The Calumet news., 1911-04-18
Tablet is Dedicated at Annapolis
Today, Marking the Place
Where Many of Them
Were Buried
GAVE LIVES FOR OUR FREEDOM
Sons OF American Revolution Do
Honor to Noble Allies-President
Taft Among Speakers OF
the Day.

Annapolis. Md, April 1S.-In the
presence of representative assem-
blage, including hundreds of members
of the National Society of the Sons
Of the Revolution, a monument COM
cemorating the valor OF the French
soldiers and sailors who gave up their
lives for Americans in the war of the
revolution. was dedicated today on the
rear campus of st. Johns College,
where many of the allies are buried.
The dedication was attended by inter-
esting ceremonies.
The French soldiers and sailors
whose bodies have lain under the coll
lege campus are some of those who
under Lafayette and Rochambeau en-
camped at Annapolis and by their
presence prevented the capture of the
city by the British. Most of the sur
vivors took part in the siege and cap
ture of Yorktown.
President Makes Address.
President Taft and Ambassador
Jusserand both made formal addresses
The midshipmen of the National Aca-
denny did not turn out i'm honor of
| those who prevented the capture and
probable sack of Annapolis. but repre-
sentatives of the Sons of the RevO-
luton from all parts of the country,
the Sons of the American Revolution,
the Society of the Cincinnati, the Ma
ryland Historical Society and the
Daughters of the American Revolution
were i'm attendance.
To Professor Henri Marion of the
Department of Languages at the Naval
Academy is due i'm large measure the
credit of awakening interest i'm the
forgotten allies whose unselfish devo-
tion so largely contributed to our free
dom. Some years ago In lecturing be-
fore the Alliance Franchise at Balti-
more he told how French troops un-
der Lafayette and Rochambeau en-
camped at Annapolis and by their
presence (March 17SD prevented the
capture and probable sacking of that
city. A number of French soldiers and
sailors" he continued. "died from their
wounds or from disease, and were
buried at that time on the grounds at
st. Johns College, Annapolis. Could not
n monument be erected on the graves
of these forgotten defenders of Ameri-
can Independence"
Work Started in 1906.
In the audience was member of
the General Society of the Sons of the
Revolution. He sought out the lee
turer, got from him the needed facts.
and. when in 1906, a French fleet came
to assist at the final interment of the
first American Admiral. John Paul
Jones, whose body has been brought to
America the year before from Paris,
Col. oswald Tilghman, a member of
the Society and then Secretary of
state for Maryland, called attention
to the old military burying ground.
and as part of the ceremonies of the
visit, the pediment of the present mon
ument was laid, and the society pledg-
ed itself to raise the necessary funds
for its completion. Later a design was
determined upon and the commission
to execute il was assigned to ]. Max
well Miller, a Baltimore sculptor.
The monument is a simple shaft of
pink granite thirteen feet high. bear
ing on one face a bronze ontableture
in alto relieve, seven feet, seven inches
wide by three feet nine inches high.
| The composition shows sorrowing
memory, crowned with the olive leaves
of peace and leaning upon her victor
ious shield, watching the departure of
a small group of marching soldiers,
and IL is interesting to note how
much more subtle in suggestion is this
treatment than the more usual one of
troops confronting the spectator.
Here Lies A Soldier.
Above the heads OF the marchers.
banners are flying i'm the wind and in
the background are seen the spars of
vessels. while IN the foreground arc
two small gravestonos inscribed "Ici
cit un soIdat de Ia France" and the
other 'Ici git un marin de la France"
(Here lies a soldier. here lies a sailor
of Franco.
on the shield appears the English
Inscription: "a tribute OF gratitude to
the brave soldiers and sailors Of France
buried here who gave their lives in
the struggle for American Indepen-
dence. The memory of their deeds will
endure forever. 17S1-17sS." Beneath
the tablet is a legend: Erected April
10. 1911. by the Sons of the Revolu-
ton"
Although David Ridgely In his "An-
nails OF Annapolis" published i'm 1S4O,
says that traces OF the French en-
campment still remain" and speaks Of
mounds raised TO those who died in