The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-26

the time, the Quaker City being the
 capital then. That august body (the
 congress) was very favorably impress
 ed with the perfect discipline, fine
 marching and showy uniforms of the
 foreign troops, and no doubt but the
 citizens themselves were as loud in
 their applause and as hospitable in
 their treatment of their French friends
 as their Connecticut brethren had been
 The first division left Philadelphia on the 5th of September, and the End divi-
 sion on the 9th, and went to Whining
 ton, Del. In leaving Wilmington they left the field of Brandywine on their
 right and after two stops they reached
 Baltimore on the 18th. Before reaching
 Baltimore while they were at Elkton on
 the 7th part of their force went by wa
 ter and the rest by land. They pressed further south and subsequently, reached
 Yorktown, Va, where they took great
 and glorious part with the American
 troops in that memorable seige. It was
 the privilege of both armies to advance
 togeather and simultaneously with
 great enthusiasm the Americans took
 one redoubt while the French took the
 other. The French soldiers formed a
 picturesque feature at the surrender of
 Cornwallis, October 19, 17S1 At which
 the Americans were drawn up on the
 right side of the road and the French
 on the left. At the head of the latter
 Rocham and his suite was post
 ed The French troops in complete
 uniform made a martial and noble ap-
 pearance. They had a fine band that
 carried cymbals and made very in
 spring music as they at the head of
 the French column advanced to their
 position on the field of surrsnder. This
 combined army was drawnsup at 12m.
 Washington and his staff on horseback
 headed the American column. Pretend
 ing indisposition Cornwallis had dele
 gated Gen. O'Hara to surrender his
 sword About p. m. Gen. O'Hara ad
 vanced at the head of the captive army
 between the lines of the allies and ad-
 vanced to Washington, removing his
 hat he apologized for the non-appear-
 ance of Corvallis. Washington pointed
 to Gen. Lincoln for directions to con-
 duct the captive army to a spacious
 field to lay down their arms Gen.
 O'Hara handed Lord Cornwallis' sword
 to Gen. Lincoln and the defeated Brit
 ish troops were conducted to an open
 field where they ground and laid down
 their arms and removed their accoutre-
 ments. They were escorted to York
 town and guarded until they were re-
 moved elsewhere. Thus the surrender
 was ultimately accomplished, After
 the seige and surrender at Yorktown
 the French army who had remained
 until spring of 1792 in Virginia con Nov the army went into winter quar- ters near Yorktown in Virginia)
 now joined in September, 17S2, the
 Americans on the Hudson. Rocham- beau, de Chastellup and several other
 generals and staff officers had left the army in the command of the Baron de Viomenil and sailed from Baltimore for France. It was therefore Viomenil who led them back to the Hudson
 where they encamped at a place called Crampound, N Y, on or near the river Part of the army had sailed with Rochambeau from Baltimore. The list division of the force that returned with Viomenil began to march from York town on August 23, 17S2, and passing through Washington. Philadelphia and
 Trenton reached Crampound on the North River on the 14th of September, 17S2. On October 22, 17S2, the army broke camp and marched to King s Ferry, and in divisions by easy march es proceeded without delay to Newton, Conn.,, to Woodbury, to Breakneck, to Southington, to Pennington, to Hart ford, which they reached in seven days from the time of their starting and re- mained four days. On November I4th, the army resumed it's march from Hartford to East Hartford, to Bolton, to Canterbury, to Plainfield, the last
 point in Connecticut where they en-
 camped at Coventry, R. I. On Novem-
 Der il, 17S2, the army brought up again in Providence and camped on Mathew
 sons Plain. The next day it marched through the town and went apparently
 into winter quarters on the old camp
 ground. It was a great spectacle, the veterans having the honors of York town were enthusiastically received by the crowds that lined the streets. All things being ready the French camp
 was broken in Rhode Island and De- cember 1, 1TS1, the allies began their
 march for Boston. They advanced in divisions. The End division arrived in the vicinity of Boston, December 4. 17S2, the 1st division and the 3rd division
 reached there on December 9th, and the 4th division on December 9th. The artillery which had marched independ- antly did not reach Boston until the | 18th of December, ,17S2. Through some delay the troops did not embark from | Boston until the fleet of M. deVaudreuil | sailed from that port on December 24, | 17S2 A portion of the army marched | to Portsmouth, N. H., and embarked and their vessel subsequently, joined | the fleet in Boston harbor. The mem | orable march through Connecticut on | the way to Yorktown ended at Ridge | bury and Ridgefield and the return | march across the state ended at Plain | field. During their passage through | our state the inhabitants of the land of | steady habits treated them with great kindness and hospitality, although un- | fortunately for the troops the weather | was excessively hot They gave the raw militia and the whole Continental l army a fine example of foreign disci- l pline drill and "esprit du corps" Of | the inestimable services of the French army it is safe to say we could not so
 completely have gained our independ- l ence had it not been for their magnifi- | cent assistance.
 "The French in America" "Lassings l Field book of the Revolution,," Wash ington's Itinerary and other histories