Episode 149 Lafayette Comes to America

In late July 1777, the Continental Congress was worried about the northern British Army that had just captured Fort Ticonderoga and was marching southward toward New York City.  The main Continental Army was still waiting for the larger British Army in New York City to make its move, most likely against Philadelphia.  At this same time, a nineteen year old boy arrived in Philadelphia, speaking almost no English.  He asked Congress to commission him as a major general in the Continental Army.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that the Marquis de Lafayette had received a commission at the end of July.  But how this came to pass deserves a bit more background.  Lafayette is probably one of the most recognized names from the Revolution.  How a teenager not only gained such a high military command command and became one of the most famous men of the era needs some explanation.

Lafayette’s Early Years

Lafayette obtained his position in French society in the traditional way.  He was born into an important family with great wealth and power.  His family had served the King since at least the twelfth century.  One of his ancestors had been Marshall of France during the Hundred Years War and had served under Joan of Arc.

His father had served as a colonel, killed in 1759 at the Battle of Minden when his son was less than years old. Fun fact, the British general in charge of the artillery that killed his father, was General William Phillips, who was now marching south in New York with General Burgoyne.  In 1781, Philips would die in Virginia while being bombarded by artillery under the command of General Lafayette.

Marquis de Lafayette
(from Wikimedia)

Lafayette’s mother was from an even wealthier noble family and had come with a dowry including extensive land holdings in Brittany.  When her husband was killed, the family title and fortune fell to their only child.

The boy was raised with the best private education French nobility could provide.  He was also raised with stories of French military glory.  In 1770 his great-grandfather, uncle, and mother all died, leaving Lafayette with an even greater fortune.  His estate produced the inflation-adjusted equivalent of well over $1 million per year to support him.  The boy was still only twelve years old.

His great-grandfather, before his death, had arranged for Lafayette to receive a lieutenant’s commission in the Black Musketeers, the unit responsible for the King’s security.  He had also arranged for Lafayette to marry into another noble family with a direct blood relationship to King Louis.  The marriage did not take place until 1774 when the couple were a little older.  By the time of their marriage Lafayette was sixteen and his bride Adrienne was fourteen.  Adrienne’s father, the Duc d’Ayen, was not only a wealthy noble, but also a general in the French army.  As a wedding gift, his new father-in-law promised Lafayette command of one of his cavalry companies when the boy turned eighteen.

Lafayette lived with his wife’s family and became close to the royal family, particularly Queen Marie Antoinette.  Although he had been raised in wealth and luxury, Lafayette was not comfortable with court life.  He wanted to fulfill his dreams of becoming a military officer.

Marie Adrienne Francoise
de Noailles (from Wikimedia)

The thought of fighting for the colonies came from a very unlikely source.  In 1775 King George III’s younger brother, the Duke of Gloucester, had visited France.  The Duke and his wife attended a dinner hosted by the Comte de Broglie, who was at the time Lafayette’s commander.  Captain Lafayette attended the dinner where the Duke criticized his brother’s handling of the American colonies and numerous other things.  The two brothers had been at odds for years.  The King had disapproved of the Duke’s marriage years earlier.

At the time of the dinner, word had only recently reached Europe about the battles of Lexington and Concord.  Both the Duke and de Broglie were also masons, and spent much of the evening talking about masonic notions of equality and the rights of man.  Lafayette listened attentively and said later that it was that night he decided to fight for the American cause.

In June 1776, as part of a general military restructuring to save money, Lafayette was moved to the reserves, meaning he had no military duties.  His career in the French army was going nowhere.  This only increased his desire to go fight in America.  Because of his age, he could not leave without the permission of his father-in-law, who refused to let him go.  Adrienne had just given birth to the couple’s first child.  The Duc d’Ayen did not want to see the boy get himself killed on some military adventure before the family even got started.  Lafayette also sought the support of his old commander the Comte de Broglie, who also counseled against going to America.

Going to America

None of this deterred him though.  Lafayette received an audience with Silas Deane and somehow convinced him to grant a commission as a major general in the Continental Army.  At this time, Lafayette was only 19 years old, and held a commission as only a captain in the French Army.  That commission was only the result of his family’s wealth and social status, not any actual military experience.

Lafayette, Dekalb & Deane in Paris
(From Wikimedia)

Even so, Lafayette convinced Deane to grant him a commission.  Part of it was his willingness to serve with no pay.  Lafayette also convinced Deane that his service would increase French public support for the American cause. Lafayette would encourage the French government to become more involved in the American cause.  Deane also granted General Johann de Kalb a commision as a major general as well.

By the end of 1776, news of the British capture of New York had reached France.  Officials feared that the rebellion might be crushed and that sending French officers to their aid might only start another war with Britain.  Besides, Lafayette’s wife was now pregnant with their second child.  His father in law still had no interest in letting Lafayette abandon his new family.

Instead, the Duc d’Ayen convinced Lafayette to go to London and visit the Duc’s brother who was at the time the French Ambassador to Britain.  Lafayette complied, gaining an introduction to British society.  On his three week trip, he met General Henry Clinton, Lord George Germain, and even had an introduction to King George III.

None of this changed his mind though.  When he returned to France, he did not go home.  Instead, he planned to use the ship he had purchased, to sail to America with General de Kalb and a number of other French officers ready to join the Continentals.

At Bordeaux, the men boarded the ship, now named Victoire.  In signing papers with French emigration officials, he used his name, Gilbert du Mortier, thinking the use of his better-known title Marquis de Lafayette would set off alarms.  He did send a note to his wife letting her know what he was doing.  Rather than sail to America though, the ship first docked at a port in Spain.  By this time Lafayette’s wife had received his note and alerted her father.  The Duc d’Ayen went straight to the King who issued orders that all French officers, especially Lafayette, should not go to America and should return to France if they had already left.

le comte de Broglie
(from Wikimedia)

Lafayette received word of these orders while in Spain and returned to Bordeaux.  Lafayette wanted to go to Paris, but was instructed to go to Marseilles where his in-laws were staying at the moment.  Lafayette planned to obey, until he got a message from his old Commander, the Comte de Broglie.

De Broglie thought he might convince the Continental Congress to give him full command of the Continental Army.  Remember, I discussed back in Episode 115 that the French thought that the Americans, without any trained officers, might be willing to hand over command of the Continental Army to French officers.  The American colonies would come under France’s control and would possibly end up becoming French colonies.

The Comte de Broglie wanted de Kalb, who was on Lafayette’s ship, to go to America and see if this was a possibility.  De Kalb had instructions to negotiate such an agreement with the Continental Congress.  Lafayette was not a part of these negotiations.  He was just the rich kid who was providing the ship to take them to America.  In fact, it was de Broglie’s aide, de Kalb, who had introduced Lafayette to Deane and helped him to get his commission, obtaining a major general’s commission for himself at the same time.  Also joining the ship was the Viscount de Maury, who had also been promised a commission as major general.

Broglie sent an aide to Bordeaux to tell Lafayette that the government actually did want him to go to America, but had to forbid it publicly in order to avoid war with Britain.  It is not clear that this was true.  In fact, there were many within the government who held differing views on how France should get involved, and no one was certain about the true feelings of the King or Foreign Minister Vergennes.

Arrival in America

With Broglie’s assurance, Lafayette pretended to depart for Marseilles, then set sail for America on April 20, 1777.  During the voyage, Lafayette got to know the other officers planning to fight in America.  He realized that not all of them had particularly ideological motives.  De Maury in particular seemed relatively hostile to the idea of a republic that would be independent of Europe.  In one diatribe to his fellow passengers, de Maury summed up his view of the Americans:

Fanaticism, insatiable greed, and poverty, these are unfortunately, the three causes that incessantly drive to these shores masses of immigrants, who come to slay the natives and destroy in a wasteful spirit, forests as old as the world itself; they drench a still virgin soil with the blood of the aborigines and fertilize it with thousands of corpses scattered over fields seized by force.  In this picture, which is only too true, do you see fewer horrors than could be shown in the continent which we are leaving.

French ships ordinarily did not sail straight to America.  Doing so risked seizure by the British Navy.  Instead, they would travel to a French colony in the West Indies, then make a quick dash to the continent from there.  Lafayette, however, was having none of that.  He wanted to sail directly to America. He was in a hurry to arrive.  Besides stopping at a French colony would give only another opportunity for government officials to stop them and send them home.  The ship Victoire had no significant cannons as defense.  If they had been stopped, they would have no chance of defending themselves.

Memorial in Bordeaux where Lafayette left for America
(from Wikimedia)

The gamble paid off, as the ship made it across the Atlantic without incident. After two months, the party landed in South Carolina in mid-June, 1777.  The crew first encountered a group of slaves working to collect oysters along the shore.  These men guided them to the nearest plantation owned by Major Benjamin Huger.

The landing party was met with barking dogs and guns pointed at them.  Huger thought they were a British landing party.  Once they convinced him of who they were, he invited them into his home and welcomed them.  After obtaining local pilots, the ship then made its way to Charleston.  Lafayette, de Kalb, and a few other officers opted to travel overland, some on horseback, some walking.

The group reached Charleston on June 17.  When the group first arrived after their march, they probably looked rather scruffy.  Many other French would-be officers had passed through Charleston.  Many had been failures, without any real military abilities, looking for opportunities in America.  At first, Charleston gave this group the cold shoulder.  But after their ship arrived the following day, they realized these were men of substance who could be a real help to the cause.  The group enjoyed eight days of feasts and celebrations with the town’s elite.

There, Lafayette donated most of the supplies he had brought with him to the South Carolina militia.  The French officers  met with John Rutledge, then President of South Carolina.  They also inspected the defenses with General William Moultrie.  Both men, like Lafayette, were also freemasons, which helped to create an instant bond between the men.

After that, the French officers made their way overland to Philadelphia, a trip taking many more weeks.  Along the way, they stopped in North Carolina to meet with governor Richard Caswell.

Philadelphia

On July 27, the group finished its 650 mile journey to Philadelphia.  They arrived on a Sunday, when Congress was not in session.  Still eager to make contact, they sought out President John Hancock at his home.  Hancock blew off the group and said they should seek out Robert Morris, who headed the committee that dealt with French relations.

Johann de Kalb
(from Wikimedia)

On Monday morning, the French delegation put on their dress uniforms and presented their credentials to Congress.  Their welcome was less than expected.  The three would-be major generals were, in Lafayette’s words, “treated like dogs.”  They were left standing out in the street in front of Independence Hall for some time.  Eventually two delegates, Robert Morris and James Lovell (who spoke French) came to speak with them outside.  Morris informed them that Deane had exceeded his authority in offering them commissions as major generals.  Congress was interested in getting a few officers with engineering experience, but that was it. They gave the group, who had expected to be greeted as heroes, a nice thanks but no thanks and asked to leave.

Congress was simply in no mood for more French officers at this time.  The two french officers who had already received commissions as generals in the Continental Army, de Borre and Fermoy had both proven disasters.  You may recall General Fermoy had run away from the enemy at first site near Trenton, leaving his regiment on its own, and had just recently set his cabin on fire at Mount Independence, thus revealing the secret retreat from Fort Ticonderoga.

A few months before Lafayette had arrived in Philadelphia, Charles Tronson du Coudray had come with another commission from Dean promising to make him a major general as well.  Courdray had proven arrogant and demanding, insisting that he be made commander of artillery, along with an expensive salary.  American generals, who by this time had combat experience and were leading their armies, were offended by the idea that a bunch of Frenchmen could be given command over them.  Several of them, including generals Knox, Sullivan, and Greene, threatened to resign.

Washington and Lafayette Meet (from Wikimedia)

In late July, Congress was still in negotiations with du Coudray over what position he could get.  They were not interested in his leadership, but also did not want to offend France by telling him to pound sand.  In the middle of all this, these three additional would-be major generals showed up on Congress’ doorstep demanding their promised commissions as well.  So this background explains the cold shoulder that Lafayette and his companions received.  Congress was in no mood to have its army led by a bunch of French adventurers.

Lafayette was not ready to take no for an answer.  He met with several delegates, including Robert Morris who was focused on building an alliance with France. Lafayette convinced them of his ardor for the cause, but also made clear he would serve as a volunteer, without pay.  Not only that, he would pay the salaries of the French officers who served as his aides.  It also helped that Benjamin Franklin had sent a letter to Congress saying that given Lafayette’s position and his family’s importance in France, this commission was important to America’s relationship with France.  On July 31, three days after his arrival in Philadelphia, Congress changed its tune and agreed to assign the new volunteer major general to Washington’s staff.

A few days later, General Washington came to brief Congress on the British army, then approaching Philadelphia.  Washington and Lafayette met at a dinner and hit it off immediately.  The commander invited new officer to inspect the city defenses that evening, which thrilled Lafayette.  The two men walked and talked that evening.  One could almost hear them say I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Cont. Maj. Gen. Lafayette
(from Wikimedia)

For the other would-be generals, the beginning was not quite so smooth.  A few weeks after Lafayette’s appointment, Congress gave du Coudray a commission as Inspector General, which gave him his generalship, but left him outside the immediate command structure.  In doing so, Congress merely put off what was going to be a major confrontation for control of the Army’s artillery.  Du Coudray conveniently ended this potential confrontation a month later when his horse fell into a river and he drowned.

General de Kalb was offended not only by the rejection, but also the fact that Congress honored Lafayette’s commission despite the fact that Lafayette was a far lower ranking and less experienced officer.  De Kalb advised Lafayette to take his commission, even though the young man offered to resign out of protest for Congress denying a commission to de Kalb.  After his rejection, de Kalb simply asked that Congress pay for his return trip to France.

Over the next couple of months, Congress kept de Kalb cooling his heels.  During that time, de Kalb proved to be not quite so arrogant and argumentative as du Coudray.  Several members began to warm up to the idea of granting him a commission.  In mid-September, about the time du Coudray drowned and the British were moving in on Philadelphia, Congress offered a commission as major general to de Kalb. At that point, de Kalb put several conditions on his acceptance.  One being that he be given retroactive seniority to be ahead of Lafayette.  Another was an appointment of his aide as a major, and finally that his wife would receive a pension if he died during the war.  Finally, Congress accepted his terms.  By October, de Kalb joined Washington’s army in the field shortly before the army retreated to Valley Forge.

The Viscount de Mauroy never received his promised commission.  He returned to France, embittered by his experience and had nothing good to say about the Continental Congress or America generally.

Next week: General Howe begins his campaign to take Philadelphia.

- - -

Next Episode 150 Howe Leaves New York

Previous Episode 148 Murder of Jane McCrea

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Further Reading 

Websites

Continental Generals by Date of Commission: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iOYFGKDt4O_EaKd30KnSx69u3_gHEVCyJZD-ZRVPul4

Kite, Elizabeth S. “LaFayette and his Companions on the Victoire” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. 45, no. 1, 1934, pp. 1–32. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44209160

Kite, Elizabeth S. “LaFayette and his Companions on the Victoire(Continued).” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. 45, no. 2, 1934, pp. 144–178. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44209168

Kite, Elizabeth S. “LaFayette and his Companions on the Victoire (Continued).” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. 45, no. 3, 1934, pp. 212–245. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44209175

Kite, Elizabeth S. “LaFayette and his Companions on the Victoire (Continued)” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. 45, no. 4, 1934, pp. 275–311. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44209181

Letter, John Adams to Abigail Adams, August 24, 1777, Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-02-02-0263
.

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Adams, John Quincy Life of General Lafayette, Napis & Cornish 1847.

Crow, Martha Foote Lafayette, The MacMillan Company, 1918.

Headley, P. C. The Life of the General Lafayette, Marquis of France, General in the United States Army, etc., C. M. Saxton, 1860.

Howe, Archibald Murray Colonel John Brown, of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the Brave Accuser of Benedict Arnold, Geo. H. Ellis Co. 1908.

Kapp, Friedrich The Life of John Kalb, Major-General in the Revolutionary Army, H. Holt & Co. 1884.

Lowery, Robert A Complete History of the Marquis de Lafayette, self-published, 1826.

Smith, John Spear Memoir of the Baron de Kalb, Maryland Historical Society, 1858.

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Beakes, John De Kalb: One of the Revolutionary War's Bravest Generals,  Heritage Books, 2019

Leepson, Marc Lafayette, Lessons in Leadership from the Idealist General, Palgrave-MacMillion, 2011.

Aurichio, Laura The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered, Knopf, 2014 (book recommendation of the week).

Unger, Harlow Giles Lafayette, Wiley, 2002.


* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Episode 136: Franklin in Paris

When we last left France back in Episode 115, Silas Deane was doing his best to procure arms and equipment for the Continental Army, as well as doing his best to convince France to support the American cause and go to war with Britain.

American Commissioners in Paris

Recall that Deane had arrived in France in May 1776 with quite a few obstacles in his way.  He had no diplomatic experience, and had never even been to Europe before.  He did not know anyone in France and did not speak French.  On top of that, he had prominent enemies among fellow patriots, like Arthur Lee attacking him from the outset.  He also managed to hire a British spy, Edward Bancroft, as his personal secretary.


Despite all these setbacks, Deane had managed to establish communications with the French Foreign Minister, Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes.  With the tacit support of Vergennes, Deane had established a relationship with shell company called Roderigue Hortalez and Company run by playwright and international arms dealer Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais.  The men had managed to fill shiploads of supplies for America.  However, the British Embassy in France, headed by David Murray, Lord Stormont, managed to get the French government to seize most of those supplies.

Franklin at Court of Versailles (from Ben Franklin History)

France was still not completely on board with backing the patriots, at least not openly.  Even after learning of the Declaration of Independence, France did not want to start another war with Britain.  Open support of the United States would most certainly precipitate such a war.  Support for the American cause, however, was growing in France.  In addition to the possibly worthless paper money Deane was using in France, his other useful currency was his self-appointed power to hand out commissions in the Continental Army.  French officers seeking combat experience could go to America as generals or other ranks higher than they held in the French Army.  Many officers jumped at this opportunity.

By late 1776, Congress had voted to send Deane a little more help.  It appointed Arthur Lee and Benjamin Franklin as co-commissioners.  Both men arrived in Paris near the end of 1776.  As I’ve mentioned in earlier episodes, the new trio did not get along particularly well. Specifically Lee did not like Franklin or Deane and the feeling seemed mutual.

Lee had worked with Franklin when the two men were colonial agents in London before the war.  Lee was extremely dismissive of Franklin’s diplomatic skills and thought he would be a disaster.  Even worse, Lee attacked Deane’s covert aid setup, claiming that the French government was giving assistance to the Americans at no cost.  Deane’s trading company had made arrangements to ship military supplies to America in exchange for tobacco and other raw materials.  Lee indicated that Deane was going to skim those raw materials shipped to France for personal profit, taking advantage of the secretive nature of these transactions.  Lee knew his accusations were false, he had personally helped set up the terms with Beaumarchais and was upset that he had been cut out of getting commissions himself.  His attacks seemed to be a way to get Deane sent home under a cloud.  While Congress held investigations to get to the truth, Lee could take over as the key American in charge of French arms shipments.

Ralph Izard

Ralph Izard
(from Wikimedia)

Joining Deane, Franklin, and Lee, the three commissioners in Paris, was a fourth man, Ralph Izard of South Carolina.  Izard had been living in London for several years before leaving in 1776.  As an outspoken patriot, he no longer felt welcome there.  He moved to Paris, planning to return to South Carolina.

Before he could return, Congress appointed him Commissioner to Tuscany in early 1777.  Tuscany is part of modern day Italy.  The Grand Duke of Florence, however, refused to admit Izard to Tuscany, for fear that it would harm his relationship with Britain.  Izard then spent the next couple of years, living in Paris corresponding from there with Tuscan officials on diplomatic matters.

Izard and Arthur Lee got along, although Lee also convinced Izard that Franklin was not competent. So, Izard and Franklin did not get along at all either.  It seems that Izard thought that Franklin should consult with him and keep him more in the loop than Franklin cared to do.  The two would continue their ongoing feud in Paris until Izard was recalled a few years later in 1779.

Benjamin Franklin Arrives in France

Benjamin Franklin was the rockstar of the delegation.  He had hoped to stay out of the public notice until he had a chance to get a better idea of whether the French court would receive him as a minister. He landed on the French coast at a small coastal village called Auray with his two grandsons, William Temple Franklin and Benjamin Franklin Bache.  Despite landing in an inconspicuous port aboard a local fishing vessel, the French people mobbed Franklin and greeted him with enthusiasm.  By the time he reached Nantes a few days later, the city had arranged a grand ball in his honor.

Franklin’s reputation had preceded him.  He may have been the most well known person in France from North America.  Many of his writings, and accounts of his inventions and scientific experiments has preceded him. Frenchmen and women strained to meet the scientist and philosopher raised in the American wilderness.  Locals began producing images of Franklin for sale.  It became fashionable for people to have portraits on their walls.  His image appeared on coins, signet rings, and snuff boxes.  If bobbleheads had been invented, there definitely would have been a Franklin bobblehead.  Reprints of many of his older books, translated into French of course, flowed into bookstores all over the country.

Franklin dressed frontier style
(from B Franklin History)

Despite speaking almost no French, Franklin had little trouble with inclusion in French society.  He played into his “man of the wilderness” persona by wearing simple homespun clothing in the Quaker style.  In fashion-obsessed Paris where more complex was always better, this was almost shocking.  Franklin also refused to wear a wig when outdoors or when meeting with others.  This was the fashion equivalent  today of not wearing a shirt today.  It wouldn’t exactly get you arrested, but was seen as rather shocking for anyone other than the lowest of classes.  But these distinctions only played into the mythos and made Franklin even more popular.  This was a deliberate strategy.  He knew full well what he was expected to wear. When Franklin had visited Paris in 1767, he had purchased a wig and clothing to fit in with society.  On this trip, dressed as “plain American” Franklin stood out and turned heads with his nonconforming style.

After his stay in Nantes, Franklin made his way on to Paris.  With all the accolades along the way, it took him weeks to get to Paris.  Although he got attention, Franklin did not speak publicly about his purpose in coming to France.  His secretive nature only led to more speculation.  British Ambassador Lord Stormont spread the story that he was fleeing America with his two grandsons before the rebellion collapsed.

Meeting with Vergennes

While French society greeted Franklin warmly, the government was less enthusiastic.  Foreign Minister Vergenes ordered the arrest of anyone who suggested Franklin’s arrival presaged a treaty between France and America.  Vergennes was desperately trying to avoid triggering a war with Britain.  France simply could not afford a war and was not ready for one to begin.

Comte de Vergennes
(from Wikimedia)

Vergennes did hold a discreet meeting with Franklin on December 28, 1776, weeks after his arrival.  Silas Deane introduced Franklin and also attended, as did Arthur Lee.  At that meeting, Franklin outlined his agenda, which included not only more French military aid, but a treaty that would bring France into the war on America’s side.

At this time, it late December, France had received word that the British had attacked and occupied New York and New Jersey, with no effective resistance.  The Continental army seemed to be falling apart and American rebellion might come to an end at any day.  Although Washington’s successful attack on Trenton had just taken place, word of that event would not reach France for at least another month.  In light of all this, Vergennes was noncommittal to anything and urged Franklin to keep a lower profile.

Franklin realized that patience would be required.  However, keeping a low profile was not part of his plan.

Holding Court at Passy

Franklin borrowed an estate in Passy, a few miles outside of Paris.  Actually, today it is a neighborhood in Paris, but in 1776, it was a part of the countryside outside of Paris, between Paris and Versailles.

Jacques-Donatien
Le Ray de Chaumont
(from Wikimedia)

The owner of the home, Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, was a prominent aristocrat who was a big supporter of the American cause.  He served the King in several important positions, and was one of the wealthiest men in France.  In addition to owning several shipping companies, he built several factories, for making glassware and other products.  Among his products were portrait medallions made for European royalty.  Of course his works pumped out a great many Franklin medallions after his arrival.

Despite his wealth and status, Chaumont was an idealist who supported the patriot cause in America.  His home in the Loire Valley was more of a palace.  You can still visit the Chateau de Chaumont today. He kept the house in Passy as a place to stay near the Court of Versailles.  This was more than just a cottage though.  It was a grand mansion with a main house and two wings.  There were several outbuildings and gardens.  A large domestic staff tended to the estate. Chaumont allowed Franklin use of the Passy estate rent free along with food and use of the staff.  Franklin was living like a French nobleman.  Although he eventually began paying rent, Franklin would live there for nearly a decade.  Franklin continued to wear simple commoner clothing and hairstyle, but there was nothing common about the way he lived in France.

Franklin sent one of his grandsons, Benjamin Bache, age 7, to a nearby boarding school. He would visit his grandfather once a week.  Bache was the son of Franklin’s daughter Sally.  Franklin’s other grandson, William Temple Franklin, was the 16 year old son of Ben Franklin’s only son, William Franklin, former royal governor of New Jersey and at the time a prisoner of the patriots in Connecticut.  Temple, as he was known, would live with his grandfather and assist with his duties as part of the American delegation to the Court of King Louis.

As Franklin settled in, he added one of his lightning rods to the home.  He also quickly established his own wine cellar with more than a thousand bottles.  Franklin entertained all the time.  His fame was enough to draw French elites to his gatherings.  Chaumont’s wife often served as hostess at many of Franklin’s parties.  You might think that Chaumont would be nervous with his wife spending so much time with Franklin, who has a well earned reputation for womanizing.  Instead, he quickly realized that Franklin was going after his daughter, who was in her early twenties at the time.  The family stepped up efforts to marry her off to a marquis so that she would not be a temptation to Mr. Franklin.

Chateau de Chaumont (from Wikimedia)

Chaumont himself continued as a booster of Franklin and the American Revolution. As I said, he made medallions of Franklin and also hired an artist to paint his portrait.  Chaumont would invest part of his personal fortune in the purchase of military supplies to be shipped to America.  He also became an important political advocate for the American cause with the King.

Chaumont supported the ideology of the American Revolution, but he also hoped to profit from the arms trade, and perhaps be rewarded with land in America should the revolution succeed.  Sadly for Chaumont, that would not be the case.  He would lose a fair amount of his fortune, which the Americans never repaid.  During the French Revolution, the government would seize his lands in France.  Although he managed to survive the reign of terror, he would die in relative obscurity in France in 1803.

Just so we don’t end that point on too sad a note, Chaumont’s son, James Le Ray, did move to America after the American Revolution, married a Jersey girl, and settled in upstate New York.

Anyway, after Franklin’s first meeting with Vergennes, he realized he would need to be more patient and not push the Foreign Minister too far too fast.  Franklin held salons with France’s intellectual elite, not for political lobbying but simply to use his celebrity status to develop friendships with important members of the French establishment.

Franklin went beyond social settings to excite the French public.  The former printer and publisher fell into old habits after purchasing a small printing press.  He produced pamphlets for distribution to opinion leaders and newspaper editors.  Some were French translations of important documents, such as the Declaration of Independence or the Pennsylvania Constitution.  He was stoking public opinion about the idea of liberty.

He also revived his old habit of writing articles anonymously, or under a false name to affect public opinion.  One article claimed to be from the King of Prussia.  Britain had agreed to pay for any Hessian mercenaries who were killed in the war, but not for the wounded.  Franklin’s article pretended that the government recommended letting the wounded soldiers die rather than sending home cripples.  This is one example of many examples of Franklin's attempts to turn public opinion against Britain and in favor of the American cause.

This strategy confused the ministry.  Vergennes commented “I really do not know what Franklin has come to do here…. At the beginning we thought he had all sorts of projects, but all of a sudden, he has shut himself up in sanctuary with the philosphes.”

Lord Stormont
(from Wikimedia)

Franklin, however, was playing the long game.  He knew that Vergennes was focused on the political realities of trying to weaken Britain while avoiding a direct war.  But Franklin also knew the power of a publicly popular cause with the nation’s elite.  Public support for the cause would help get the ministry on board with helping the cause of liberty in America.  Public relations was every bit a part of Franklin’s strategy along with actual diplomacy.

Franklin also began an ongoing competition with the British Ambassador, Lord Stormont.  The British official in France often had the advantage over Franklin and the American delegation. Among the many British spies in the American delegation, Edward Bancroft was sending weekly reports outlining not only what the Americans were doing, but their strategies for future activities as well.  When it suited his purpose, Stormont would often make these strategies public in an attempt to discredit or prevent them from happening. Some were simply made up stories, like Franklin’s supposed attempt to build some super-weapon using electricity.

Once when asked about one of Stormont’s pronouncements, Franklin retorted it is not a truth, it is only a Stormonter which was a play on the french word mentir meaning to lie.  The word Stormonter soon entered the public lexicon as a term for something that was not true.

More Commissions

Franklin followed Silas Deane’s lead in passing out commissions to European officers who wanted to serve in America.  As I’ve mentioned before it was rather common for officers to serve in the armies of other countries during peacetime.  It gave them experience and sometimes helped to improve relations between the armies of common allies.

I mentioned in earlier episodes that Deane had already provided a major general’s commission to a teen aged captain, the Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette had not yet left for America and had an opportunity to meet with Franklin.  Lafayette was only one of many.  Over the months, Franklin, like the other American Commissioners, was swamped by men seeking commissions.

Franklin had to reject most office seekers.  For some, he would give a form letter saying they were free to travel to America at their own expense and make their case there, but that he did not know enough to recommend them.  For others, he might make an offer.  One was a down on his luck baron named Von Steuben.  He had served in the Prussian Army during the Seven Years War as a captain.  He served at the headquarters of Frederick the Great, but never came to any prominence, nor could he rise in rank.  At the end of the war, he was discharged for unknown reasons.  Some have speculated it was for homosexual activity, though I’ve never seen any primary evidence to support this.  Whatever the reason, he was not able to get a position with any army in Europe.  As he fell deeper into debt, he got word of opportunities to fight in America and went to see Franklin.

Franklin in Paris (from Accessible Archives)

Whatever he said at the meeting clearly impressed Franklin.  Prussian military strategy and discipline was considered the finest in Europe.  Franklin was convinced that Von Stueben was the man to whip the Continental Army into shape.  It is not clear if Von Stueben puffed up his own resume or whether Franklin did it for him.  But suddenly in Franklin’s letter of recommendation, the former captain who worked in the Prussian Army headquarters became a Lieutenant General who served as Adjutant to Frederick the Great.  Washington and Congress relied on this letter to make Von Steuben the Continental Army’s Adjutant General.

Besides Von Steuben and a bevy of French officers, many others from around Europe came looking for commissions.  Casimir Pulaski was a Polish noble and cavalryman.  In 1772, he participated in the attempted kidnapping of the Polish King, who was planning to sell out the Polish Confederation to Russia.  After the Confederation collapsed and Poland was partitioned among the European powers, Pulaski found himself on the run, dodging charges of attempted regicide.  Something the kings of most countries took rather seriously.  Finding his way to Franklin, Pulaski received a letter of recommendation and boarded a ship for America.

For the next nine or ten months, Franklin made little effort to push the French government into doing much more.  He and the other commissioners spent most of their time winning over the French people, seeing just how much they could get away with in shipping covert military items to America, and waiting for events to unfold in such a way as to make a true alliance between France and America possible.

- - -

Next  Episode 137 Lambert Wickes brings the war to Britain

Previous Episode 135 The Danbury Raid

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American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give.  Make a one time donation through my PayPal account.
Thanks,
Mike Troy

Click here to see my Patreon Page

You can support the American Revolution Podcast as a Patreon subscriber.  This is an option for people who want to make monthly pledges.  Patreon support will give you access to Podcast extras and help make the podcast a sustainable project.  Thanks again!



Further Reading

Websites

Kite, Elizabeth S. “PRELIMINARIES OF FRENCH SECRET AID — 1775-1778.” Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. 46, no. 2, 1935, pp. 58–67. JSTOR:
www.jstor.org/stable/44209191.

Fleming, Thomas “Franklin Charms Paris” American Heritage, Vol 60 Issue 1 Spring 2010:
https://www.americanheritage.com/franklin-charms-paris

Augur, Helen, “Benjamin Franklin and The French Alliance” American Heritage Vol 7 Issue 3, April 1956: https://www.americanheritage.com/benjamin-franklin-and-french-alliance

“Izard of South Carolina.” The South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine, vol. 2, no. 3, 1901, pp. 205–240. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27574958

Walton, Geri Benjamin Franklin Living in Passy, France, May 27, 2015:
https://www.geriwalton.com/benjamin-franklin-in-passy-france

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Isham, Charles (ed) The Deane Papers, New York Historical Society, 1887.

Deas, Anne Izard (ed) Correspondence of Mr. Ralph Izard, of South Carolina, from the year 1774 to 1804; with a short memoir, Vol. 1, C. S. Francis, 1844.

Hale, Edward E. Franklin in France, Roberts Brothers, 1883.

Sparks, Jared (ed) The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution, Vol. 1,  Hale, Gray & Brown, 1829.

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Desmarais, Norman America's First Ally: France in the Revolutionary War, Casemate, 2019

Isaacson, Walter Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Simon & Shuster, 2003.

Schaeper, Thomas J. France and America in the Revolutionary Era: The Life of Jacques-Donatien Leray de Chaumont, Berghahn Books, 1995.

Schiff, Stacy A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America, Henry Holt & Co. 2005 (book recommendation of the week).

Schoenbrun, David Triumph in Paris: The exploits of Benjamin Franklin, Harper & Row, 1976.

Steell, Willis Benjamin Franklin of Paris, 1776-1785, Minton, Balch, & Co. 1928.

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Episode 116: American Terrorist in Britain

Last week I discussed some of the trouble Silas Deane had in France trying to get military supplies and French officers to America.

The Offer

Around the same time Silas Deane was trying to get the first ships out of port in November 1776, a man named James Aitken knocked on his door.  Aitken told Deane he had fought for the British under Lord Dunmore in Virginia the year before.  He had been treated poorly and now wanted to work for the patriot cause.  The 25 year old seemed dishevelled and tended to ramble on, but offered an interesting plan.

Aitken had developed a device that would allow the user to set it, then after a delay of several hours, it would burst into flame.  Aitken proposed to enter British dockyards, set multiple devices, and escape before the fires broke out, destroying the dockyard.  This would cripple British naval operations.

This seemed like a pretty daring and ambitious plan, but the risk really just fell on Aitken.  If he was willing to attempt this massive sabotage campaign on his own, why not let him try?  Deane gave the man travel expenses back to England and told him to contact his friend Edward Bancroft in London if he ran into trouble.

James Aitken

Aitken’s story begins in Scotland.  He was born in Edinburgh in 1752.  As the 8th of 12 children, he probably did not stand out much.  His father was a smith, meaning he had a decent trade, but still had difficulty supporting his large family.  In any event, his father died when James was only seven.  In an age when women did not typically work outside the home, his widowed mother could not support the family.

James Aitken (from Wikimedia)

There was no social safety net at the time, so the family was largely on its own.  Even for intact families, times were tough.  Edinburgh saw several food riots in the 1760s.  Poor harvests had increased food prices to the point where many were starving to death.

At age nine, James caught a break.  He was admitted to George Heriot’s Hospital, which despite the name, was a school.  It had been established more than a century earlier for young fatherless boys whose fathers had been town Burgesses.  A Burgess included craft workers such as James’ father.  The result was that James could get an education and sufficient food.  If he did well at his studies, he might even get a scholarship to the University of Edinburgh.

Unfortunately, James did not do so well at his studies.  He did learn to read and write and listened to many sermons by the Reverend John Erskine, who was a radical whig very sympathetic to the plight of the colonists in America.  By age 14, the administration decided that James was not university material.  Instead, they would apprentice him to a trade.  The school thought he should become a house painter.

Now in earlier centuries, a painter was a craftsman since few people knew how to make paint.  But by the mid-1700’s businesses were producing paint on a larger scale,  House painters did not make their own paint and therefore really need that much training.  There were already more painters than needed.  It does not seem like a good career goal for anyone at that time.  Forcing a boy into a seven year apprenticeship to learn how to paint a house was really more just about forcing him into involuntary labor for a long time.

Finally, at age 20, Aitken finished his apprenticeship and became a journeyman painter.  In 1772, his school gave him five pounds sterling to get him started in life and sent him out into the world.  Aitken showed no interest in working as a painter.  Even if he had, there just wasn’t much of a market for one.  He had expressed interested in becoming a military officer, but there was no way he could afford to buy a commission.  Instead, the young man hit the road and set out for London to seek his fortune.

Londoners, however, were not terribly fond of Scotsmen.  They considered them ill-mannered and as foreigners taking away jobs from Englishmen. Aitken did find a few jobs, but did not make enough to survive.  After a time, he embarked on a new career, highway robbery.  He purchased a pair of pistols and held up coaches on the roads in and out of London.  He also took up shoplifting and burglary.  Even a life of crime did not produce much, and always presented the danger of being hanged.  Continuing in this way would not end well.

The following year, 1773, Aitken decided to try his luck in America.  Since he was broke, he made arrangements to serve as an indentured servant.  A ship would pay for his passage, including food and clothing for the journey.  They would then auction him off for a period of years to someone willing to buy his indenture and pay for the journey.  Of course, conditions aboard ship were pretty terrible.  The food and water were poor and inadequate.  It was not unusual for a fair percentage of passengers to die from the poor conditions during the crossing.

Aitken reached Jamestown, Virginia he was auctioned off to a plantation owner.  The details of Aitken’s time in America are rather sketchy.  Much of what we know comes from his own accounts, in which he tried to appear much more impressive than was probably the case.

He went to work as a common field hand, working alongside black slaves.  In many accounts, slaves received better treatment than indentured servants.  This was because they represented a larger investment for the owner.  An owner could invest the time to train slaves in more skilled work since the slave would be around for life.  The indentured servant would only be around for a few years, meaning one had to get as much labor out of him as possible during the indenture period.

Hard work as a field laborer was not something Aitken would tolerate.  He spent his first few weeks in America sick, perhaps from his journey, or more likely from a range of diseases on the plantation.  Almost as soon as he was well though, Aitken ran away from his indenture.

This was no easy task.  Most of Virginia was set up to prevent slaves and servants from escaping.  Aitken’s clothing and accent would have identified him as a servant, meaning he would have to have a pass from his master.  Since he was literate enough, he could have forged such a pass.  Even so, most who tried to escape were unsuccessful.  It is impressive that he did make his escape on his first try in a strange land.

However, he did it, Aitken says that he found his way to Philadelphia, but could not find work or anything else to support himself there.  After a few months, he traveled to Perth Amboy, New Jersey and then New York City.  Aitken claims he then traveled to Boston in time to participate in the Boston Tea Party.  This is highly unlikely.  He likely made the claim only to enhance his reputation and association with the patriot cause later in life.  I’ve seen no good evidence that he made it to Boston at all, let alone participated in the Tea Party.

By early 1775, anti-Scottish sentiment swept over most of colonies.  Scots tended to be Tories, who became very unwelcome in the months leading up to war.  As I mentioned, Aitken also makes the claim that he fought for Lord Dunmore, the loyalist Governor of Virginia.  This could be as part of the force that fought the Indians in Lord Dunmore’s war of 1774, or perhaps with the loyalists fighting for the Governor in 1775.  Again, though, it is not clear at all whether Aitken was just making up his participation in events that he read about in the newspaper.

Whatever his actual activities, by 1775 Aitken found himself in North Carolina along with a number of Scottish loyalists looking for a friendlier location.  There was already a large Scotch population in the colony.  Once he arrived, though, Aitken decided to head back to England.  As ship captains were hard up for crewman, it would have been rather easy to find a job on a ship, even without experience.

Once back in London, Aitken chose a new profession: bounty jumping.  The army was looking to recruit soldiers following the news of Lexington and Concord.  Aitken signed up at least three times that year, each time using a false name.  He collected a signing bounty each time, then deserted a few days later.  This sort of thing could get you hanged if caught, but Aitken seems to have become comfortable with risking the hangman’s noose in order to get by.  He spent the rest of 1775 and 1776 engaging in a series of street robberies and burglaries across southern England, never staying in one place too long.

Adopting the Patriot Cause

Aitken, however, wanted to be more than a common criminal.  He supported the cause of the colonists in the war with Britain.  During this time, Aitken claims to have overheard a conversation in Oxford that changed his life.  Several men in a tavern were discussing the war.  One of them noted that the war depended on the British navy, and that the navy greatly depending on a few dockyards that dotted the coast of southern England.  If something happened to those dockyards, the navy would be devastated.

From that, Aitken finally saw his path to fame and fortune.  He would burn down all the main navy yards in Britain: Portsmouth, Plymouth, Chatham, Woolwich and Deptford.  Britain would end the war. Aitken would slip away to America where he would be hailed as a hero of the Revolution, perhaps even receiving a commission as an officer in the Continental Army.

Aitken with his
incendiary device
(from Wikimedia)

In early 1776, Aitken found work as a journeyman painter near the Portsmouth docks.  He spent much of his time drawing sketches of the dockyard defenses and designing devices that would start a fire after a time delay.

The idea of causing a fire in a dockyard was a realistic one.  While the navy had defenses against an enemy attack, they were not prepared for saboteurs.  Anyone could enter the dockyards without being searched.  Bringing in equipment to start a fire was quite possible.  One would have to start multiple fires all at once all over the dockyards to be successful though.  Otherwise, bucket brigades would probably douse the fire relatively quickly and limit its damage.

Further, even if he could destroy one dockyard, that would almost certainly put the others on alert.  These heightened defenses would prevent similar attacks in other dockyards.  The only way to pull off this sort of destruction would be to have a team of saboteurs hit all the dockyards on the same night.  However, Aitken had no ability to plan such an aggressive coordinated attack.  He planned to do everything by himself.

At first, he hoped he might get to Philadelphia to get the Continental Congress to back his plan.  But he had no money to get to America, even if that was possible given the trade embargo.  Instead, he opted to go to Paris to meet with Silas Deane, the American agent.  Aitken found a small sailboat that took him across the British Channel.  After several attempts he obtained an audience with Deane.  By this time, British agents were watching Deane’s residence at all times.  His valet was also a British spy.  None of them seemed to see Aitken as anything more than a commoner who was no threat to anything, or even worth reporting.

Deane was also skeptical.  Still, after two meetings and reviewing Aitken’s sketches for a time delayed firebomb, he sent Aitken back to England without any real assistance, but with the view, that sure, maybe this guy can destroy something.  He gave Aitken the equivalent of about three pounds stirling and a French passport so that he could return to Britain.  He also gave him the name of a local contact in Britain, Edward Bancroft.  Aitken claims that Deane gave him a promissory note for £300, though there is no good evidence of this.

The Attacks

Although Deane may have seen some small chance that Aitken might do some damage with his time delay devices, the execution of the plot was shockingly amateurish.

Aitken attempted to get several of the devices built to set his fires.  The device itself was rather simple.  It was a candle inside a tin box with small holes to let in air. When the candle burned low enough, it would open a lower compartment filled with turpentine or other combustibles to the open flame.  This would cause the box to explode and set on fire anything within a few feet of it.  Aitken attempted to have several built, but only ever got one of them completed.

On December 6, 1776, Aitken entered the main rope house of the Portsmouth dockyard, planning to set the time delayed fire there.  Since he only had equipment to start one fire, he planned to light the candle, then rush back to town and set his rented room on fire.  That way, firefighters would be busy putting out that fire when the alarm for the dockyard fire came.

Portsmouth Dockyard (1760 plans) (from Portsmouth Royal
Dockyards Historical Trust)

He spent too long putting the combustibles in place, and soon found himself locked inside the rope house for the night.  After trying to find a way out, he eventually had to bang on the door until someone could get a key and let him out.  He had not set the fire and simply claimed to be a curious visitor who got stuck inside.  The guards apparently bought his story and let him go.

The next morning, Aitken tried again, but this time tried to set his room on fire before leaving for the dockyard.  His landlady immediately smelled smoke and confronted him.  After some argument, he left his room for the dockyard.  He spent the day having a few drinks and buying more matches.  In the early afternoon, he entered the rope house, which was already empty for the day.  He started three small fires, then walked out before they grew large enough for anyone to notice.

His fire damaged the rope house but did not spread beyond that. Aitken fled town hitchhiking to London over the next 24 hours.  Once there, he headed straight to the home of Edward Bancroft, Silas Deane’s agent in London.  Now you may recall from last week, Deane had been using Bancroft to send him information from London.  But Bancroft was a double agent, sending virtually useless information to Deane, and keeping British officials informed of everything that happened in France.

Aitken arrived at Bancroft’s door, telling him that Deane had promised him that Bancroft would give him a safe house and £300 to complete his missions in the other dockyards. This put Bancroft in a difficult position. If he helped Aitken, British officials might convict him of being part of this American plot.  If he did not, the Americans might suspect him of being the British agent that he was.  Bancroft sent him away but agreed to meet later.  At that other meeting Bancroft informed Aitken that he would be no part of this scheme.

With that, Aitken left, still determined to complete his self-appointed mission.  Without money, he had to turn back to petty theft to support himself.  He held up in Bristol for a while and began casing the Plymouth dockyards.  All the time, he was certain that a national manhunt would track him down and hang him.

In fact, though his fire at Portsmouth had destroyed the rope house, the damage was limited.  Investigators had no clue who did it, and were leaning toward it being accidental.  They had interviewed over a dozen suspects.  The investigation was leading nowhere.

Aitken though, saw himself as a one man destruction force.  In mid-January, he tried to set fires on three merchant ships and a warehouse in Bristol.  The fires did not work, but discovery of combustibles on the three ships alerted the town that they had an arsonist.  A few days later, Aitken set another fire which managed to burn several warehouses before locals could extinguish it

Once everyone realized there really was a serial arsonist, panic set in.  The government offered a £1000 reward, then doubled it to £2000.  Eventually the reward reached almost £3000  Witnesses started to put together the behavior of this strange Scotsman who had been lurking around Portsmouth and Bristol before the fires.  He became known as “John the Painter” as officials tried to track him down.  Lord Germain used the panic to push a bill through Parliament allowing officials to imprison suspected American combatants without trial.  The bill was aimed primarily at privateers, but the panic over arson helped shephard this bill through Parliament.

Within a couple of weeks, Aitken was in jail.  His luck ran out after he robbed a local shop. The owner tracked him down.  When caught, Aitken had several of the stolen items on him, as well as various tools for use in his acts of arson.  The owner suspected he might be the arsonist.  While in jail, several witnesses identified him.  Officials were confident they had their man.  But they still did not know why he did it or whether he had accomplices.

The Trial

Because Aitken refused to talk, authorities tricked him into providing the information they needed.  They introduced a man as a possible witness who could not identify Aitken.  Afterwards, the man struck up a conversation with the prisoner and showed him some kindness.  He offered to come visit him in jail to talk more.  In their discussions, Aitken bragged about his visits to America, his meetings with Silas Deane and Edward Bancroft, and his work for the American cause.  The man he trusted turned out to be an informant working for the prosecution.

Aitken's trial
(from Wikimedia)

The trial began on March 6, 1777 and was by local standards a very long one, taking nearly seven hours.  The prosecutors indicted him for three offenses related to the fires in Portsmouth.  They did not indict him for the Bristol fires.  Some have said this was to avoid having to pay the rewards offered for the capture of the person convicted of those crimes.  The court had five prosecutors and nineteen witnesses.  Aitken was not entitled to a defense lawyer and had no information before the trial started about the evidence to be used against him.  The jury deliberated for about a second before finding him guilty, and the judge sentenced him to hang.

After his trial, Aitken figured that if he was going to hang, he might as well hang as an American hero rather than a common criminal.  He spent the next few days giving his story to men who would publish biographies of his life and sell them on the streets of London.  He told them he was an American agent, working for Deane and Bancroft.  Although Deane was safely in Paris, Bancroft was in London.  Of course he denied knowing anything about this, but the public now thought he might be an American spy.  The main thing that saved him from arrest was that the British government knew he was a double agent and still wanted to use him.  They ended up allowing him to “flee” to Paris where he could keep tabs on Deane and continue to provide intelligence to the British government.

On March 10, 1777, four days after his trial, officials took Aitken back to the Bristol dockyards, where they had assembled a gallows.  It was over 60 feet high, made from a ship’s yardarm, the tallest ever used in Britain.  After the hanging, they gibotted his body, which meant covering it with tar for preservation, then putting it in a cage and hanging it on public display.  There he would remain as a warning to anyone else who would try to interfere with the British war effort.

Next Week: We return to American as Washington’s Army begins its retreat across New Jersey with the British Army in close pursuit.

- - -

Next Episode 117: Retreat Across New Jersey

Previous Episode 115: Congress and French Diplomacy

Click here to donate

American Revolution Podcast is distributed 100% free of charge. If you can chip in to help defray my costs, I'd appreciate whatever you can give.  Make a one time donation through my PayPal account. 
Thanks,
Mike Troy

Click here to see my Patreon Page

You can support the American Revolution Podcast as a Patreon subscriber.  This is an option for people who want to make monthly pledges.  Patreon support will give you access to Podcast extras and help make the podcast a sustainable project.  Thanks again!



Further Reading

Websites

Jack the Painter: https://portsmouthdockyard.org.uk/timeline/details/1776-jack-the-painter

Hedbor, Lars D. H. “John the Painter, Terrorist for America” Journal of the American Revolution, May 1, 2016: https://allthingsliberty.com/2018/05/jack-the-painter-terrorist-for-america

George Heriots School: https://www.george-heriots.com/school/our-history

Death of an 18th Century Terrorist: John the Painter http://mikerendell.com/death-of-an-18th-century-terrorist-john-the-painter

Free eBooks
(from archive.org unless noted)

Aitken, James The Life of James Aitken Commonly Called John the Painter, John Wilkes Publisher, 1777 (Google Books).

Dean, Silas The Dean Papers, Vol. 1, New York Historical Society, 1887.

Books Worth Buying
(links to Amazon.com unless otherwise noted)*

Fleming, Thomas 1776: Year of Illusions, New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1975.

Paul, Joel Richard Unlikely Allies: How a Merchant, a Playwright, and a Spy Saved the American Revolution, Riverhead, 2009.

Warner, Jessica John the Painter: Terrorist of the American Revolution, Thunder's Mouth Books, 2004 (book recommendation of the week).

* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.