MHS plans Rochambeau Monument

#Middlebury #Rochambeau

MHS President Bob Rafford stands beside the original painting by John Trumbull (1756-1843) entitled “The Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19, 1871” at the Yale University Art Gallery in 2019. (Submitted photo)

By DR. ROBERT L. RAFFORD

June is Rochambeau month in Middlebury because, on June 27, 1781, the French Army under General Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau, encamped on Middlebury’s Breakneck Hill in 1781 (the name “Breakneck” dates to the 1600s). Today, the encampment site is partly on town-owned land and partly on private property. The Middlebury Historical Society (MHS) is proposing to renovate the encampment site, focusing on creating a professionally-designed monument with narrative displays of the history of this important event. While the current monument is 600 feet into the woods on a hill 85 feet up from the road, our plan would create a display closer and more accessible to Artillery Road.

The historical society has been discussing the project with representatives of local, state and federal officials. The National Park Service, dedicated to enhancing the 700-mile march route, is already planning for the 250th Anniversary of the march in 2031, and we are working with them to make our plans. Go to www.nps.gov/waro/index.htm for more information. Our wish is to create a monument that tells the story of the French encampment, but also honors over 30 Middlebury Revolutionary War veterans.

The American-Irish Historical Society, led by Waterbury’s Dennis Tierney (1846-1916), built a modest monument on the site and dedicated it on June 27, 1904. Why the Irish, you ask? Tierney, also responsible for the modest monument in Southington a few years later, wanted to honor the French Army and the many Irish soldiers serving in that army, all of whom were dedicated to combating their common British enemy.

At our country’s request for them to enter our war for independence, the French initiated a campaign, code-named Expédition Particulière, which consisted of 5,300 officers and men in the French army under the Comte de Rochambeau. His forces landed in Newport, Rhode Island, in July 1780. In September and again in May, Rochambeau met with General George Washington in Hartford and Wethersfield, Connecticut, respectively, where they formulated plans to attack the British, who controlled New York.

In June, after wintering in Rhode Island, the French army commenced its march westward and southward, eventually taking them through nine states and the future Washington, D.C. As they marched through Connecticut, the army encamped in the towns of Scotland, Lebanon, Andover/Bolton, East Hartford, Southington, Breakneck Hill (then in Waterbury, now in Middlebury), Newtown and Danbury. Our site is the only one in Connecticut remaining fully intact since the encampment.

In August, when the army arrived at Washington’s headquarters in Phillipsburg, New York, plans shifted from attacking New York to a southern campaign targeting Yorktown, Virginia, where General Cornwallis led British forces. The Continental and French armies, under the leadership of Washington, Lafayette and Rochambeau, supported by the French Navy offshore, triumphed over the British, and the Revolution was won. After the successful campaign, the French army encamped at Breakneck again in October 1782.

The ideals we all cherish as Americans, and of which we are so starkly reminded in these days of war, have roots right here in our town, due to the courage, sacrifice, idealism and dedication of our Revolutionary War soldiers, their families and supporters. This story needs to be more fully told in our town. Please contact us if you are interested in this project – more details can be found at our website www.middleburyhistoricalsociety.org/Rochambeau Project.

You are urged to join the Middlebury Historical Society by going online at MiddleburyHistoricalSociety.org or visiting them on Facebook. Questions about membership can be sent to Bob at robraff@comcast.net.