Redoubts 9 and 10 - Where the US was born.

 

(In honor of the state visit of president Emanuel Macron this post is re-published 23 April 2018.)

This is a re-enactment drill team from the "Regiment Saintonge."   This was one of the seven French infantry regiments who fought at Yorktown and without whose service and courage Cornwallis would never have surrendered.  Anthony Wayne's Continentals and these men captured these two strong redoubts in night bayonet attacks.  There are a whole lot of these fellows buried out in the woods at Yorktown in their military cemetery.  These were the French king's soldiers and their units passed into history at their own revolution.  Among the men were people from all over France, Rhinelanders from Zweibrucken (Deux Ponts), Irish of course, Poles and a scattering of European professionals of one kind or another.  Are their graves decorated on the 4th of July?  I hope so.  Here is a list of their dead buried in Virginia's soil.  They are listed by regiment.  pl

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMg-PHszyDM

 

AGENOIS

Jean Aimont	Andre Allard
Nicolas Angevaise	Jan Baggage
Benoist Bouillot	Nicolas Bourdin
Jacques Chatillon	Antoine Cocq
Yves David	Noel Fugenot
Francois Guiboiseau	Joseph Hautville
Francois Marival	Louis Martin
Louis Menager	Nicolas Maret
Francois Hursin	Pierre Lignot
Laurent Nolly	Jacques Papelard
Louis Thevenin	Oger Verdavoir

Angoumois

Jacques Tournis

Auxonne

Vincent Bellanger	Louis Carbonel
Jacques Christol	Claude Ferrey
Nicolas Fole	Pierre Gorrelier
Francois Gerthier	Antoine Grossetete
Jean Joulin	Francois Jund
Pierre de La Loge	Jacques Le Riche
Vincent Martin	Claude Paris
Jacques Pelitier	Philibert Salmon

Beaujolais

Pierre Beher	Jean Gloaret
Jean Godard	Jerome Hagueneau
Jean Jaubert	Joseph Jaubert
Andoche Mercier	Jean Molin
Jacques Peyllard	Mathieu Soulignac
Jacques Tissier	Jean Varrennes

Foix

Pierre Canys	Francois Cavalier
Bernard Gaguebey	Joseph Genies
Benoist Gubiaud	Jean Lyonnois
Jean Maison	Alexis Martin
Liberal Moutel	Domininique Savequet

Brie

Jacques Berger

Jacques de Paris

Dillon

Gaspard Everlet

Bourbonnais

Joseph Barbaton	Etienne Bedel
Jean Besard	Antoine Canton
Fleury Chabrier	Etienne Courtois
Antoine Desmont	Gabriel Devilliers
Jean Galotet	Joseph Guillaume
Jean Honore	Louis Huguet
Jean Jerifafin	Francois Jolivet
Michel Kell	Antoine La Fosse
Bernard Manadet	Antoine Mery
Jean Noel	Jean Paniolet
Joseph Perrier	Joseph Prou
Pierre Proux	Francois Rossignol
Jean Roussel	Jean Saffroy
Jean Selignet	Jean Seliquet
Andre Terville	Louis Testelin
Nicolas Tumelin	Joseph Verrier
Joseph Villaret

Soissonnais

Pierre Belledent	Nicolas Blondelle
Michel Boissard	Jean Brunet
Jean Caillet	Jean Coleran
Pierre Conde	Jacques Dauvergne
Francois Dique-Dounier	Nicolas Dubourg
Jean Galtier	Philippe Gausse
Michel Gavaudant	Jean Geoffroy
Claude Granbon	Francois Guillon
Jean Hennone	Nicolas Jacoby
Jean Jossard	Jean La Croix
Etienne La Roche	Gilbert La Taupe
Jacques Langlois	Pierre Le Comte
Pierre Le Hup	Pierre Lyonnais
Jean de Marin	Jean Michelet
Jean Monet	Louis Perche
Nicolas Pernot	Jean Pigibet
Jean Plagnolet	Charles Poulain
Charles Provol	Etienne Puissant
Jean Roche	Pierre de Roche
Pierre Roitoux	Antoine Sepedre
Jean Sourson	Nicolas Tilquaz
Pierre Vial

Gatinais

Henri Audiger	Etienne Auger
Jean Bardou	Jacques Bedel
Nicolas Bega	Augustin de Berthelot
Antoine Beze	Louis Brian
Jean Brostman	Jean Bulle
Jean Catel	Claude Chamois
Gilbert Charet	Thomas Chavaillard
Joseph Chevalier	Paul Chevalier
Andre Colue	Francois Curdinet
Louis Curdon	Bertrand Daray
Pierre Daussent	Louis Decoune
Nicolas Demaret	Joseph Deschamps
Francois Deshayes	Andre Deze
Jean Domino	Charles Dufour
Michel Dufut	Denis Dumont
Dominique Feret	Antoine Fissy
Jean Gaudard	Pierre Gilles
Joseph Giraud	Antoine Gouya
Nicolas Guelin	Pierre Guenard
Antoine Guillamebourg	Joseph Guilleraux
Michel Herve	Remy Houba
Pierre Jean	Claude Julien
Jean La Coste	Gillaume La Croix
Philippe Laine	Jean de Lannoy
Jean Laurenceau	Jacques Laurent
Jacques Livernois	Pierre Le Ferme
Jacques Le May	Pierre Le Page
Jean Lejore	Philibert Mauchalin
Francois Meinier	Gaspard Milliot
Jean Nicole	Mathieu Ospell
Claude Oudot	Pierre Ozanne
Paul Palis	B. Paly
Jean Paulard	Charles Pierson
Jean Pilau	Francois Poupon
Pierre Quenard	Charles Remont
Pierre Riotte	Charles Rouay
Jean Salles	Antoine Sallemon
Antoine Serve	Jean de Sireuil
Andre Solne	Barthelemy Sorbetz
Claude Stoudert	Jean Tincelin
Joseph Tinier	Jean Tousset
Andre Vachere	Emmanuel Vextain
Francois Vigoureux	Jean Vitre
Andre Vitrier	Armand Wendreweck

Royal Deux Ponts

Andre Cheret	Jean Diltzer
Paul Egre	---- Hielden
Francois Hiltzenberger	Andre Hoffman
Georges Merkot	Nicolas Muller
Georges Neble	Pierre New
Erasmus Orkensude	Christian Pabst
Ferdinand Robichon	Gottfried Rouffe
Francois Scholder	Sebastian Scholt
Jacob Stautzer	Jean Stein
Balthazar Stoher	Adam Stubert
Geroges Vbel

 

Comments

[mike]

Most of those French regiments marched to Yorktown on foot from Newport Rhode Island. An American officer from Virginia is reported to have said the French were not the fops he had expected: "Finer troops I never saw."

General Rochambeau - George Washington's alter ego in the campaign - had been a field soldier for 40 years and had participated in 14 sieges.

In addition to those dead you listed, Admiral de Grasse lost 209 French sailors and marines off the coast of Cape Henry when he defeated the British fleet that had been sent to rescue Cornwallis.

[Eric]

Pat

Thanks for that.

You've had a number of interesting posts up, past several days.

1 July 2006, was the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. Brit Op. entirely, commencing 7/1/1916.

Lost 2/3 as many killed in one day, as we lost in VietNam.

You have much more knowledge of the history of the French Army than I.

Seem to remember that the Armee de Afrique got more or less wiped out, in the Battle of the Frontiers, 9/1914, in about 5 days.

Dragging over from your Maudlin post:

"Know any good Moslem prayers? I wouldn't want to miss any bets."

Wouldn't want to know what happened to the poor bastards in WWII.

Yes. Prayers and Rememberance All Around.

[W. Patrick Lang]

Eric

It sounds like you know more than you admit.

Yes. The French used their regular forces from the North African Colonies heavily in WW1. They used these alongside the mass army of the "Armee Metropolitaine." They lost a lot of men then, at the beginning, when the French doctrine was to attack ferociously everywhere. There were both European and Muslim units among those brought over the Mediterranean. Goums from Morocco, Tirailleurs Algeriens,the Legion, Spahis, Zouaves (European). They kept enlisting men for these units throughout the war.

In WW2 the North Africans were not involved until the US/British capture of French North Africa and the creation of an anti-Vichy government that brought its forces into the war on the
Allied side. There was at least one Armee d'Afrique mountain infantry division in Italy under Alphonse Juin that fought well in the central mountain spine of Italy, at Cassino, for example. These were Muslims under French officers, mostly Goums (qawmi in Arabic) but some Algerians, among them Sgt. Ahmed Benbella.

In VN in '68 I was visiting the Headquarters of the US 1st Division at Chou Lai(?)and wandering across the central square of the old French post that we had taken over. There in the middle was an obelisk monument with the inscription "A la memoire des officiers et cavaliers de la -ieme Regiment des Spahis Marocaines. 1948-1954." It bummed me out. pl

[taters]

Thank you for posting this Col., excellent, as usual. I am appalled and saddened at the ignorance of many of us who are not aware or even mildly interested in France's very real contribution in blood to our independence. And please pardon me for being off topic here - I recall hearing the reading of the names of the WWI German war dead from Alsace Lorraine. Many of those names were French and conversely I heard many German names that were fighting for the French.
Again, thank you.

[William Gordon]

Thanks for this reminder of what we owe the French! Do you have a count on how many troops and sailors they lost in the entire American Revolution?

Bill Gordon

[W. Patrick Lang]

William

No, but I would like to hear about it from someone. Incidentally, I have a beautiful set of seven lead soldiers with flags each of which is in the correct uniform and with the correct "color" (drappeau d'ordnance)of each of the "Yorktown" regiments.

A retired French Army friend made them for me as a gift all through one long winter at his retirement home on the Lot. pl

[William E. Pollett]

I am trying to find out information on my ansestor named Pollett who was a soldier in the French army that came to America to fight the British in our revolution. Do you know where I can find an english list of French soldiers who fought here.

[Charles I]

Happy July 4th, America, Pat & guests.

Even on a holiday, there's a history lesson. Merci beaucoup.

Sir(s), would most/all of these French soldiers been volunteers, conscripts, professional soldiers? Were these men representative of the French Army of the day in general or in some nature particular to service in America?.

I think I shall spend a bit of staring down the river time imagining the French Secret Service at work in Canada, an idea that never would have crossed my mind until today. . .

[William R. Cumming]

Wonderful post! So PL in your opinion is our (US) debt to France repaid by WWI and WWII?

Can debts of soldiers and sailors lives ever be repaid in full?

[Patrick Lang]

WRC It is sad that you see this as a transaction between France and the US.

As for the french troops, they were regular army soldiers, not conscripts. Their units were ordered to America under Rochambeau and so they came and fought for our independence. They were down around Williamsburg for about a year after Cornwallis surrendered. I understand that they cut a wide swath through the local ladies including the Black women against whom they were not prejudiced. pl

[Basilisk]

Appropos of nothing, Dominique Strauss-Kahn may not be a very nice man, and he may, in fact, not be innocent, but this post makes one feel a little creepy about the "perp walk," the headlines like, "Frog Legs It" and the apparent glee with which New Yorkers (and probably all of us) insulted the whole nation of France by proxy.

We owe them a debt, and as our host points out, these are not transactions that are simply wiped out by the actions of other brave men.

My dealings with the French Air Force did not leave me with these feelings of derision for all things French.

Thanks for the reminder.

[William R. Cumming]

Thanks PL for the reminder. Lives are not LIVRES!

[patrick lang]

All

A renewal of anti-French drivel caused me to re-post this. pl

[The Twisted Genius]

I've worked with the 2e REP. Anyone who spews anti-French drivel, especially concerning their military bravery and skills, doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground.

[William R. Cumming]

The various factors that played into the French Revolution
and some context for understanding that later revolution are nicely captured by historian Simon Schama [sic] and the involvement of the Marquis de Lafayette in both.

[Dr. K]

I remember the anti-French attitude during the run-up to the Iraq mistake. I said to myself don't people know that without the French the American revolution would have been lost or know the WW1 quote from I think, Gen. Pershing, "Lafayette. We have returned."

[William Fitzgerald]

Pat Lang,

Thanks for this post. I spent a couple of days in Agen in October, as I have family there. The Regiment Agenais spent considerable time in North America during the 1700s since I'm pretty sure they were also here during the French and Indian War.

WPFIII

[nick b]

An interesting post. The makeup of the Regiment Saintonge sounds similar to the Pulaski Legion. I know they were a mix of Irish, French and Poles, (all Catholics, interesting).
Major Julius Count Mont-Ford, later a Major in Pulaski's Legion, was a French nobleman who previously served under General Wayne, and was wounded in the 'Paoli Massacre'. I only know this because I live so close to the site. Curious if the two regiments fought together?

[David Habakkuk]

In general, anti-Americanism is not one of my vices. But when in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq I read the drivel about ‘cheese eating surrender monkeys’ and ‘freedom fries’, I did have a bad fit of it.

I found myself thinking that perhaps Americans might be somewhat more understanding, if they had had to cope with having German armies – rather than Mexican or Canadian – on their borders. Of course, there are a rather small number of Americans – mostly Southern – who have some sense of the trauma which Verdun no doubt still means for many French families, as, in a lesser, but still terrible way, the Somme still means for many in Britain.

The devastation wrought the Civil War in the American South was, I have no doubt, much worse than that caused to France by the First World War. On the other hand, I do not think Americans have ever had to cope with the dilemmas caused by the possibility that a defeated adversary might – or might not – be capable of doing the same thing again.

[Medicine Man]

Col.:

I still savor the brief conversation we had about a year ago regarding an acquaintance of mine who was prone to bashing on the French. "I'd respect them if they'd won a war since WWII", he'd say. Your response was piquant.

I second TTG's observation, not that he needs my backing; most of the people I hear bashing the French are armchair warriors of some type, coasting on unearned machismo. Strangely most of actual military men I've spoken to have a nuanced view of the French, whatever their feelings about them are.

[William Fitzgerald]

Pat Lang,

This is particularly interesting to me, since my late uncle was a platoon leader and company commander in the 755th Tank Battalion in Italy. During the Cassino campaign the battalion was often parceled out and attached to various divisions,including units of the French Army. He wound up with a couple of purple hearts, bronze star, Croix de guerre argent (for five awards) , and was made honorary corporal of the 3d Algerian Rifle Regiment. The French soldiers,particularly officers, used noms de guerre, Col. Bonjour for instance on operations orders and in communications as many had families in France. I'm pretty sure that there was a corps of, at least, two divisions, i.e. 3d Algerian and 2nd Morrocan.

Cheerio,

WPFIII

[oofda]

That sounds like a project, ensuring that the French infantry who fell at Yorktown are suitably honored.

Remember the Washington-Rochambeau National Trail, the route that the French troops took marching fron Newport, RI to Willaimsburg. Also there is a prominent statue of General Comte de Rochambeau in Lafayette Park, just across from the White House.

[confusedponderer]

"The devastation wrought the Civil War in the American South was, I have no doubt, much worse than that caused to France by the First World War."

Not so sure. There wasn't much left in eastern France. The ground in places like Versailles is still literally littered with explosives and can still not be cultivated in complete safety.

Wiki on unexploded ordnance in France and Belgium:

"In the Ardennes region of France, large-scale citizen evacuations were necessary during MEC removal operations in 2001. In the forests of Verdun French government "démineurs" working for the Département du Déminage still hunt for poisonous, volatile, and/or explosive munitions and recover about 900 tons every year. The most feared are corroded artillery shells containing chemical warfare agents such as mustard gas. French and Flemish farmers still find many UXOs when ploughing their fields, the so-called "iron harvest"."

"The Zone rouge (French for "Red Zone") is the name given to about 1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi) of land in northeastern France that was physically and environmentally destroyed during the First World War. Because of hundreds of thousands of human and animal corpses and millions of unexploded ordnance that contaminated the land, some activities in the area such as housing, farming or forestry, were temporarily or permanently forbidden after the war by French law. Some towns were never permitted to be rebuilt.

Restrictions in the zone rouge still exist today although the controlled areas have been greatly reduced."

Whatever Sherman did on his march to the sea, I doubt it came close in the degree of devastation.

[confusedponderer]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_rouge

[turcopolier]

CP

The American South was wrecked as a society and an economy and the demographic losses were very high but outside a few cities like Richmond, Atlanta, and Charleston the cities were largely habitable after the war. pl