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No Pamphlet or Ticket
February 10th, 2008
Comte de Rochambeau Statue Washington, DC
The
statue depicts Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de
Vimeur Baron von Rochambeau
(1725-1807)..
It's located at the SW corner of Lafayette Park, on Pennsylvania
Avenue, across of the White House. It was erected 1902 and sculpted
by Fernand Hamar. This statue is a replica; the original was
made for France.
Baron von
Rochambeau was a French Army Commander who served alongside of
George Washington during the Revolutionary War. He was so good an
officer for France that at age 22 he was promoted to Colonel.
It was at the age of 55 when he was called to help America during
the Revolutionary War. He was about ready to retire then...
and had reached the rank of Lieutenant General. During the War
he served in Newport RI, where he was basically inactive but stayed
because the French had been blockaded. Later, he
followed the celebrated
march of the combined forces to Yorktown, where on
September 22, his forces
and others formed a junction with the troops of Lafayette; as the
result Cornwallis was forced to surrender. After the war he
returned to France where he was regarded in high esteem.
The
inscription on the statue quotes a portion of a letter that George
Washington wrote to Rochambeau on February 1, 1784: "We have
been contemporaries and fellow Labourers in the cause of liberty and
we have lived together as brothers should do in the harmonious
friendship - Washington to Rochambeau February 1, 1784". After
the statue was erected, people thought it had been a gift from
France but it wasn't; it was paid for by Congress. So a
Senator wrote the sculptor, and an addition was added to the only
available spot - the curved part of the base - and it says
" By The
Congress/ May XXIV MDCCCCII". Some sites claim it was a gift
of France; I guess this is a matter of semantics... it may be the
French allowed it but Congress paid for it. Either way, a
delegation came from France for the unveiling.
This is a
free attraction.
Above: Statue of Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur Baron von Rochambeau
Links:
Comte de Rochambeau
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