Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1897-06-03
YORKTOWN MANUSCRIPTS.
Papers That Relate to the Siege and Sur
render OF the Town.

Papers That Relate to the Siege and Sur
render of the Town.
Curiou aly enough, after 115 years, a
collection of manuscripts relating to
the siege Of Yorktown has recently
turned up in Paris. These comprise a
contemporary copy of Count de Ro-
chambeau 'sown diary from the time the
French armies left the Hudson, the 10Th
Of August, to the surrender Of York
town, on the 10th Of October, 1881. Ac-
companying this, written by different
hand, but inclosed in the same cover,
is diary of the siege by one of the en-.
gineer officers and most beautifully
executed manuscript map in colors of
Yorktown and vicinity.
The siege and surrender of Yorktown
were one of the most important events
in the history of America. Many &C.
counts by different eyewitnesses are ex-
tant, manuscript and printed, perhaps
the most valuable of all being the diary
of George Washington, the original
manuscript Of which is at the state de.
partment at Washington. After Wash
ington, perhaps the most trustworthy
account would be that of Count de
Rochambeau. 1t is known that he was
very careful to keep copies of his cor
respondence, both for himself and for the
department of war in France, but his
diary of the Yorktown campaign was
never published until it was included
in Doniol's great compilation Of docu-
ments relating to the gaining of Amer
lean independence, published about ten
years ago, under the auspices Of the
French government, and even to this day
it has never been printed. except greatly
abridged, in English. A small part of it
appeared in the Gazette de France
few days after the news of the surrender
reached Paris, and this abridgmert
was translated and published in English
in the Pennsylvania Gazette and in AL
mons Remembrance shortly after.
The day after the surrender Rocham-
beau sent a copy of his journal by the
hand of the Duke de Lauzun to the
French minister of war, Segur, and a
week later duplicate dispatches were
sent in another ship, the Count de
Deux-Ponts being the bearer. These two
officers had shown the most courage in
the siege and were thus rewarded. TIE
existence is not known of either of these
original dispatches.
A copy of Rochambeau's journal is in
the French archives in Paris, and an
other, Rochambeau's own, probably, is
In the library of the department of state
in Washington, procured with the Re-
chambeau papers bought by the United
States government from the heirs of
Count de Rochambeau. 1t may be, and,
indeed, it seems quite probable, that
this series of manuscripts which has
been recently discovered and which has
been secured by Messrs. Dodd, Mead &
Co. of New York city are the original
papers which were carried over by
Count de Deux-Ponts. They are not,
however, in his autograph, but in that
Of some unknown person. probably
clerk.
The map which accompanies these
two manuscripts is on large scale and
most beautifully drawn by an expert,
no doubt one of the French engineers,
and it seems probable that it was drawn
to accompany official dispatches to the
French government. There is no dupli-
cate of it among the many maps in the
Rochambeau collection st. Louis Re-
public.