Cobblestones
Home : Colonial
Lives
: Le Journal de Le
Marquis de Lafayette
Le Journal de
Le
Marquis de
Lafayette
by Daniel
 Click play to hear my story |
Salut Journal! I am sorry for not writing in you sooner, but I have been so busy. Shortly after I arrived here, I met one of the leaders of the Revolution, General George Washington, and we almost immediately became friends. My first battle was at Brandywine on September 11th of this year. It went quite well. I am currently in the Quaker settlement of Valley Forge. It is winter and it is quite a blizzard out there. The soldiers have very few resources and I estimate over 4,000 have no shoes or socks. Due to lack of food and warmth, many soldiers are wearing out their welcome by stealing from the local townsfolk. Why, just the other day, I saw a group of them chopping someone's fence to pieces and dragging it off towards their encampment. All of this hardship must have a terrible effect on their morale. I would not be surprised if this winter kills most of us. The local schoolhouse has been converted into a hospital . The frost turns the soldiers’ hands and feet black. There are bins and bins outside of the hospital full of human hands and feet that have been sawed off. It is gruesome to even think about it, let alone look at it. I think that, though it is unlikely, this could be a turning point in the war against the British. I hear that a baron is coming from France to help drill training. I must stop writing now for I fear my candle is low. Adieu!
February 21, 1778
Bonjour Journal! I apologize once more for not writing sooner, but I have so many things to attend to around Valley Forge. Can you guess what it is tomorrow? It is my friend George Washington's birthday! Since the recipe for his cake calls for large quantities of ingredients, his wife is asking the townsfolk for flour and eggs. Oh, by the way, Baron von Steuben and his translator Pierre have arrived to train the soldiers in the ways of war.(I believe that I told you about this in an earlier entry.) On a more recent note, the issue of soldier housing has gotten slightly better; they have chopped down some trees and made small cabins out of them. Still, a good number of the soldiers have no shoes or have adequate clothing, despite the donations of the townsfolk. I also have something shocking to report: yesterday, I went to Philadelphia and I looked in the window of a building owned by a British officer and was astonished at what I saw: the officer and his soldiers were playing cards, munching on sweets, and gorging themselves on gourmet food! The way they acted it was as if a war happens every day! How can they laugh at our hardships like this? How can they do this while my friend George Washington holds his army together with threads? Sincerely journal, I do not know how they can live with this on their conscience. I swear to you Journal, I will try to knock some sense into those tea sipping British simpletons!
February 27, 1778
Salut Journal! You will never guess what has happened: the nearby river is flooded with shads(fish) for some unknown reason! It was a wonderful sight; everyone was cheering and whooping and I’m sure soldiers and townspeople were netting shads by the thousands even though most of their lips were turning blue due to the cold. They must be freezing, but at least the famine is over. I participated in the fishing myself and netted a few hundred. It was good to see a change in the moods of soldiers and townspeople. After all, the frost was hard on them. But there still remains a great deal of emotional suffering as far as the women are concerned. What surprises me is that if a woman’s husband dies, she has 30 days to marry or leave the encampment. Who on earth created that rule? I, like many people here in Valley Forge, married at around 16 and I also know how it feels to lose someone, for my mother and grandfather died when I was but 13. I have had many mixed emotions regarding the war for independence. But one thing is for sure: the colonies deserve freedom and I will keep fighting alongside my friend George Washington until they have achieved it! I will try to write more frequently in the future, but for now a tout a l’heure!
Epilogue
The Marquis de LaFayette left Valley forge on June 19, 1778 along with a Continental army that was in better shape than it had been six months earlier. Though he was the commander of a division, Lafayette never had many troops in his charge. He played a significant role in the American revolution from then on and even played a part in the battle of Yorktown, ending the war. After the treaty of Paris was signed, he returned to France for many years before returning to the United States in 1784. He stayed for five months as a guest of the nation. Washington and LaFayette were both slave owners who had come to view slavery with disgust. Lafayette urged Washington to free his slaves as an example to others since Washington had been held in high regard since the war had ended. Lafayette purchased an estate in French Guinea and settled his slaves there and offered a place for Washingtons slaves. He wrote “ I would never have drawn my sword for the cause of America if I could have conceived that I was founding a land of slavery. Washington did not however free his slaves in his lifetime.