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The following are the route and camps of the army of Count de Rochambeau in the campaign of 1781 from Providence, Rhode Island, to Bedford, New York:6
DATES OF ARRIVAL. June 18.
CAMPS. DISTANCES. Miles
DATES OF ARRIVAL.
CAMPS.
DISTANCES. Miles.
Waterman's Tavern, R. I. . .
I5
June 26.
Baron's Tavern, Conn. . . 13
=
19. Plainfield, Conn. .
15
Breakneck,
I3
20. Windham,
15
27. 28. Newtown,
15
21. Bolton,
I6
July I. Ridgebury,
19
22. Hartford,
12
2. Bedford, N. Y. . .
. I3
25. Farmington,
13
1 Breakneck "derives its name from the circumstance of one of the cattle falling and breaking its neck in descending the hill while employed in transporting the baggage of the troops."-Cothren's " History of Woodbury."
2 Bronson's " Hist. of Waterbury."
3 Mr. Cothren is in error here ; Lafayette was not with this army.
4 Rochambeau.
5 The Abbe Robin, General Chastellux and the Baron du Bourg, who accompanied Rochambeau, say nothing of this encampment.
" The distances are taken from journals written during the march, and in some instances may not be strictly accurate.
85
DIOCESE OF HARTFORD.
Seven months before Rochambeau's troops started on their march across Connecticut, the Legion of the Duke de Lauzun, consisting of 1,000 infantry and 500 mounted Hussars, went into camp at Lebanon, the home of Governor Trumbull.1 They were here from December 1, 1780, to June 23, 1781. Their camp was situated a short distance west of the governor's residence, and near the Congregational church. "A gay June for Lebanon was that," says a local historian, " when these six brilliant Frenchi regiments, with their martial bands and gorgeous banners, were daily displayed on this spacious and lovely village green." 2 While encamped liere the Legion was reviewed by General Washington, who highly commended the efficiency of the commander and the discipline of the troops. During the encainpinent here a soldier was shot for desertion. The unfortunate man was tried by court-martial at 9 P. M. and executed before daybreak.
While in camp at Lebanon, De Lauzun and his officers made a visit to Norwich. The historian of Norwich 3 thus describes the event: "Colonel Jedidiah Huntington invited the officers to visit him, and prepared a hand- some entertainment for them. They made a superb appearance as they came into town, being young, tall, vivacious inen, with handsome faces and a noble air, mounted upon horses bravely caparisoned. The two Dillons, brothers, one a major and the other a captain in the regiment, were particu- larly distinguished for their fine forms and expressive features."
A local historian 4 has reflected severely upon the private character of the Duke de Lauzan. Perhaps, he was not a model for imitation, but I do not believe he was the profligate he has been painted. I prefer to form iny judg- inent of hiin from the testimony of those who shared the hardships of the camp with him and who knew him best. Such a one was the Count de Fer- sen, aid-de-camp to Count Rochambeau. In a letter to his father from New- port, October 16, 1780, he wrote :
"I have already informed you, my dear father, that I am extremely intimate with the Duc de Lauzun. Opinions are very much divided concerning him. You will hear good and bad reports of him. The first are right, the second are wrong. If those who say them knew him, they would change their minds and do justice to his heart."
The history of the operations of the French army sustains the assertion that its assistance was indispensable to the success of the American arms. With the single exception of D'Estaing's withdrawal from Newport, in which, however, he felt justified, the Frenchi allies caused no friction with the Amer- ican forces ; but, on the contrary, co-operated intelligently, bravely and con- stantly with the plans of the Commander-in-chief. They were exponents of liberty in its highest sense, and their sole aim was to aid in securing the precious boon for their fellow-inen across the sea. For this they abandoned the ease and comforts of aristocratic life, sacrificed position and fortune and
1 Gov. Trumbull was the original " Brotlier Jonathan."
2 " Early Lebanon."
3 F. M. Caulkins.
+ "Hist. of Norwich."
86
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND.
sundered the holy and tender relations of home and friendship. Washington recognized their splendid services, and in his congratulatory order to the allied army tendered this graceful acknowledgment :
WASHINGTON'S CONGRATULATORY ORDER TO THE ALLIED ARMY.1 " After Orders, 20th Oct., 1781.
"The General congratulates the army upon the glorious event of yesterday. The generous proofs which His Most Christian Majesty has given of his attachment to the cause of America must force conviction on the minds of the most deceived among the enemy relative to the good consequences of the alliance, and inspire every citizen of these states with sentiments of the inost unalterable gratitude. His fleet, the most numerous and powerful that ever appeared in these seas, commanded by an admiral whose fortune and talents insure great events, an army of the most admirable composition, both in officers and men, are the pledges of his friendship to the United States, and their co-ope- ration has secured us the present signal success.
"The General on this occasion entreats his Excellency, Count de Rochambeau, to accept his most grateful acknowledgements for his council at all times : he presents his warmest thanks to the Generals Baron de Viomenil, Chevalier Chastellux, Marquis de Saint Simon, and Count de Viomenil, and to Brigadier-General de Choisy (who had a separate command), for the illustrious manner in which they have advanced the common cause. He requests that Count de Rochambeau will be pleased to communicate to the army under his immediate command the high sense he entertains of the distinguished merits of the officers and soldiers of every corps, and that he will present in his name to the regiments of Agenois and Deuxponts the two pieces of brass ordnance captured by them (as a testimony of their gallantry) in storming the enemy's redoubt on the night of . the 14th inst., when officers and men so universally vied with each other in the exercise of every soldierly virtue."
CHAPTER XVII. MASS IN THE FRENCH ARMY.
S Rochambeau's army were Catholics, with, probably, a few exceptions, and as it is the custom of Catholic nations to provide chaplains for their armies and navies, we are certain that the French forces, who aided us in the Revolution, were sufficiently provided with priests. Indeed, the names of some of them are known, viz .: the Abbés Robin, Glesnon, Lacy, St. Pierre and Claude Florent Bouchard de la Portieré. A Capuchin friar was also in the service. After the war the Abbé Portieré re- inained at Boston until 1790, when he sailed for the West Indies. The Abbé Lacy, as his name indicates, was an Irish priest ; and as he was an hospital chaplain, it is probable that he accompanied the army on its entire march.2 If so, he performed service in Hartford, as the old meeting-house was trans- formed into a temporary hospital for the soldiers who had fallen ill on the route. The Abbé Glesnon was at Newport and Providence for some time, and, no doubt, said Mass in those places regularly, and, in all probability, accompanied Rochambeau's, or some other regiment, across Connecticut.
The army spent two Sundays in the State, at Hartford (June 24th) and Newtown (July Ist), and it may be averred that on those days-if on no others
1 Lieutenant Sanderson's MS. Diary. Yorktown Orderly Book.
2 He is spoken of as "an Irish priest, the Abbe Lacy, the Chaplain of our hospital."
87
DIOCESE OF HARTFORD.
-the Holy Sacrifice of tlie Mass was offered up by one or more of the chap- lains. We cannot, however, speak with the same degree of certainty of the celebrants of the holy services. The Abbé Robin, General Chastellux and others, who wrote about their campaign experiences, are exasperating in their silence on religious matters. They, probably, regarded the saying of Mass as a function of ordinary occurrence and as having no special bearing on present or future history. This would account for the dearth of informa- tion on a subject that is of vital importance to us.
However, so firmly is the belief grounded that Mass was said in Hartford during the encampinent of Rochambeau's divisions, that its Centennial was celebrated with imposing ceremonies in St. Peter's church, Hartford, on Sun- day, June 26, 1881. In speaking of the historic event, the historian of the occasion says :1 "The great thoroughfare of travel between New York and Providence or Boston was across the Ferry from East Hartford through Ferry and Front streets, crossing Little River by a ford, where the Front street stone bridge now stands, to the Meadow ; thence up to and across Main street to the south roads leading in different directions to Middletown, to New Haven and to Farmington. It was on these beautiful meadows, now within the limits of St. Peter's parish, near where the Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd now stands, that the Abbé Robin, chaplain of the French troops, offered up the first Mass said in Connecticut, just one hundred years ago. Since that event two entire generations have not passed away. There are people still living in Hartford whose fathers were present at the Mass said by Abbé Robin for the soldiers alone."
The historical basis upon which these statements rest is that in 1830, alinost a half century after the event is said to have taken place, the spot was pointed out to the missionary, Rev. James Fitton, then stationed at Hartford, by one who had attended the Mass, and remembered all the circumstances.
It may be accepted as a fact that Mass was said at that encampment ; and, as it is certain that the Abbé Robin accompanied the army through the State, in the absence of direct proof to the contrary, we inay assent to the traditions of a century, and yield to him the honor of being the celebrant on that inemnorable occasion.
I believe, furthermore, that Mass was said at Newtown also, and, per- haps frequently on the march, inasmuch as ariny chaplains always carry thie articles necessary for the saying of Mass, even under unfavorable circ11111- stances.2
Another question of interest here arises : Was the Legion of De Lauzun provided witli a chaplain during his sojourn of seven months at Lebanon ? The probability is very strong that a priest was tliere, at least at intervals,
1 " Centennial Celebration of the First Mass in Connecticut."
? "The march of Rochambeau's army through several States where Mass had never before been said, brought to light Catholics in many places where they were not known to exist ; and the army chaplains were often surrounded by the descendants of Irishmen or Acadians, who now saw a priest for the first time, and implored them to stay."- De Courcy and Shea's " Hist. of the Cath. Church."
88
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND.
duly commissioned to minister to the spiritual wants of the troops. The French army was provided with five or six chaplains. The commander could, without impairing the efficiency of the ecclesiastical force, assign a chaplain to De Lauzun's Legion. The French soldiers were Catholics, and like the Catholic soldiers of our own nation, desired the frequent ministra- tions of their spiritual guides; and those in authority were then, as they should be now, alive to the necessity of the presence of chaplains in camp. To me it is incredible that the Legion of the Duke de Lauzun spent seven months at Lebanon deprived of religious services. And the proba- bility of the presence of a chaplain is made all the stronger from the fact that the great feast of the Nativity of our Lord occurred during the encamp- ment. I am convinced, therefore, that on that festival, so precious to the hearts of Catholics the world over, and particularly to Catholic soldiers in a strange land, far from home and kindred, but with memories of the inid-night Mass fresh and dear, the holy sacrifice of the Mass was celebrated-a military Mass it was, perhaps-with becoming ceremony, and that the hardy soldiers enjoyed the unspeakable happiness of receiving Holy Communion.
And still further, it is improbable that the commander would permit the unfortunate deserter to be sent before the Judgment Seat unslirived, or deprived of the opportunity of making his peace with God.
We have seen that the Legion of the Duke de Lauzun remained in camp at Lebanon during the winter of 1780-81. On June 23 he began his march to the Hudson, but took a more southerly route. His first camp was between Colchester and Middlehaddamn, the second at Middletown, the third at Wal- lingford, the fourth at Oxford, the fifth at New Stratford, the sixth at Ridge- field, and the seventh at Bedford, New York, where he united with Rocham- beau's divisions.
CHAPTER XVIII. LAFAYETTE IN CONNECTICUT.
T HE most distinguished French Catholic of the Revolution to honor Con- necticut with his presence was the Marquis de Lafayette. During the war he passed frequently through the State on missions of vast im- portance. In the summer of 1778, Washington dispatched him to Rhode Island to assist General Sullivan in repelling the British forces at Newport. The campaign resulted in failure, and Lafayette returned to Fishkill on the Hudson. On these inarches he followed the main highway from New York, running through Newtown and Waterbury to Hartford and Middletown, and thence to Providence and Newport. At Breakneck, in Middlebury, he was the guest of Captain Isaac Bronson. The host honored his illustrious visitor by placing at his disposal his finest room and his best bed. Lafayette, however, removed the upper feather bed, saying : "Straw for the soldier, " and slept upon the straw under-bed.1 He is described at this period as "a slender, handsome youth, who sat a horse beautifully, and altogether made a fine appearance."2
1 Bronson's " History of Waterbury." 2 Ibid.
89
DIOCESE OF HARTFORD.
Lafayette was in Hartford with Washington when the latter conferred with Rochambeau the first time, and returned to the Hudson with him to learn of the treason of Benedict Arnold.
His visit to Norwich is thus described :1 "There were some who long remembered the appearance of the noble Lafayette, as he passed through the place on his way to Newport. He had been there before, and needed no guide; his aides and a small body-guard were with him, and he rode up to the door of his friend, Colonel Jedidiah Huntington, in a quick gallop. He wore a blue military coat, but no vest and no stockings; his boots being short, his leg was consequently left bare for a considerable space below the knee. The speed with which he was traveling, and the great heat of the weather, were sufficient excuses for this negligence. He took some refresli- ment and hastened forward. At another period, he passed through with a detachment of 2000 men under his command and encamped them for one night upon the plain."
In 1784 Lafayette paid a visit to this country, whose liberties he had helped to achieve. Though his sojourn was brief-he arrived during the sum- mer and departed in December, -he visited Hartford on October 5th. An elaborate dinner and an address of welcome by the Mayor were among the features of his reception.
In 1824 Lafayette again crossed the waters to mingle once more with the people who held him in veneration. After his reception by the citizens of New York, he set out for Boston. When he reached the Connecticut line he was formally welcomed by State officials and escorted through the State with every demonstration of affection and joy. Bridgeport, New Haven, New Lon- don and Norwich paid distinguished honors to their guest. On his return he stopped at Hartford and proceeded thence by boat to Middletown. Resuming his trip by water, he reached New York on Sunday, September 5th. Lafayette was accompanied on this visit by his son George and his secretary, M. Levasseur.2
" History of Norwich."
2 In1 1855 Prof. Morse ascribed to Lafayette the utterance that " if the liberty of the United States is ever destroyed, it will be by Romish priests." He also contended that Lafayette was a convert to Protestantism. Right Rev. Martin J. Spalding, Bishop of Louisville, Ky., disposed of Prof. Morse in a public letter Aug. 14, 1855, which will be found subjoined.
LAFAYETTE'S PRETENDED WARNING AGAINST THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD.
I am in no way committed to the opinion that he (Lafayette) was always a good Catholic and a regular communicant during his long and tempest-tossed life. Reared up piously in the Catholic faith, lie received before his death the last rites of the church from the hands of the curate of the Assumption, and he was interred with the full Catholic cere- monial, as Cloquet testifies. Having passed the most of liis life as a soldier, a politician and a professed revolutionist-though not a Radical or a Red Republican-he was not a religious man, and was probably for a time tinctured with the religious indifferentisi!, or infidelity, so prevalent in France. He admits as much in the affecting letter in which
90
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND.
he speaks of the last illness and pious death of his wife ; but that he had not wholly lost the Catholic faith may be inferred from his promise to that devoted Catholic wife that he would read with recollection certain works which she liad recommended, and the perusal of which she had hoped would lead to his conversion. During his last visit to this country he attended Catholic worship in the churches of Baltimore and Philadelphia, and, probably, elsewhere ; and I have been informed at Baltimore that he excused himself to the sexton for not kneeling during the service, on the ground that he had a stiff knee. No one had ever dreamed that he was a Protestant except Professor Morse and poor Dr. Vanpelt, who so distinctly and vividly recollected his conversion. All that my present purpose strains me to mention is that he was' not a hypocrite ; that he had not the mean- ness to pass as a Catholic in France-so far as he was a Christian at all-and then at the same time to speak and act in this country as a Protestant, and as a hater of that Catholic priesthood whom he respected, and whose ministry he cheerfully employed in his family at home. This is my position, and neither Professor Morse nor his witnesses have shaken it in the least. From his Memoirs we learn that he espoused the cause of the faithful French clergy, who had refused to take the iniquitous constitutional oath. Notwith- standing "the great unpopularity " which was for a time attached to these devoted priests, the worship performed by them "never ceased to be publicly practised by the family of Lafayette." ("Memoirs," Vol. III., p. 80, Paris edition.) This proves that he had no sympathy with any but duly recognized priests.
Professor Morse insists upon the successful exertions of Lafayette in favor of reli- gious liberty, as an evidence of his liostility to the Catholic priesthood. Did he ever chance to read in the Memoirs of the French patriot his important declaration on this subject, that his motion for full religious liberty to the small Protestant minority in France "would have probably failed had it not been supported by the Bishop of Lan- gres?" (Vol. II., p. 178.) Did he ever happen to read the bill itself, drawn by the hand of Lafayette? If he did, he would have perceived that the French General therein makes a distinct profession of faith in the Catholic as the true religion, and speaks of Protest- ants as persons " who have not the happiness to profess the Catholic religion." Can it be that the Professor failed to notice this important act when he referred for another and sinister purpose, to this identical passage in Lafayette's life? Probably he did not con- descend to notice all this, but "waived it as impertinent."
The passage of the bill of 1787 to which I refer is the following : " A portion of our fellow-citizens who have not the happiness to profess the Catholic religion, finds them- selves stricken with a sort of civil death. The bureau knows too well the heart of the king not to be persuaded that he desires the true religion to be loved by all his subjects, of whom he is the common father ; he knows that truth sustains itself by its own force ; that error alone has need of employing constraint, and that his Majesty unites the dispo- sition of a benevolent toleration with all the virtues which have merited for him the love of the nation." (Memoirs, II., 179-180.)
If Lafayette urged him so repeatedly and so earnestly to give the warning contained in the motto to the American people as early as 1831, why did he delay giving it until 1836 or '37 (he gives both dates), five or six years afterwards, and about three years after the death of the French patriot? He alone can answer this question.
If this was really the sentiment of Lafayette, why is not the famous motto found in those twelve volumes, consisting in great part of his own writings? And why is no trace of.it to be discovered in any of the published lives of the French patriot? Why, especially, does his physician, Cloquet, who was so intimately acquainted with his inmost thoughts, say nothing whatever on this subject in the elaborate work in which he treats of the private life and conversion of the patriot ?
How does the Professor reconcile the two manifestly inconsistent facts of Lafay- ette's using the motto to American Protestants and at the time passing for a Catholic in France, praising the tender piety of his devoted Catholic wife, and wishing to be buried by her side? How explain the solemn Catholic funeral service, so beautifully described by Cloquet, and the interment in the Catholic cemetery of Picpus, with a large
91
DIOCESE OF HARTFORD.
Catholic cross near his grave? Think you the priests would have assisted in such num- bers at the funeral if he had been in the habit of abusing them? Or did Lafayette have one language for American Protestants and another for French Catholics?
In his chateau or castle at Lagrange, Lafayette, like other French Catholics of rank, had a chapel. Now, what was the use of this chapel if his enemies, the " Roman priests," were not to officiate therein? Was this, too, a mockery, or was it sheer hypocrisy ?
I again ask an explicit answer to the dilemma I before proposed, which I repeat here, as the Professor seems to have forgotten it. Either Lafayette was a Catholic or lie was an infidel : he certainly was not a Protestant. If a Catholic, he could not have originated the motto ascribed to him by Morse, without being a hypocrite, which no one will venture to assert. If an infidel, then his testimony against Catholics has no more weight than Voltaire and Tom Paine, and, like them, lie may have meant, and probably did mean by priests, the ministers of all Christian denominations. Whichever horn of the dilemma our adversaries may choose to select, the Catholic church still remains unscathed.
I conclude this letter-already longer than I had intended-by the testimony of a distinguished Protestant gentleman, who ranks among the first of our historians, and whose testimony on a historical subject possesses at least as much weight as that of any man in the country. Though a Protestant, he does not allow religious prejudice to sway, much less run away with his judgment, and he was never yet known to put men's names to sentences they never wrote, and the " identical words" of which he could not remem ber. Need I name Jared Sparks? I publish this letter to me in answer to certain inquiries which I had made ; and it will be perceived that in the first part he disposes of Dr. Vanpelt, who was, however, sufficiently settled before ; and in the last part he fur- nishes an opinion which will go far towards refuting Professor Morse. Though Mr. Sparks did not request it, it is delicate and proper for me to state that he merely answered my questions, and that I do not seek to involve him in this discussion :
" CAMBRIDGE, July 27, '55.
" DEAR SIR : On my return home, after a long absence, I find your letter of June 30 from Niagara Falls.
"As to the first of your questions, I believe no historical fact can be more better established than that Washington was not in Boston between the years 1776 and 1789, and that he was never there witlı Lafayette.
"That Lafayette said, 'If the liberty of the United States is ever destroyed it will be by Romish priests,' is so improbable that I could not believe it except on the affirmation of some person that heard him say so, and even then I should suspect misapprehension. Any reflecting man may conjecture many causes much more likely, to say the least, to destroy our liberties than the Romish priesthood.
" I often saw Lafayette in Paris in the year 1829. On one occasion I attended by invitation the wedding of a granddaughter in one of the principal churches of the city. The ceremony was performed by Catholic priests, and Lafayette appeared to attend to it throughout with as much solenmity as any person present. At Legrange, where I passed two or three weeks with him, he conversed about the schools in that neighbor- liood, in which he seemed to take a strong personal interest. I remember hearing him say that he thoughit scholars too exclusively under the direction of ecclesiastics, and that layınen ought to take more active part in them ; but I never heard him speak disre- spectfully of the Catholic church or clergy.
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