General George Washington Announces the Key Event of the American Revolution: the Arrival of the French

To his expert pilot who will work with the French, he declares, “It’s coming from New-York, and from tolerable authority, that the French fleet have been seen, and are hourly expected, you will be pleased to repair to this place, with all practicable dispatch…”

 

The French participation made the difference between victory and defeat, as the French fleet blockaded the British and made the victory at Yorktown possible

 

During the Revolution, the American colonies faced faced long odds, as their army was a group of farmers, shop owners and mechanics, and they were taking on the most powerful army in the world. The British also had a huge navy, giving them great mobility. Without allies the American cause was doomed. The Continental Congress knew it had the significant challenge in conducting international diplomacy to obtain the international support it needed to fight against the British. It established the Secret Committee of Correspondence to publicize the American cause in Europe. Committee member Benjamin Franklin, the foremost American diplomat, wrote to contacts in France with encouraging accounts of colonial resistance. The French had suffered a defeat by the British during the Seven Years’ War and had lost North American territory under the 1763 Treaty of Paris. As the French and the British continued to vie for power in the 1770s, French officials saw an opportunity in the rebellion of Britain’s North American colonies to take advantage of British troubles. Through secret agents, the French Government began to provide clandestine assistance to the United States, much of which they channeled through American trader Silas Deane.

As the members of the Continental Congress considered declaring independence, they also discussed the possibility and necessity of foreign alliances. After Congress formally declared independence from Great Britain in 1776, it dispatched a group of several commissioners led by Benjamin Franklin to negotiate an alliance with France. When news of the Declaration of Independence and the subsequent British evacuation of Boston reached France, French Foreign Minister Comte de Vergennes decided to consider such an alliance. Vergennes also agreed to provide the United States with a secret loan.

Despite the loan and discussions of a full alliance, French assistance to the new United States was limited at the outset. Vergennes finally decided in favor of an alliance when news of the British surrender at the Battle of Saratoga reached him in December 1777. Vergennes, having heard rumors of secret British peace offers to Franklin, offered the United States an official French alliance. On February 6, 1778, Benjamin Franklin and the other two commissioners, Arthur Lee and Silas Deane, signed a Treaty of Alliance and a Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France. The Treaty of Alliance contained the provisions the U.S. commissioners had originally requested, but also included a clause forbidding either country to make a separate peace with Britain. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce promoted trade between the United States and France and recognized the United States as an independent nation.

On May 4, 1778, the alliance between France and the new United States of America became effective. The Americans had high hopes for this venture, but those hopes were initially dashed. The French sent a fleet under Admiral d’Estaing in the summer of 1778; but after failing to encounter the British in the Chesapeake Bay and making unsuccessful moves at New York and Newport, it abandoned the offensive. However, the French were determined to play a role in the outcome of the American War and planned to send a significant number of troops and ships for the next campaign. Count Rochambeau was appointed to command of the army that was destined to support the Americans, and on May 2, 1780, he sailed for the U.S.

In 1780 Washington eagerly anticipated the active intervention of the French, and their hoped-for imminent arrival. He planned a joint Franco-American late- summer campaign against British-held New York, and in expectation of his ally’s arrival set about making sure that all of his preparations were complete. William Dobbs was an expert pilot qualified to guide navies into port. On July 2, 1780, Washington called Dobbs to headquarters for consultations on issues of navigation in New York Harbor, which Washington thought the French navy would have to assault. While at headquarters Dobbs and fellow pilot Patrick Dennis prepared a document dated July 7 giving detailed information on the channels, depths, tides, and shoals in the waters leading to New York City. They also explained the optimal placement of ships of the line to defend the ship channel and Sandy Hook Bay. In a letter to Rochambeau, General Lafayette described the discussions at headquarters with Dobbs and Dennis: “It is after having gathered together all the best-known pilots, after having compared their opinions countless times and investigated the contradictions, and finally after having labored four days and almost four nights that I can with some certainty send you their opinions, their observations, and the least poor map possible…The two persons who signed them and who will go aboard your ship at Black Point, off Sandy Hook, are best known for their integrity and ability”. But there was still no sight of the French and no way for them to receive such communications.

On July 11 came the momentous news: the French had been sighted in American waters. Washington immediately wrote Dobbs with the momentous news. Letter signed, Head Quarters, July 11, 1780 [the letter reads June, but the Papers of George Washington definitively date it as July), Col. Deys house (in Bergen County, N.J.], to Dobbs, announcing the French arrival – the most important event of the Revolutionary War. “Sir, It’s coming from New-York, and from tolerable authority, that the French fleet have been seen, and are hourly expected, you will be pleased to repair to this place, with all practicable dispatch, bringing with you, such pilots, as may be acquainted with the navigation into the Harbour of New-York.If these are not at hand or in perfect readiness you will not delay on this account, but direct them to follow you. I am sir your obt & hble servt, Go: Washington.” The text is in the hand of Washington’s aide, James McHenry, later a signer of the Constitution and Secretary of War.

In fact, Washington may have been more accurate about the French arrival than he realized, because that very day Rochambeau landed on American soil, disembarking at Newport, Rhode Island. The 1780 offensive against New York did not materialize. But in 1781, Washington’s vision of the Franco-American juggernaut finally took shape. By September 28, the combined armies with the French fleet – some 16,000 troops – had arrived in Virginia, where the army set up camp outside the British defenses at Yorktown and the French fleet blockaded the port so the British could not leave nor receive reinforcements. Just three weeks later, the seige of Yorktown ended with the complete surrender of the British. As a result of this catastrophe to their arms, Britain sued for peace; the war was over. So Washington’s dream, the one we can virtually feel in this letter – that the arrival of the French would make the difference and secure American independence – became a reality.

The events of July 11 – a key moment in American history, and the date of this letter – led directly to American independence. We can recall seeing no comparable letter of Washington making this announcement the very day the information of the French arrival reached him.