

Duportail met with Franklin on February 12, but there is no record of the proceedings. The contract between Duportail and his friends was signed with the American ministers on February 17, 1777. In fact, all of the members, except La Radière, had already signed the agreement on the thirteenth. La Radière feared being delayed by the formalities and signed on the seventeenth, not having secured his leave of absence before that date:

Agreement between the American Commissioners and Duportail, Laumoy, and Gouvion

[February 13, 1777]

Agreement Convention

1st. It is agreed that the Congress of the United States of America shall grant to the Chevalier du Portail now Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Corps of Engineers of France, the Rank of Colonel in their Service.

2. The Congress of the United States of America will grant to Monsr. de Laumoy now Major in the Royal Corps of Engineers of France, the Rank of Lieutenant Colonel in their Service.

3. The Congress of the United States of America will grant to Monsr. de Gouvion now Captain in the Royal Corps of Engineers of France, the Rank of Major in their Service.

4. Messrs. Le Chevalier duportail, de Laumoy, and de Gouvion, shall be at liberty to quit the Service of the united States provided it is not during a Campaign or during any particular service, unless ordered so to do by the King of France: and the Congress may dismiss them or any of them whenever they may judge it proper.

5. If all or either of these Gentlemen should be made prisoners by the King of Great Britain the Congress shall use all due means to obtain their Liberty.

6. These Gentlemen shall use all possible dilligence in preparing for their embarkation in order to reach Philadelphia or wherever else the Congres of the united States may be to obey their orders.

7. The pay of these Gentlemen shall be such as is given to officers of their Rank in the Service of the States of America, and shall commence from the date of this agreement.

8. These Gentlemen shall procure and provide for their own passages in such Ships, and in such manner as they shall think proper.

The above agreement was entered into and concluded by us at Paris this 13 February 1776.

signed

B Franklin

S Deane

le che du Portails

Gouvion l’ainé

signé pour Mr. de Laumoy

Copy Note Mr la Radière was afterwards agreed with on the same terms with the within officers and is to be a Lieutenant Colonel.5

VOYAGE TO AMERICA

The voyage to America encountered many difficulties, either because Beaumarchais had no ships available until April or because of increased British surveillance of all French ports as a result of learning of the recent capture of Beaumarchais’s ship La Seine.6 Duportail wrote to Franklin from Nantes on March 6 that he could not find a ship that was going directly to the colonies and that he must board a ship bound to Saint-Domingue (Haiti), whence he could easily get to Philadelphia. He also noted that in the event that they had to throw their papers overboard and assume a different identity, Duportail would assume the identity of Le Chevalier Derford; Mr. Radière, that of Baillard; Mr. Launoy [Laumoy], that of Le Thur; and Mr. Gouvion, that of d’Otry, and that they would maintain those identities until they were safely in America and even longer if it proved advantageous. The crossing must have been uneventful, as the secret identities seem not to have been used.

Once in the West Indies, Duportail wrote to Franklin from Saint-Domingue on May 15 to report that he was having difficulty finding a vessel to take them to Philadelphia and that Mr. Carabas, Beaumarchais’s agent at Cap François (Cap Haïtien), equipped a small vessel loaded with foodstuffs and nothing that would make them suspect if they were stopped. Mr. Carabas acted quickly, as the party was to depart on the seventeenth, minus Laumoy, who became ill with malaria. Mr. Carabas promised to take care of him and give him the means to rejoin his companions as soon as his health improved, which turned out to be the end of the summer.

Duportail recruited Lieutenant Castaing and two sergeants at Saint-Domingue. Lieutenant Castaing became Duportail’s aide-de-camp. The party then sailed to New Bern, North Carolina, where they received help from Governor Richard Caswell, the local representative to Congress, to go to Philadelphia. When they arrived at Philadelphia in July, Congress was in turmoil, and the army was seething with unrest because the country had just declared its independence the previous year and was going through birthing pains.

Two of Beaumarchais’s ships, the Amphitrite and the Mercure, carrying secret aid to America, managed to sail from France unnoticed and landed at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in April with huge cargoes of military supplies (see appendix A) and about thirty volunteer officers, including Louis Antoine Jean Baptiste, Chevalier de Cambray-Digny; Étienne Nicolas Marie Béchet de Rochefontaine (later known as Stephen Rochefontaine); Jean-Bernard Gauthier de Murnan; François-Louis Teissèdre de Fleury; Jean-Louis-Ambroise de Genton de Villefranche; Pierre Charles L’Enfant; Gilles-Jean Barazer, Chevalier de Kermorvan; Antoine-Joseph Mauduit du Plessis; Antoine Félix Wuibert de Mézières; and Henri Dominique Marius de Palys de Montrepos. They were all capable men who expected to receive important positions in the Continental Army, as the American agent Silas Deane had promised them.

Du Coudray had come out alone on a French ship bound for one of the French West Indian ports. As soon as he arrived in Philadelphia, he presented himself before Congress and was received June 2, 1777. The officers of his staff soon joined him, as well as other volunteers who had come over independently. However, only a few of these men spoke English,