Philippe Charles Jean Baptiste Tronson du Coudray, born in Rheims,
France, on the 8th of September, 1738, was educated to the vocation
of a mining engineer, and ranked as one of the best in his native
country, when in 1776, he offered his services to Silas Deane and
Benjamin Franklin. These commissioners entered into an arrangement
with Du Coudray by which, on condition of his furnishing certain
military supplies, he was to enter the American service, with the rank
and pay of major-general, and the command of the artillery. After
several days’ debate on the subject, Congress did not see fit to
ratify this agreement in full, Washington also expressing a doubt as
to whether so important a command as that of the artillery should be
vested in any but an American, or one attached by ties of interest to
the United States. He was accorded his promised rank, however, being
appointed major-general on the 11th of August, 1777, and placed in
superintendence of the works being constructed on the Delaware. His
service was of short duration, for on the 16th of September in the
same year, while hastening, after the battle of Brandywine, to offer
himself as a volunteer, he accidentally lost his life. While crossing
the Schuylkill in a ferry-boat, his horse became unmanageable, plunged
with him into the river, and he was drowned before any assistance could
be rendered. The next day Congress passed a resolution directing his
burial at the expense of the United States and with the honors of war.