Transcripts For CSPAN2 Francois-Jean 20240706

Thank you for joining us. And welcome to Anderson House here in washington, d. C. My name is Andrew Outten and im the historical programs manager for the American Revolution institute of the society of the cincinnati. The American Revolution institute promotes knowledge and appreciation for the achievement of american independence, fulfilling the aim of the Continental Army officers and their french counterparts who founded the society of the cincinnati in 1783. To perpetuate the memory of that vast event. In addition to tonights program, the American Revolution institute fulfills that aim by supporting advanced study, developing exhibitions and other historical programs and tours, advocating Historic Preservation and providing resources to classrooms nationwide by the benefit teachers, students and scholars alike. Since 1938, the society of the cincinnati has done all of this work from its headquarters right here at Anderson House, a national historically on mark that was completed in 1905 as the winner residents of lars and isabel anderson. Tonights lecture, a program that is made possible in part by a generous gift from the Massachusetts Society of the cincinnati features dr. Iris de rode discussing Francois Jean de chateauroux, a Major General in the french army, a member of the society of the cincinnati and a cousin of the marc wheat of lafayette who played a central role in the francoamerican alliance during the revolutionary war. Dr. Torode is a dutch historian who specializes in the french participation during the American Revolution. She earned her ph. D. In 2019 at paris eight university. Vincent s. A. For her dissertation. Francoise jean de chateauroux, a soldier philosopher in the Atlantic World at the time of the enlightenment. While working on her dissertation, she earned 14 fellowships, which included grants from the Richard Lounsbury foundation, George Washingtons Mount Vernon Thomas jeffersons monticello, the French Embassy in the netherlands, and the french government. Dr. Torode has presented her research at more than 75 International Conferences and has been teaching american translators antique and International History at the French University sciences po in paris, france. Since 2013. Her current work focuses on a documentary film and an audio guide app that retraced the steps of the french army on the washington, rochambeau revolutionary trail. A new book titled military enlightenment on the ground that examines the collaboration of french and American Military leaders that secured american independence and is expected to be published in 2024 by the university of virginia press. And thats all in addition to the development of a lecture and podcast series. And thats a partnership with the embassy of france. And here in washington, d. C. But more recently, dr. Torode was also the recipient of the 2023 ellen mcallister. Clark, Massachusetts Library fellowship from the Massachusetts Society of the cincinnati. To continue her research for her new book and our Research Library here at Anderson House, a place where she is certainly no stranger to. In fact, there has been an ongoing joke between us about whether i would refer to her as a squatter in our library tonight while introducing her, as there is rarely a time where i dont go down there and see her working on something. So yeah, i told you i was going to fit in there. So sorry about that. But before i turn things over to iris. Oh, dr. Torode, excuse me. I would be remiss if i didnt cover the normal housekeeping items for our virtual attendees joining us on zoom this evening, following tonights lecture, that will be a question and answer session. So please feel free to submit your questions for dr. Torode at any point during the Program Using the q a function that can be found at the bottom of your screen. We will do our best to incorporate them with our Live Audience questions following the talk, should you have any technical related questions or comments . Those can be submitted using the chat function, and one of our Staff Members will be monitoring that and well do their best to assist you. So without further delay, please join me in welcoming our friend dr. Iris de rode. So thank you very much andrew, for the fun introduction and of course me being a squatter here is very true. Im being quite often in the basement here, which is of course the Beautiful Library that holds a lot of sources, books and Historical Documents on my research on the french or the American Revolution. So im very happy to be able to go here very often. And of course see the Library Staff and everyone working here at the society is cincinnati and the American Revolution institute. Thank you also for giving me a fellowship very recently to continue my research here. So im going to presentoday about four square shoulder share to do. The man you can see on the slide of whom you might never have heard because hes quite an unknown french participant in the American Revolution. Chateauroux is known for one thing by some of you for his travel diary. He wrote a travel diary between 1780 and 83 while he was serving in america as the Major General, serving directly under, of course, campbell, ill tell you all about that diary. But so maybe you know him for that, but for the rest, hes quite forgotten. And i will make him come alive again, i hope tonight. So first of all, we can see him here on the painting that you l know. Of c surrender of cornwallis and you can also see how to pronounce his name becaus peoe have told me its very complicated to to beuse there is an s and an x and ls. You dont know what do with. But you say chateauneuf, try to write it phonetically, not sure if it works. But anyway, so now you know how to pronounce his name and especially not to pronounce the s or the x chatelet. And so he is on this painting, which might be surprising for some of you, as you have not heard of him, because hes quite prominent there of course, hes standing at the french side of the army. And so you can see, of course, that he is officially, lets say, remembered for his role in yorktown and in the American Revolution. So for reginald shatner, you can see here how he evolved over the years. Theres one painting thats a little bit known here in america because its, of course, Charles Vincent peale, one thats in philadelphia. But the rest are all kept still in the family property. So you can see some of the paintings that you might have never seen here. And so the i wrote a book, of course, about him, as you can see here, long french title, which is based on my ph. D. Ph. D. Dissertation that has been published last year. So you might wonder why ive been doing all that research because Franz Ferdinand theory is, of course, an unknown figure. And why would i devote my life about ten years to the study of this man . Well, it started in a garden, which you can see here, which is a garden of my parents holiday home in france. Myself from the netherlands. But so i grew up under this tree. And according to the legend of the village where we lived, called bakassi. People told me that the tree had been planted by lafayette himself. Lafayette, of course, being the marquis de lafayette. That has been an important part, of course, of the American Revolution. I was told to have planted this tree in the garden after his American Revolutionary experience, because he had brought a few of these trees back to france to spread this to his french friends. When i started to do some research on this, because i was very curious if this story could have been true, i found that it was not him. He had never set foot in our garden. He had no reason to be here in any possible way. But his sort of uncle, uncle by marriage actually had shetterly has been around in this region and so in the local archives of dijon de joan being known here, especially for mustard, but theres also an archive there in which i found some sources on this person share. To do though was, oh, here i am sorry. I see Something Else on my screen. So that was confusing. But anyway, here you can see that controversial of course planted that tree. So the reason is that he was in touch with the owner of her home. And i could see in some of the letters that he had been indeed coming back from from france, from america. He has been in touch with the person living in our home. And so the tree probably actually is from america, from the period of the American Revolution. Its also, as you can see, quite also, it is 250 years old. We have an expert here who has confirmed this, steve norton. But so, yeah, the story led me to this finding of shetterly. I still had no clue. Shetterly was i just sold the reference of his name and i saw some some vague letters that i didnt really understand. But what i did know is that there was a Little Village close by that is gold. Shetterly and so in france, as you might know, the french aristocracy, of course, was named after the places they were from. And so probably he might have come from there. Here you can see how actually shetterly is related to lafayette, because of course, that makes him quite interesting and probably why the story has been mixed up over the years that people have thought he is that it was actually lafayette planted it so you can see they have a grand father in common wi the wife ofafayette. I will not explain the whole story because thats very long. But doug saw his name is is the one that connects both people, lafayette and shetterly. We were very close, as we will see later to. And so shetterlm just going to show you the map. So she, too, is on the red dot right there and so whats interesting is that the village called shetterly has a hugeass a shuttle to share to do so. I thought, lets go to the shuttle. And when i came there, it appeared that the owner lives there today, philip, gave a tour of this castle. He explained that his family has lived there for a thousand years and t stted as a encampment and has evolved over the time into what you can see today. And so after visiting the castle, i asked him, do you know more about shetterly . And especially my whats going on here . So he told me, thats so interesting. We have the same tree in our garden, so you can sort of see it. Its in one of these where you can see it well, but its in the green zone on the right of the first picture. And so he explained to me indeed that he was related to false virgin and said to the person that has actually been in america. And he also told me about this travel diary that i just mentioned before, the travel diary that he wrote during the American Revolution. So he told me, just go and read it. If you want to find out more about shetterly. And when i read it, i got very intrigued. Is describing his tour through america during the revolution where hes explaining that hes of course going through the different 13 states. Hes describing the difference is between the constitutions of the different states hes describing those he meets with. Hes describing what he thinks of nature, all these Different Things. And i was really getting into this story because hes traveling through the world of the revolution and through his eyes. And its if you have ever read it, its just quite an intriguing book for that reason. So phillip, here we can see your photo of every shuttle. You still lives in the castle. And so when he gave me the book, he also explained to me that thats said news glider forgotten figure, especially because the archives were stored lost that he had. Well, his papers had been lost. And so no one really knew. But so when i started to dig more to find out if i could find something about shed to do in paris or in other archives, i actually didnt find much because there was not much, but there were a lot of references in sources from the founding fathers, such as washington and jefferson, who had written to him and he had replied to them. So you can see that there are correspondences, but there were hard to identify. And so i went back to phillipe to ask him, dont you know if you have anything in your archive . And then he said, well, we have archive, but its a, its a tower full of archives which you can see in the middle. It starts in 1328 and is up until today. So 700 years of files of archives. So he got a little sword. He was overwhelmed himself by the quantity of his material. But he did say, lets go and have a look. Lets see if i have anything on france for joan. And actually, he had he had a huge collection of joans papers, and were about 5000 pages in about 13 different boxes. That has been indexed and collected by one of his family members in the 19th century. But since then, they just closed it again and no one really looked at it. So the family knew that they had it very vaguely. But philip was just not aware of the treasures that he actually had in his store. The most important ones that i opened almost at the beginning was together with philip. We opened a map and we sold a name, washington. So we opened the little map, which is a paper map, and we find eight letters of George Washington original handwriting never really seen the light of day. So we go on and look for more so we saw jeffersons letters, franklins letters, adams letters, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris and so on and so on. Many different letters all from all these that sold in revolutionary heroes. Then theres also the french of voltaire and theodore and albert had written to him because besides from being a military man, she had to do was also a philosopher of the enlightenment. And he befriended people such as voltaire and wrote to them frequently. He also wrote to the ministers of louis the 16th. So you can see names, your version might be one that you do know because hes the minister of foreign aairs during the American Revolution, he, of course, wrote to a horse on herschel lafayette and the loser. And so these are the people he was with, mainly in the American Revolution. So all these sources combined really show both signs of shetterly, but especially his Extensive Network of correspondents, his european sort of other correspondents, also includes hume or bentham. So, of course, the famous philosophers as well, but also frederick the great, the king of prussia. And it just continues. And so this network shows, of course, that shetterly was a central figure in the world of the enlightenment, but also in the military time of his military circles, of his age. There were a lot of different maps as well, such as the one you can see on the left, which is a map of new york of 1781. And theres alson the right, you can sethat one, which is, of course, young boys papers that he had done over campaign justefore leaving to america to prepare his army for the campaign. And so whats interesting for us here, of course, today is that that paper on the right is here in the library. The reason is that the family decided to sell a few of the most important, and especially most valuable papers and so some of them are now in mount vernon, some others are here. And of course, thats very important because they can now be researched by historians. Were also working on making them available in a digital form. So that actually everything can be researched by more people than just me. But now theyre still closed because im finishing my book first. So going back to shed to do and who he was. And then im going to tell you more about his american campaign. Of course, he its hard to identify why someone based on 5000 pages, but unfortunately fortunately for me, he wrote a lettero Jeremy Bentham in whh he describes mself. He describes himself as being a soldier in the republic of letters. So hes a part of the republic of letters, which is that enlighten world. And what he says about himself is his real fortune is that he has friends. And this quote really perfectly summarize is to men, because as i already mentioned, he was this soldier he had been fighting in the seven years war as he started as a lieutenant and rose up until a colonel of his own regiment. The regime aldershot to do but of course he lost the war badly. The french lost the seven years war. As we all know, leading to one of the motivations to of course, support the american rebels after. But so his role and his role in the seven years war was an interesting one because he started to think on how to reform the french army in order to prevent such big losses to happen again in the future. So in the republic of letters, he was writing since his 19 birthday or his age, he was writing about lots of different topics. One of the most sort of exciting one at the beginning of his life was that he was writing about the inoculation of the smallpox. That was his first publication, which he was known to have done himself on him. Himself. He inoculated himself and then spent six weeks being sick and then wrote about that experience. And he was referenced in many different books of the time as being the first frenchman, which should probably be understood as the first aristocrats, because often they did research on other types of people before doing it themselves. But anyway, he was known for that reason, and the king louis the 16th has said that following his examples, he inoculated himself and his kids. Children, sorry. So you also published more books about lots of different themes such as music, poetry about animal magnetism, which is one of these scientific magnetic sciences of the time. But he mainly wrote his book called de la Phillis Wheatley public, which is a book in english called on public happiness, which is a book about happiness throughout the ages, in which he describes different types of governments and the way people are happy or unhappy under different types of governments. This is a book that made him quite famous in america because it was translated and was then spread throughout the young United States and quite some people are referencing them in their books or in their letters, mainly to that, have read it and are in or of course very interested in this concept of happiness and which type of government you need to achieve that happiness is associated. You combined both of his sides, his soldiers, scientists, philosophers, cy to develop ideas himself about what you can call the military enlightenment. The military enlightenment is a phenomenon thats not much research. It is coming to light nowadays. Theres a few books on it, but overall its not very recognized within the world of the enlightenment. But people like shetterly were applying there enlightened ideas on the art of war, so i would take all that. So when waging war, they would think in an enlightened way. They would, for instance, think of how can we create more equality in an army . How can we create more advancement by paying people more, by giving them more hope for the future . How can we distribute better food to make them more healthy . All these types of considerations were put in practice at the time and other really important factors is that had to do alongside caution. Bu, who is also part of this group were thinking on how can we improve the army in order to just prevent to lose as bad as they had done in the seven years war. And they start to gather as much information as they can, study war as a science. So thats the military enlightenment. This is important because im coming back to it later. We have to remember from the Jeremy Bentham letter she had to do considered himself especially lucky to have a lot of friends and i think thats exactly what makes him interested. It makes him relevant because he had a network so he could have first of all, an impact was always ideas because he had a Large Network to spread them. But he also had this network where he could connect other people to each other. So he had a real influence in his own time by connecting the right people, but also spreading the ideas that he had. And as we will see, he was a very sociable man that people just happened to really like. And so he was a popular figure in the circles he circulated in. And so well see that especially during this lecture. So here is a friends. Okay, so George Washington wrote to him, this is one of the letters that i found in the archive. George washington himself to put an emphasis on his friendships, wrote that a deep and lasting friendship of friendship with neither time nor distance can ever eradicate this is, of course, a very friendly letter. Its the letter that he wrote to what to to do when he left again for america, after they had spent a lot of time together. But it does show you the type of friendship that he had with jefferson as well. Jefferson wrote to share that his wife, after she had said he died, that i had for him a very sincere esteem which had commenced with our acquaintance here and had grown into a very intimate intercourse with him in friends, then Benjamin Franklin also wrote to him, i congratulate you on the success of your last glorious campaign, the American Revolution. Yorktown, specifically, of course. And he writes to him a philosopher endowed with those strong sentiments of humanity that are manifested in your excellent writings. Most enjoy great satisfaction in having contributed so extensively by his sword as well as by his pen to the left, elicited Public Public happiness. So he hes, of course, referencing here to his sword his battle actions, but also his writing about the public happiness and all he had done to achieve the independence of the United States through his ideas as well. So these letters show not only his very wide network, but also, of course, how they actually appreciated him. And what i wanted to tell today by talking about the American Revolution is that friendships are a very important, overlooked element that has led to the post ability of winning yorktown. One of the problems, of course, that the allies had the french american allies, is that they had not that much in common. So friendships that developed over time were actually crucial in order to gain trust, but also in order to work together. So these friendships are not just sort of a fun little anecdote. Its actually a crucial element of the alliance. So the the yorktown campaign. So as we, of course, know, ocean view arrived in 1780, together with about 6000 men and they brought, of course, a lot of weapons, but especially these the army came the french army came to support George Washingtons army in order to fight against the british were simple is the general. And so qahtani was just under him. He was considered second in command. And his title is Major General. Its always a little vague, by the way. Theres always its second or third, depending on the time. Because another person view me, neal, was also there but said to do is here, respond sybil mainly for the logistical aspects of the french campaign. So hes involved in organizing mainly the provisions and the encampments and making sure everyone has food. Very obviously, thats what he does specifically. And for that, he has to you had to negotiate a lot with the local people there. And one of the most important things is what he spoke english. And most of the officers around him did not speak english. So he became very quickly the Liaison Officer between the french and americans here in newport, where they just arrived. But i wanted to focus mainly today on the preparatory phase of the the campaign from yorktown. We all, of course, kw yorktown is theomt that the french and americans. But the question is often what is not or i mee qution has actually not really been asked most of the time. When yd about the french an aiance, youead at they arrive and then they just do the yorktown campaign. And in between, theres a year of almost nothing. Theyre just waiting for reinforcement, waiting to make decisions. But if you look at the to lose archives and papers, you can read that they were not at all inactive. They were extremely active, but only a small group was. So he was, of course, part of that. So i will focus on that now. So based on his archive, you can find a lot of references on the revolution and it of course starts with history travel to america, where hes describing his entire travel. But then when he arrives, instead of being welcomed by the americans as he had hoped, there, the opposite is happening in newport, rhode island. The people were not in favor of the french alliance. They were actually very hostile to it because before the war that happened before the seven years war, the french had been the enemies of the americans. Of course, the americans were then fighting in the british army, so they had fought against the french. There a lot of very negative prejudices has had started in that period and had spilled over up until the time there is. They thought the french were coming back to colonize them. They were thinking that they were sent by the pope to impose catholic ism on the protestant population. There. But they were also thinking more sort of the real prejudices that might still exist today about the french being arrogant, that they were curling their hair, that they put all that powder on themselves, and they were not the men, the soldiers that the americans would have expected. Well, so then theres, of course, also the fact that they had very different armies, their army, the french army was one of the oldest armies, of course, of the world, one of the most powerful, too, with a huge tradition, a lot of experience. And then there was this very new, what is often referred to have direct egg army. This is, of course, quite well known, is not just yet to do writing this, but everyone that arrives, all the french are shocked by what they find. Instead of finding this very strong ally, they actually find a small sort of group, especially in newport, and theyre very disappointing, disappointed, and they start to write to very site to their armies administration to ask what happened, why are we here . What are we going to do and how can we make this whole campaign a success . And so she had to do starts to write some similar text to his army administrate action. And so one of his interest, most interesting one is called on the states of her army that he writes in august 1780. So they just arrived in newport and as i said, hes shocked. So he starts to write things such as we wanted to crush the english because we saw to the occasion favorable. But all in all we have contracted an alliance with rebel subjects, which of course is very negative to him. Well have to feed, clothe, pay the americans and even fight for them. Then he also said, we are misled by congress and greedy merchants. So he says that there was a lot of actually sort of disinformation going on at the time about the the strength of the Continental Army, about the how unified Congress Congress was because the french well, they feel misled by what they had heard and what the reality is said to be. Also describes his own mediocre aid. Its not just the force of the americans. Its mainly as well that the king had sent not enough men. So he said the aid we sends in america is very mediocre and unlikely to give an advantageous opinion on our strength to the new ally. So what do you do in a situation as bad as this . They they are thinking and trying to find solutions. Of course, while having to survive in rhode island, where everything is extremely expensive. So they have a very hard time actually finding food and other provisions. And the situation becomes even worse during the hartford conference, which is, of course, a wellknown moment in september when washington and washington and goshen will meet for the first time, they discuss what they can do, and they conclude that they have not enough men. They dont have enough money, they dont have enough ships, and they cannot have any immediate action to attack the british. They still think of two different plans. One could be new york, which of course, we all know is what washington wanted. He wanted to attack new york city because that was the sort of Symbolic Center for the british power and where he had lost himself in the most humiliating way. So he thought if we take new york again, we might actually really win the war. Then another plan could be to go to the Southern States because, of course, the british were also based there and that campaign was a good alternative. But according to washington, it would not end the war. It would just be a campaign that could be beneficial, but not the campaign, lets say. So they spoke about these two options, but couldnt take a decision because of course they didnt know how many people they would have at the new campaigning season, which would happen after this. One of the main reasons is that the french had promised to send 2000 more men and they were not there yet and they had no idea when they would ever arrive. And another problem was that congress themselves and different states were supposed to send more people to. But no one really knew necessarily when they would arrive. So what you can see in most history books is that the period after this is described as a long winter of waiting, waiting for new supplies and just waiting out that the winter sort of ends washingtons date obsessed by new york, is portrayed in most narratives and then, in a way, version boy might have manipulated him or at least force him in a subtle way to go to yorktown. But if you look at a lot of other sources around this, you can see that it was not just simple, it was more complex than that. Theres a long, rational, collaborative Decision Making process at hand and based on common research, but also friendships. So lets have a look at that. So set to do came with a solution that is of course one of the solutions. There are lots of other factors that also participated to the main choice of actually going to yorktown. But one of the forgotten ones is that shetty proposed to do a Research Mission this is, of course, what you call a reconnaissance mission, but it was one of his very enlightened ways of thinking about war. He was for suggesting, lets just do research, lets understand where we are. Lets understand where, who we fight with. Lets understand what we can actually do here. And also, lets stop having all these prejudice as against these people. Lets actually study them and try to figure out if theyre that bad or if theres maybe something we can actually do with them. So he proposes here and this in one of his reports that it would be necessary that one or more officers of the army of caution go together with officers of the army of washington. Would, in light. And the ambassador the ambassador is leaders there and he was based in philadelphia who according to him, was the one that was most misled by congress and by others because he didnt have the right information to make decisions for the french army. And so he proposes these officers were traveling the country, see the army and measure the disposition of the people. And so this is, of course, an example of his enlightened ways of thinking, where they are gathering information to really understand the science of war. So this is a Practical Application of what he was already doing while he was in france to think about war. What do we have to do . We study it in a scientific way. And he included, for instance, cultural, social, religious factors to these reconnaissance mission, in addition to the geographic or topographical details that he could find. So without going too much on the enlightenment side, lets go to the practical side. So they did three different trips doing these reconnaissance missions. It started in november and that was what he called the long tours of the continent. Then he did a secret mission of a few days through the Chesapeake Bay, and then he did the grand reconnaissance of new york, which is well known, actually. But if you consider it in this larger perspective, it becomes clear that the french are doing a lot of research and so the first step is november 17 a. D. Until january 17, one, and said to do, of course, is not alone, as he suggested. He said, lets do this research together. So hes gathering a group of french, but also American People to do this research. So he himself, of course, is part of it. But then also his aide to concord, montesquieu. Montesquieu is the grandson of the famous philosopher, which he brought for that exact reason because he knew that would going to be interesting for americans and a few others where he would work with everyday. So you have to imagine this is a group of frenchmen and they go to all the different places and at this places they meet with americans that would tell them what they knew about different aspects of the American Revolution. So they went to knox, who, by the way, is hanging right there, and hamilton and humphrey, stillman, lafayette was involved. Washington himself was involved. But then also jefferson, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, samuel adams and thomas paine, amongst others. So the french are traveling around and are gathering the information they can to get this information, and especially as well to make sure that they can form social bonds instead of being sort of enemies almost. They wanted to become, of course, close allies. So they do this very consciously and they go for a lot of dinners, which always sounds a little fun when. You read them. But actually these dinners are very important because they are coming together, sharing fun times and become close to each other because of course, during these reconnaissance missions, you can especially see and share todays travel diary that you mainly describes his dinners, which sounds quite boring to us today, but theyre important at the time, as they are today, of course. So he goes to a lot of former battlefield sites with this group, and when hes at one, he will meet with the officers that have been part of a battle. For instance, west point, stony point, princeton, trenton. And so on this whole list. But so hes meeting participants of the different battles to really understand them. He says in his book or in his writings, he says that you have to go underground to really understand. You cannot just take things for granted. You cannot read about reports. You cannot just assume that things are like that. You have to go there. You have to study it. Hes literally interviewing the participants, reading different reports, and then making his own conclusions based on that extensive research. Obviously enlightened way of thinking and well going to all these battlefield sites. His ideas are already starting to change at the beginning, they only could see new ports and rhode island. But if you go further, you can see that at certain moments. Obviously the americans have won and that theyre actually better organized than the french assumed. First, one of the interesting things that they made a lot of maps, which andrew, of course, appreciate, is all these different maps of the battlefield sites. But saratoga, for instance, is one of these maps that are kept in check to lose archive that to show the rigorous ways of the french to make to do their research. So he brought three cartographers with him to make all these maps. One of the main issues that the french encountered was that they didnt have enough maps, so they kind of didnt really understand the terrain, so they needed to make them and they also wanted to study the battle fields to understand their enemy, of course, but especially what they could do with the americans in their own battle. So they added a lot of Different Things. They started to do, of course, geography, as i just said, studying the Continental Army in depth strategy has kept lists and lists and lists of everything you can imagine on the army. But he also added more surprising things you could say like agriculture. So theres a lot of big reports on all the different states and how their agriculture is organized, how their trade is organized, how the political systems are the religion, languages, customs, literature, science, arts at almost everything you can imagine to really understand america way more indepth than you imagine. His travel diary is a reflection of that, but if you combine it with all these reports, you can really see this extensive research. And he wrote parts himself, but all these others did too. So theres lots of different handwritings and its you can see really research reports. So just to give you a few examples of this. Through what he wrote this is its a long quote, im sorry, but its a fun one because he describes he describes the development of america because when he arrived in newport saw poverty. He saw problems of the the previous battles and especially occupation that destroyed a city. So he was afraid that the entire United States would be destroyed place, but luckily he could find very easily that agriculture was booming. What he hoped for, mainly based on his dealer, felicity big book, book on happiness, is that he hopes for the development of agriculture and then trade in order to create happiness for most people possible because if you have trade, it means you also can spend some time on your own getting more enlightened. Thats his main philosophy. So for him to see this in practice and it happening very fast makes him go a very hope or makes him become more hopeful than he was before. On the american nation in general, but especially for the cause of the revolution, because he could see a lot of wealth coming in soon. So he describes this situation where any man who has been able to obtain a fund of six or £700 and you feel strong and willing to work, can go to the woods and buy a portion of land and then he can have a cow if you pigs and some what he calls mediocre horses that cost him not more than £4. Then with his first geppetto, he begins by cutting down all the small trees and clears the ground. Then you can start the production. And then a few years later, the settlers had enough to live on and even enough to send food to the market. And after four or five years, he finds himself a, well, a farmer. This is one of the many examples of his agricultural hopes and especially the development of this new country, which of course, to him is really the basis of creating happiness in this new nation. He describes that for instance, when hes at a little farm in providence, where he describes a little establishment where comforts and simplicity rain, which gave an idea of the sweet and serene state of happiness, which appears to have taken refuge in the new world again, one of the examples he gives is so many of these, but he really is excited to see this development and to find this type of situation. One of the things he includes a lot is nature and so natural phenomena and hes studying that a lot. And one of the more amusing ones just to make it a little lighter is one that he describes when he shoots a g. And so he to his great astonishment, the bird fell so he can now observe that. And he is, of course, quite the poetic man. So describes this as its a truly magnificent creature. Its entirely blue, but it unites various shades of that color in such a way that it surpasses the invention of art. So this is beautiful, but there is a problem with the americans. According to him, hes studying not just nature. Hes especially studying languages and customs. And here describes that the americans have a very poor language, he says. The so the American School all they ever they could only the blue bird and the americans have not notably enriched their native language. The j is a blue bird. The cardinals are red birds, and every water bird is simply a duck. So then he said, i could cite many more examples. Hes doing the same with trees, but then it says its sufficient to observe that this poverty of language proves how much mens attention has been employed in objects of utility and the desire of augmenting wealth. A french observation of that. So its just im giving these examples to show you that he was including many to really understand america and starting to really understand the alliance better, which, of course also led him to remark on lots of american customs and practices. And then the one of toasting he found particularly ridiculous, actually, he says at the beginning of each meal and the first time one drinks each individual is successively called upon to drink to his health. So everyone standing with their glass and then its enough to die of thirst for the actor of this ridiculous comedy, which he is obliged to look around a table for the names or looks of 20 or 30 people. Well, so these are, of course, quite sort of funny little examples, but its just to show you the level of preciseness and all the Different Things hes observing himself, but also the others use with. And so from the battlefield sides to really the toasting, he just describes everything. And this is really a part of the military tradition of his time and especially a new one, because they include so much. So here we can see a real turning point when shetterly finally meets George Washington himself. As i already said, he was quite disappointed by the by the American Army going to the different sites and meeting a lot of the generals. He became more and more intrigued. But when he met washington, he his whole perspective completely turned. He describes here mr. Lafayette, of course, who he knows very well, was in conversation with a tall man. He introduced me to the general himself and then he says a few asses of claret and madeira accelerated the acquaintances i had to make. And soon i felt myself at ease near the greatest and the best of men. So washington to shy to do, became a very close friend. And vice versa, of course, because they had a lot of things in common that went way beyond their military campaign. They were interested in, of course, the development of agriculture. They were interested in theater, in music. They were interested different scientific objects. And of course, especially winning their war. And so said to the starts to describe him so many times in the most positive light for instance, here, where he describes him as the idea of a perfect whole every he is everything from a general in a republic to hero of the republic and hes born for the idea that salvation of each individual is attached to his person. He also describes many others that are, of course, for him for importance here during the society of the cincinnati, such as henry knox, he also gets very of course, inspired by meeting these figures that are showing him the battlefields that are showing in america. And then he says he it would not be enough to praise him only for his military talents. It would be to deprive him of health, of the illusion which he merits a man of understanding. A well for men, gay, sincere and honest, its impossible to know him without steaming him or to see him without loving him. He also, of course, describes hamilton, which whom he spends lot of time during these missions and says with his talent and knowledge, mr. Hamilton must be in peace as well as in war. One of the most considera ble citizens of his country. Hes also a most elegant writer and a perfectly accomplished gentleman. So all these examples are one of these examples that show that sure to do becomes more and more sure of the fact that actually with the americans they can win the war instead of losing it. Quite obviously, when they were in newport. He describes excellent leadership and especially says perhaps this army, notwithstanding the slowness of its maneuvers and his inexperience in the war, may merit the praises of europeans. And of course, he may ne discovers and writes about the fact that theyre not that different as they thought before. Theyre interested in a lot of the same things. They ever seem enlightened way of thinking about warfare when they study it together, they discover that they discovered they have similar political ideals. And of course, all these ideas of agriculture, trade, but also science and art and especially this leads for the both parties to new found hope. They can do something together if they continue this research and their friendships, of course, are very important in order to understand each other and not mistrust each other. So i will go quicker over this second step because theres not much on it, but also because time is running, of course. But step two is that said to by boat tChesapeake Bay tossion observe the Chesapeake Bay. And he starts to write a report on this which is quite crucial. And so he the results what of what he sees the Chesapeake Bay of course is a good point that you can encircle with a fleet and he sees that and other people knew that too. But he writes that two letters there and therein is that invested, part of whom he had written before that he has should be the one that is more informed and so share to do brings his Research Results together with the little group he is with. So theyre about ten frenchmen. They go to philadelphia where he lives and they bring their reports and material that they gathered. And so luzerne, of course, is very interested in it, but especially his ideas start to really evolve. Hes writing to the french minister after this meeting that the south requires the most active assistance from us. I cannot too strongly insist on the necessity of putting ourselves without delay in a state of action and without going on and on about the details of what they exactly right and how that goes. You can see that looser and the french ambassador was the one that was really pushing for yorktown. So this whole idea that he was actually, of course, on board that was manipulating washington or that it was maybe to grasp the admiral who came with his main fleet, of course, to the Chesapeake Bay, that that was his decision. Thats maybe also partially true, but looser and shetterly, who play a very Important Role in this, in the background and this is just not recognized today because the sources were quite lacking because most of them are in the shetterly archive. But it really adds to important to this whole Decision Making process of going to yorktown. And so you can see here that letters are in starts to send this report in which they have so wished to do. He wrote by the way, i have to say luzerne was also a military man. He had been fighting in the seven years war together with shattered yugoslavia and others, so they were part of the same group and so they could write. He was an expert in the writing about war himself, too. So with shetterly, they wrote this report called the well report on the southern campaign, which theyre going to send to washington himself, to horsham bill and also to the grass. And so its not very totally clear what the exact impact is, but you can see that the tide changes and that of course, this idea is already existent and officially considered way before thats fatal. Or that moment in august when the guy says that hes going to come and luzerne specifically is really pushing for this. Im im just going to go over this a little bit because. Its the weather shield conference. And then, of course, they start to they decide that they still want to the wethersfield conference is a moment where washington and goshen will meet and to do and unquestionable are, of course, very much pushing to go south. But still, washington considers that too dangerous. He thinks that the march to go there will too dangerous, too hot. Specifically with the climate, and that the new york expedition would still be preferable if they would had enough people to do so. So the french, of course, have to have to do what he says, because hes their superior commander. And so they go to new york and this is a moment where they continue their Long Research in new york. The french arrived a junction with the american and with about 5000 men. Theyre going to pretend to attack new york, which is called a reconnaissance and force mission. And in that mission, they are starting to see where the british are based so that they can observe, they can see the fortifications, they can calculate where they are. And one of the main conclusion is, course, is where is that . Oh, here it is. And so one of the main conclusions of all thiis that this is the a news report. But therenumerous others, too, that its way too dangerous to actually attack new york. So theres research again, plays an important part in understanding war and especially deciding not to go new york, because, of course, as most people already knew, even George Washington, of course, he was not that foolish to think he could actually attack. He knew he needed more men. But it became confirmed by doing their research. That took three days and as i said, 5000 men to do. And so he says it must be admitted that they would require much superior means and those we can add and dispose and goods dispose of the enemy could make us our best hopes vanish in an instant. So she had to do and washington and all these people that are part of this of course now realize we cannot go to new york. But one of the things is, of course, that said to do and these others have already kind of prepared this other campaign. And quite often its called the miracle of yorktown. They prepared it in just a few days, but of course, with this Research Mission, they had all the information they needed to go south quite quickly and so George Washington, of course, himself finally has understood to its not he was being so he was advised of course, he was open minded enough to say, okay, im going to follow this advice. He sees it in front of his own eyes. He has done himself that Rational Research together with the french. And so they do decide to go new york. One of the reasons, of course, too, is that said to do you and him are quite close. And jet2 writes to his sister to make this decision took many conferences with general washington, whose interpreter ive always been. He mainly translating with caution book, but he was really part of this mission. And so thats the point. Of course, a lot of other factors, such as winds or tornadoes were also part of this story, but still, i want to just emphasize that luzerne and shetty played quite an important in making this campaign possible. And so august 14th is that confirmation that the cross actually is arriving and based on what letters there and sent to him this reports and what horsham boy sent to him and others he decided to go to the Chesapeake Bay, which of course made the encirclement of yorktown possible. And so finally the siege of yorktown in luzerne writes to version the minister of Foreign Affairs that the cross had told me upon his arrival on the shores at my urgings had determined him to lead, always force into the Chesapeake Bay to the aid of virginia. So now luzerne is an unrecognized hero, you could say, in this whole campaign. And so, of course, they go to yorktown quite quickly after we all know that the whole march and the importance of gathering all the different units and the navy altogether at yorktown, which works out. So thats quite an impressive march. They do. And of course they go quite close by because i dont know where it is located from here, but there this low sound bridge, which is quite you can see it on little on the road. And so thats a place where the one of the units was walking. And so they also encamped in georgetown quite close by. So thats just a fun little anecdote because they came you have to imagine about 9000 men were walking down to yorktown. So thats the yorktown campaign. And so to go to share, to do yorktown, because you might wonder what was doing. He was, of course, taking care of logistics again, as he was always doing, but he was also fighting himself. And there is this description of him. The enemy threw himself into the battery. So this is during the attack of redoubt number nine. And so he said to you himself went there fast as thunder with the second battalion of western and his appearance made the enemy withdraw, killing or wounding about 20 men and taking 18 prisoners. So hes considered one of these heroic figures of the battle himself, too. But of course, was mainly important for his Strategic Planning of it all. And so when he returns after this battle, he receives many letters. We remember the one of franklin, but he also receives one of samuel cooper, who says almost the same as franklin, saying many battles have been won on the site of liberty, but few warriors besides a share to have been able to teach us how to improve such advantages to the greatest happiness of mankind. He will leave in the grateful memory of america so much indebted to your counsel and your sword. Here. George washington adds another layer to all theyre saying. I can truly say that never in my life did i part with the men to whom i saw cleave more sincerely than it did to you so again, the importance of these friendships are quite crucial here, and we can see that the one between said to do in washington was quite deep here. Washington didnt have it wasnt really his tone usually to write this type of letters. Theres been one letter where he wrote the same, which was to Martha Washington herself. So now im going to, of course, conclude, but i will talk a little bit more about the shed to american friends when he returned to friends. So when he came back in 1782, he stayed in contact with all these friends that he had made during his american campaign. These include, of course, people that we have all already seen so often. But of course, wasngton is part of it, but also Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, jefferson and henry ox, franklin people, he was involved in and he was continuing to write them mainly because of his friendships. So they were just sharing fun fact about themselves. But shetterly also really had a mission to improve the frenchamerican relations that were quite deteriorating at that time. He was hoping for french american trade mainly, and he was. So he was trying to set that up, especially with Gouverneur Morris and Robert Morris. But he was also still in touch with his friends from the society of the cincinnati. So of course had to do himself was part of this and of just to finish up and to again show this sort of continue ation of the french american friendships that had been so crucial for the campaign of yorktown. They continued, of course, afterwards, even up until today. And this building, of course, symbolizes that, quite obviously. So when anthony was back, he received a letters, one of the first one he received was of knox himself, saying, we have formed this society of cincinnatus. He wrote cincinnatus, by the way, but so to which we have taken the liberty to associate the generals and colonials of your army that have served in america. He describes that its an act of love and that they want to to remember their friendships, but also especially prevent other types of wars in the future by creating this bond between these french and american officers. So she had to do then writes to washington about this and says the military gentlemen with the rank either of general or colonel been to america and they all wear the order of ciinti. And it says the nation sees decorations with pleasure as it recalls, to their mind, the most advantageous war, wl as the most valuable alliance ever made. Tt note that here you can see his handwriting. Its very hard to decipher so that took me a lot of time. But yes, this is shattered. His handwriting. And then he also describes am persuaded that this establishment will triumph over all the enemies that it meets in america. And i hope your country will understand how to unite the glory of the military to the liberty of the citizens. This is quite sort of a critical sentence, but it alludes to the enemies that the society of cincinnati had exactly for the reason of the American Revolution, because it was considered antirepublican. It was considered antirepublican to consider two sort of european knighthood and eventually create a sort of aristo ocracy within the republic. And of course, we all know this story, especially here, much to do was commenting on that specifically and hoped that they would overcome these issues to still be able to celebrate their friendships, especially the hereditary character was quite criticized because of course he would create a specific group, separate from the citizens of america at the time and to be quite agreed actually with that, because of course, he wrote that that he wants to unite the glory of the military with the liberty of the citizens. And a lot of people agreed with this, of course. And so you can see that in 1784, George Washington wrote again to shed to do about what had been what had been decided. And so after certain meetings, they had decided, of course, to reform the cincinnati and to leave a few of the original principle ills. And of course, i dont have to tell you what they all of course were, but its just interesting to see that shed to do was involved in these writings about this and so sorry im still in my thing, but so knox writes to shed to do after this too after this reform has happened when the hereditary character had been abandoned which by the way will be reinstalled later. So you might wonder happened. But thats 19th and 20th century other reforms. But so during this specific period, they were adapting the society in order to fit more into this republican values. And here you see knox writing about that and especially say we were extremely solicitous to adopt your idea of attempting to reconcile the glory of the army with the liberty of the citizen. And we flatter ourselves that we have effected it. I dont really know if he really means that she had to do greatly inspired him, but of course hes flattering him a little. Here to say we we did what you told us to do, but they, of course, knew what they had to do. But he especially added that they were harmless in intention they only had for its real object of perpetuation of friendships and recollection of past dangers as a stimulus for future exertions. Here we go and societe starter continued his sort of endeavors to embellish to create more frenchamerican friendships and to especially propagate a positive image of america. In france, he published his travel diaries under of thomas jefferson. He didnt really want to publish it himself, but jefferson considered it important so that people had a positive, beautiful view of this young United States that was expanding. And then he was also writing about america again in another book that he published, which was on its the importance of the discovery of america, which he considered extremely important, especially for europe, mainly for the trade that could start by having such a huge lands, of course, and so he writes, america is a sanctuary for reason liberty, tolerance and asylum for peace and happiness. And then he continues. So mother linda franklin, washington, hancock, adams, who could wish that you did not for them and for us so we can see this his his sort of main mission in life is really to propagate this image of america and this independ and and always different values that he believes in so ardently and then he starts to work on a book on how to reform friends based on the american example. He, of course, has seen the ideas of more freedoms, more liberties, especially no aristocracy. And he himself, as an aristocrat, is proposing to abolish the aristocracy, or at least the privileges that come with it. He wants to create a more equal society in france, too. He doesnt want to make it a republic, but more a mixed constitution. And so this is a book that he never finishes. He actually died in the middle of writing it. So you can actually see all his notes and they just stop. But you can very well reconstruct the way he was thinking and what he wanted to write, at least during this time. So between then and his death, very quickly, he out of his sudden, mary, marries a woman called, bridget de plunkett. So he had never been married before. He had sort of a mistress for about 25 years, was normal in france at the time, but he was with someone who was actually married herself for all that time. But that is sort of the end of his life. He falls in love with someone who is 27 while he is in his late fifties, and they both fall in love. And you can see in the archive a huge collection of their love letters that really quite beautiful, actually. But so washington writes to him and this shows the continuation of their real friendship. And he writes about a wife. Oh, my. Well, my dear markey, i can hardly refrain from smiling to find your god. At last. And he describes the terrible contagion that he had actually apparently got in america going to him, which was domestic. Felicity which like the smallpox or the plague, a man can have only once in his life because it only left him for his whole lifetime. And then he makes, of course, a joke, at least with us in america. I dont know how you manage these matters in france. And again, this is a very unusual tone for washington, who is really not known to make jokes, but with his friend shetterly, they obviously do. And in the end of his life, very unexpected he just dies of what his wife calls a very bad fever. He had lung problems. And just one day to the other died while she was pregnant. And so she gave birth to their son after he had passed away. But also just when french revolution broke out. So what happened to his body is that he was buried first in a church, but then he was taken out and just dumped into a mass grave. So no one knows where he is now, but it does show you what would have probably happened to him anyways. In the french revolution. But luckily brigitte was able to flee. She went to italy. She left her little baby in france in a farm close to the chateau de chateau du that castle. And so what she did when she came back is she of course, got her child back first. But then she brought all the papers that she had to do had left in his parisian apartment. She brought it to the castle where she made sure that they were preserved, which, of course, is the reason we have all this information today. And so alfred, the son of farms, virgil and brigitte, passed away without having children. But there is a cousin of his, so his brother had his child and he the one that is now continuing the family tree, lets say. And so hes also now thats philip is part of all that and so he has that tower full of archives there. All right. So the conclusion of all of this was that the friendships that are formed between these people during this reconnaissance mission, but also all this intelligence that was gathered, was a crucial and forgotten element of american independence. The thank you. Thank you very much, very interesting. Two questions. First, what were the relation to relations between chateauroux and lafayette . And number two, we end a two ways where certainly in france, in the magnificent hollow, where exactly that you visited. Yeah. So you can indeed. I have a map which is like in slide very far away so i can show it, but its right in the middle its in the so if you know a place called avalon, which is in its close to the more violence like near of region. I think youre french so you might know. Yeah so so they have the castle you can visit for sure. Its open i think from march until september and you can just go there. You have a website, chateau chets new dot com, where you can see the hours. But yeah, you can visited the archive is not open to the public though, but the different rooms that are beautiful, by the way, its a beautiful castle. And so the relationship between lafayette and said to do is that she had to do was the was an uncle of at the end of the way the wife of lafayette. And so actually i dont know why was her grandfather was douglas no not grandfather great great grandfather was douglas. So the chancellor of friends and so she had to do and her were related and actually mother of three and anyway and also church. We grew up together because his father died so he grew up with his uncle and thats how they all got really close. So his when at the end married lafayette they they saw each other very regularly and especially the american campaign. They meet a lot actually. So they really are together and they write to each other a lot to. And one of the interesting letters is where lafayette really confides to his older uncle that he is extremely afraid, has no idea what he has to do. Hes out of his head in Major General and asks for help from chattanooga. So thats an interesting thing because of course, hes about 30 years younger than then, chattanooga is. Of this with lafayettes father. Yes. So actually, he was present the battle of minden, which is the battle lafayettes father was killed. So thats new. Was there as was goshen bull, by the way. So they they were all part of that generation. Youre right and when that happened lafayette extremely young i think he was two or three years old. So. For okay, he was four years old. What was the relationship of allude to the local Community Given the the way of the aristocrats had archives burned the french revolution. Yes good question the chateau du family fled with sister of louis the 16th. Actually to spain and italy. So the the castle was abandoned during the but there was a person from the village that i dont know how you call this english that was sort of said like can you please keep can you take care of it . And what he has done is that he put all the in a farm next to the castle as well as the tape that i still have from the 14th century. And a lot of paintings. So hes hidden them in places where would not sort of look. And so that made it possible that it all survived because that has been kept since so that when they they put it back in the castle went up and with the rest of the castle was of the furniture that was standing there was just too heavy to carry. Thats old, completely destroyed. You can still see if you visit now thats bigger. I dont know all these things, but they were. Theyre all destroyed by revolutionaries and lots of things have been stolen. But that specific collection has been saved because of that man that had that idea to actually hide it all. So so you. Two different questions. One, shasta, lucy, a very modern man. So maybe a few comments on that. Secondly, on the opposite side, did some of the he and some of the top french officers have american mistresses who. Good question. Yes. Threw himself had at least three, which you can find by looking at his correspondence. There is one gold and vernon in newport and another person, i believe. And oliphant. And then another i dont know her name of, but they are writing to him in a very flirtatious way, which is quite funny and especially and vernon writes to him that she wants to be his end. The goal. And she says, unfortunately, as a woman i cant. But im sure that if that would have been possible, all american women would want to be. Your article said sake and then they continue. But then apparently he does something with this and oliphant and then and vernon is very upset by that. And so she writes to him that she is very just mad at him for going with the other. And so its all quite traumatic and of course, most of the or not most sure a lot of them also did not. I think caution bow for instance was not really interested in that kind of things. But most of the younger officers are very well known, have had a lot of girlfriends around during this campaign and that might sounds a little sort of just funny, but it also is quite important because some of these women were very influential in america at the time. So, for instance, in philadelphia, some of these women were actually influential behind too scenes to influence politics and things. So women were besides mistresses, of course, also playing other types roles that are maybe important. So and about the modern the lets say if she had to do of course in his writings that becomes quite apparent as him being one of these enlightened philosophers. But hes always in sort of a struggle with himself because he is an aristocrat he is from that old tradition. Hes one of the most old, aristocratic families that have this very long tradition of especially service. And then he out of a sudden appears this philosopher, which still today for the family is, by the way, a little bit problematic because they consider him a socialist and they consider that negative because theyre themselves still royalists. So you can see that he is considered in his own family, someone very different. And i think that was his struggle personally, because you can read while hes writing about instance america that he really admires certain things, but then he is completely puzzled by others. So there is always this struggle within himself with, lets say, modernity and more conservative sites clashing. So youre in the chateau . Well, up in the tower. You dont know what youre going to find. But, you know, theres big archive. Youre opening up the box. You see these letters from washington. Whats going through your head . Texting first. You know this about that . Well, theres no signals. There was a problem. I couldnt, like inform people, but i was first. I was because when i found when we opened them, i saw these names, i was like, well, im sure its going to fake or i dont know. I just didnt realize. Then when you open it, it looks very real. And then all these there are a lot of different handwritings. And now i would definitely recognize immediately what all these handwritings were, but i was about 21 or something and i was like, i have no idea if this is all real. So i was going through it and then i asked you through. But so are you sure. Is this not some scam . Someone and hes like, no, actually, i didnt even know he had it. So it became very exciting, of course. And going through all that, it also was so the first hours were very exciting and then it also became a little overwhelming because there was so much and even if it stays, of course, extremely important and nice. It also just became, oh, theres so much work to all this. And still, of course, overall, it was just extreme the fun to do and still im still finding new things when i start to open my little photos again that i took it there. Still so much to discover like things that i have totally not told. Of course. But one of his interesting parts is that he wrote 70 pieces. So the other day i was going through them just because, you know, go see and his theater pieces reflect his enlightened ideas about reforms and stuff. But he also adapts romeo and juliet and makes it a happy ending. So these kind of things are just very funny to discover, and its still as i said, it always leads to new find into other interesting things about this man that is so diverse that say. The. One of the reasons why the french were supposed to have mistresses is quite surprising. At the time they were marrying for land, it was an arranged marriage. Youre not supposed to in love with their wife. They were not even supposed to marry the love of your life. They were supposed to marry for the land or for the properties. And so it was totally accepted both the wife and the man would have loved life. So thats kind of one, two, if you go to savannah, which is where lafayette is from, there was there is also a cabinet where they found like, you know, these letters that went to to a to washington and to everybody. Yeah. That those letters actually are now in cornell and now university of the library. You can actually look at the the pdf of all the letters. And even if you ask they will be very nice and they will bring to you the letters and you can have a new hand go from washington to the it and stuff. And its very, very, very moving. Yeah, it really is. Its very its very moving when you see them in front of you just because, of course, its 250 years apart, its still there. So. Im very sorry by the military ideas throughout the enlightenment. And im curious if he had any interactions with anyone from prussia, which is where was coming from, the enlightened king you mentioned frederick the great or of course our man la belle de steuben. Um, and were there interaction that you, you saw with the prussian military . And could you talk a little bit about how that may have impacted him . Yes, it impacted him a lot because, of course, during the seven years war, he saw the Prussian Army in action against him and he got very intrigued. He wrote a whole book about it, about the Prussian Army. He wrote about ten reports on analyzing entire Prussian Army and what the french could from it. So he was very highly involved. He was very close to gibbon, was lucky bear. The the theorist who became very famous for actually sort of how do you call that adapting the prussian example to the french army and to be in him were in the same regiment and together all the time. Theyre writing to each other about the prussian system. And then she had to translate it the prussian instruction. So instructions of frederick the great, he translated that in french so that it became available in french because he considered it such an important lesson. And then he wrote his own introduction to that in which you can see is pure admiration for frederick the great. But also he then. So i think hell visit as one of his philosopher friends sends that book to frederick the great and frederick the great starts to write to shetterly about the fact he translated it, that he it was not really what he wanted, that there was so well spread. But then he was like, well, thank you anyway, do that. So he is of course, very inspired by that. And then going into details that i will not go on too much but called informations that he saw in the column, meaning specific ways of columns to march and to perform their battles and qataris really analyzing them and then in his reports on how to reform the french army once adopt them to make the french army faster than they were before and more deadly actually to have more direct attacks than they had before. So, yes, lots of overlap, but there. Have. Hello, quick question. Continuing the theme of archive preserve fashion. As someone who grew up now lives in rather humid, muggy city, how are the even still preserved today to to page through hmm so thats a nice because its always fun to tell that that whole that the whole archive has been very well preserved and the reason is that the stones of that specific tower is its a specific stone that was used at the time already. I mean at the time of when the the different archives were very important. So the stone makes the humidity, it just absorbs humidity. So theres no humidity at all. In all papers. Theyre extremely well preserved. The ink is just exactly the way it used to be. And luckily, no animals. Thats another problem. Little mice can eat the papers. So that didnt happen because its all very well protected like metal boxes actually. And so one of the reasons that the french aristocracy really needed to preserve their papers was, of course, to prove their nobility. So one of the most important rooms in a castle is actually your archive. So they made it very well already at the time, and still today, thats the way its preserved. So thank you for a great presentation first of all, a couple of really question. The first one is maybe stupid, but you the resemblance between. Costello, mckee, costello the gentleman in the picture above you they seem to be you feel they resemble each other physically. Well, who knows what would happen there. The question is the historians praise mckee costello fluency in english. They say that it helped to enhance the communicate, but that bilateral communication between the french and the american. His knowledge of english, which guess was not that common were where did the learn english . What were the and also i have a question about a gentleman by the name of louis. Alexander. Yeah, we said that we served as captain of infantry in expeditionary French Forces and after the revolution the french revolution, he became the most ably as napoleons chief of staff and he was the only one who was able to read napoleons deplorable notes. And translated them into, but at least a magnificent companion order, all this and that. So did again, multicultural all by any chance mentioned these in his memoirs. Captain bertie arie. Good time. Thank you. So about the first question, the side. So you said that you indeed spoke english, which is one of the reasons he became quite influential in this alliance, because he speak to the americans. Most of his rank could not. Of course, the french were starting to learn english when they arrived. So at the end of their campaign, a lot of the officers did speak somewhat english, but arrived fluent because he, according to himself, he describes this that when he saw the first book of first saw david humes books, he wanted to read them in their original language so that we did that with almost every. So he learned german, spanish, latin and greek e german as well, like all these different languages because he wanted to understand the real books, lets say the real language is in so english, he wrote he was learning for david humes books, but then also when he met david hume, he could actually talk to him because david hume came to the french salons of he, of which he was part, and then he went to england three times in his life to one of these stories. So he was quite involved in english and he was very interested in whole english system, by the way, before going to america and about better said to me, of course, so better just he they come a little later to his brothers when hes already there. Of course they work together, and especially mapmaking becomes very important to. So she had to do making these maps. Im assuming they would work together. I dont really proof of that. But of course, shetler was involved in mapmaking, but he was as well. So probably they have worked together to today in the library of congress. You can find a lot of these maps that are part of the russian vocabulary collection. And so bertil indeed became an important figure of the napoleons army, which i think is interesting and would be worth digging a bit more into of this whole military enlightenment and, what influence that had on napoleon, because most of these young officers that survived the french revolution at least, were part of the napoleonic armies afterwards. So there must be a type of continuation there that would be very interesting to. Look at. But not for the writer to find in your research. Very well. You go back to the with jetblue and washington and ive never ive never actually seen washington so relaxed. Yeah. Can you tell me about that image . I have to admit that i just found it and i like the image, but i dont really know much about the painting, but i did think it was because washington always like is often very strict. Like you see him as a commander or as a president or just very serious. And i thought it illustrates well how he is behaving with yet to do his friend because hes way more funny and relaxed. And as i showed he makes jokes about the wife but he also quite a few letters they make fun references to them having been drunk actually. So hes like, you remember how that was . So they just have a lot of fun together. So thats why. But i dont know much more. I should have known. But yeah. I was like, i love this notion of friendship and, i never thought about these men this way. And when i think about kind of the modern lexicon to describe friendship, its incredibly right. Ive got my bestie, my squad, my core group, my friends for life, right . My old homies. Right. We have so many ways to think about the people our in our life. And im wondering if you can maybe add some layering to, you know, who his closest were. Maybe not. You dont have to say or bestie maybe Something Like that of just not just this incredibly impressive network of people he communicated with and were friends with. But but more. You know what are the like the core relationships there . Yeah, thats a its also a good question of what is indeed what is a friend to these people. Because if just you write a few letters to each other, are you friends and especially as a story you dont really know like there are so reasons that people can write to each other and for instance, voltaire and chastity are quite clearly very if want to say the besties, theyre because they write so much to each other. You can like, like shattered. You up with voltaire or voltaire almost in his home because he was always with dagger. So his grandfather grew up together and then become very close. But still. Voltaire needed him as well because he needed to stay out of the basti and sheltered. You could help him with that. So these kind of things are always a little tricky to reconstruct, but i would still say that qatada, when he here to america, he became seriously close to washington and jefferson and you can as i try to show lisa all different letters that that friendship was very and she had to do really admires both men for their intellect to me thats most of its im his real lets say attraction. He loves talking to people and exchanging so as soon as thats possible so he becomes very close to two. But in france he was mainly closer to a few aristocrat or his. No, thats not the word philosophers of his circle and the most closely was with is someone called elvis hughes, who is not very known. But some people do know him. But was known as a a quite sort of an atheist, actually, like to do himself was sort of two too long to explain but they are really close. Theyre together almost day and then another very close person to chat with his sister who is not necessarily his best friend but you can theyre really really close everything they write to each other that tone comes out very clearly. They dont forget to zoom here. So i do have a few questions from there. And also were shooting in 4k on one camera and its about to overheat. So i to get this whole thing, i want to get all these in before it does that. One question is there theres a conflict, an obvious conflict between chateau lew and, rochambeau, especially when chateau lew writes the letter to what was there, and its captured by the british and and the question is, was postwar what was the relationship between chateau lew and rochambeau since chateau la was obviously closer to washington and he with rochambeau, it doesnt seem that theres much theres almost theres no correspondence between. The two i have to look in that camera offer. But so theres no correspondence between the two after the war which could be surprising because theyve served so long together. I dont theres whole its a very its too long to explain the whole story why there is some friction between caution war and that and if thats actually even true but they write to there is a letter that is got intercepted by the british in which chateau de writes very negatively about ocean view, but it can be interpreted as if he needed that to be the information that was circulating while that was maybe not so thats a whole other question but i would say that they were at least very sort of collegial with each other. They were, of course, working the same goal and they had exactly the same military or not exactly ocean, but was more senior and had served longer in different wars because he was older but they were part of the same military life and group questionable who had been advising the french kings on how to reform army just like she had to do had done. So they were very like minded. So dont really believe in that whole friction. They might have had some dispute, obviously, but i dont think that they didnt necessarily work well together. However, after the war, they dont seem to have been close. I think one of the main reasons is both characters are very different. Of course, young boys is always described as being sort of as stubborn who was really into his military mission and not much more. He like the court of versailles. He didnt. That glittering parisian world was shattered. He lived in all that. It was his main sort of resolve that is being part of the glittering society of paris. So they just didnt really mingle. Well, i would say. One question about your research. How much of it was found at the castle. Than other sources. Yeah. So i would say my research of course, i started with with the friend with the chateau do archive, but then quite quickly i had to go through a lot of other archives do and read many books of other of course historians that have worked on this too. So you can just base everything on just one archive, mainly because that will just create a very one sided image, probably shed to de has of course left out a lot of information. People might have thrown things out. Obviously, his wife has probably done that too, because theres no correspondence with that whole mistress that i spoke in his own archive, which is a little special, you could say, after 25 years. So anyway, there you need to go through other sources. And so of course, i used all the like i think i use about 18 different archives so im not going tell you all of them but an interesting is that shut the newspapers led me to other discoveries lets say so lawless there and for instance the french ambassador that i showed had quite an interesting role in it all. He was quite forgotten. He had written about 50 letters to had to do. So i got and went to the archives where his papers are kept in the diplomatic archives of friends. But then also one of his main correspondence, another person called vio mcneill view. Mcneill is quite an unknown figure, but hes also a Major General in army and his papers have been described as just burns or lost, but actually they have been kept. I recently found that hawk election two and i dont necessarily want to explain that whole story again because its going to add 10 minutes. But it was a very interesting find because they were actually thought. But this entire collection is actually kept in a place called localism, which apparently is very close to shed to do so. Its its a go there, but its in a metal in this industrial of the Metal Industry of a place called near castle, which is known for the pen to look. Anyway, its too long to really explain why it ended up there, but one find leads to a lot of others because of course it reveals other figures that are apparently more important at the time than we know today. So you can retrace all these figures there. I think this is a good final question. What do you think the biggest takeaway from chateau louis time in america was for him personally throughout his entire. Yeah, from the toasting in the blue jays and so well that was very important to him he brought a lot of these little birds with him to give them to his friends. So thats funny. But his main takeaway, i would say that it really changed his whole perspective. So he went to america full of these sort of his own ideals and they were all confirmed for him, not all. Its more nuanced than that. But we could say that overall he was he went to america with the hope of finding this expanding nation full of promises for the future. He would go in a new country compared to his old what he would call sick country. There was a new where everything could be tested. So to him that was extremely exciting. And when he was there, he found that most of the time he was disappointed by some minor details. But overall, he really believed in this progress of this new nation in which everything could still be done. It was kind of this open land for him, which really held the promise of happiness, which he held. So dear because he wrote about it so much. I think that a great place to wrap up. I want to thank you, dr. , for coming out speaking. Thank you for everybody here in person hearing on zoom and thanks continued support to you miss robinson. So ill see you next time that im