Author: Norman Desmarais

Norman Desmarais, professor emeritus at Providence College, is editor-in-chief of The Brigade Dispatch, the journal the Brigade of the American Revolution. He is the author of Battlegrounds of Freedom, the 6-volume The Guide to the American Revolutionary War, and The Guide to the American Revolutionary War at Sea and Overseas (in preparation) which covers more than 10,500 actions. He has also translated the Gazette Françoise, the French newspaper published in Newport, RI by the French fleet that brought the Count de Rochambeau and 5800 French troops to America in July 1780. It is the first known service newspaper published by an expeditionary force.

Logistics Posted on

The French Depart Newport

Lt. Gen. Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur Comte de Rochambeau did not wake up on the morning of June 18, 1781 and order his army of more than 6,000 men to break camp and begin their march south. Such an operation would take months to plan and execute. He sent the artillery company to Providence […]

by Norman Desmarais
Illness and Disease Posted on

French Military Hospitals in Rhode Island

Louis-Dominique Éthis de Corny (1736–1790),Commissioner of War, came to America aboard the French warship Hermione along with Maj. Gen. Marie Jean Paul Joseph du Motier Marquis de Lafayette in April 1780. Corny’s assignment was to procure everything necessary for the arrival of the expédition particulière, the army of about 5800 troops under Lieutenant General Jean Baptiste […]

by Norman Desmarais
Culture Posted on

Blessing of the Flags

During the era of the American Revolution, French and Spanish regiments were comprised primarily of Roman Catholics who customarily have objects and implements blessed before their use to invoke God’s blessing, favor and protection on them. Small objects, like medals, are blessed with a simple prayer. Larger, more important objects and occasions are blessed in […]

by Norman Desmarais
People Posted on

Rochambeau’s Arrest

The French army was returning from Yorktown, Virginia in 1782 on their way to Newport and Boston. Lt. Gen. Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur Comte de Rochambeau, preferring his duty to his comfort, always ordered his general staff to select the house closest to the camp for his headquarters. When the army reached Crompond, New […]

by Norman Desmarais
People Posted on

Captain de Latouche-Tréville’s Strange Affair

Louis René Madeleine Le Vassor de Latouche-Tréville (1745-1804) commanded the French frigate l’Hermione which brought Maj. Gen. Marie Jean Paul Joseph du Motier Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834) on his second voyage to America. L’Hermione returned to France on February 24, 1782, after the British surrender at Yorktown. King Louis XVI promoted de Latouche-Tréville to Commander […]

by Norman Desmarais
Politics During the War (1775-1783) Posted on

Russia and the American War for Independence

The use of foreign troops in time of war was not an uncommon practice in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Much as we have treaties, like NATO, for mutual support, eighteenth-century countries banded together, particularly along family lines, as royal families intermarried to secure and promote their economic and political interests. When the troubles between […]

by Norman Desmarais