On the Green of the old town of Lebanon a mound is shown to-day
on the spot where a large brick oven stood in the winter of
1781--an oven in which bread was baked for the soldiers of the
American Revolutionary Army. These soldiers, who might have been
seen almost any day that winter in their gay uniforms, crossing
and recrossing the Green, or gathered in groups about the oven,
were, strangely enough, not American soldiers, but French hussars
belonging to the Duke de Lauzun's famous "Legion of Horse."
France, being herself at war with England, had recently sent an
army to America to help the colonies in their struggle against a
common enemy, and the French commander-in-chief, the Count de
Rochambeau, wrote from Newport, Rhode Island, to Governor
Trumbull, of Connecticut, asking if the governor could provide
winter quarters in Lebanon for a part of his forces--for the Duke
de Lauzun and some of his Legion of Horse.
Governor Trumbull's home was in Lebanon. His house was near the
village Green, and close beside it stood his store, which, by
this time, had become famous under the name of the "War Office,"
because in this store the governor and the Council of Safety used
to meet and talk over the important business of the war, and what
Connecticut could do, as her share, to help the American army.
There is a story that Washington used to say when he needed more
supplies, "Let us see what Brother Jonathan can do for us," and
that this nickname, which is now used for the United States,
belonged originally to Jonathan Trumbull. It is true that
Washington often turned to him for help. He had approved the
application of the Count de Rochambeau to Governor Trumbull for
winter quarters for the French troops. But long before the
arrival of these soldiers there had been busy times in Lebanon.
Provisions of all kinds were brought from all over the state to
the governor's store to be packed and sent off to the troops in
the field. The governor was usually to be found there himself,
weighing and measuring, packing boxes and barrels, dealing out
powder and lead, starting off trains of loaded wagons and often
large herds of cattle to be driven all the way to the army at the
front. Messengers came and went, flying on horseback along the
country roads, and sometimes they sat on the counter in the
store, swinging their spurred boots, waiting for the governor to
give them their orders. A piece of that counter, with the marks
of their spurs in the soft wood, can be seen now in the rooms of
the Connecticut Historical Society in Hartford. Although there
were dark days during the war when the state's treasury was
exhausted and the people discouraged and the demands of the army
hard to meet, yet
"Governor Trumbull never quailed
In his store on Lebanon hill."
Somehow or other the supplies were found and little Connecticut
became known as the "Provision State." Washington spoke of her
governor as "the first of patriots." This is one of Governor
Trumbull's proclamations to the men of Connecticut:--
"Be roused and alarmed to stand forth in our glorious cause. Join
yourselves to one of the companies now ordered to New York, or
form yourselves into distinct companies and choose captains
forthwith;... march on; play the man for God and for the cities
of our God, and may the God of the armies of Israel be your
leader."
Lebanon was then on one of the main roads through New England,
and many distinguished men stopped there at different times to
see the governor. Washington came, and Lafayette, the young
French nobleman whom Washington loved almost as a son, and who
is, perhaps, "nearer to the hearts of the Americans than any man
not of their own people." Lafayette holds this place in their
affections because, before the French Government decided to send
help to the colonies, he "came from France of his own accord and
brought with him the sympathy of the French people," among whom
also new ideas of liberty were stirring.
"From the moment I first heard of America," he said, "I began to
love her; from the moment I understood that she was struggling
for her liberties, I burned to shed my best blood in her cause."
Lafayette's countrymen, who spent the winter of 1781 in Lebanon,
were the gallant soldiers of France. Their leader, the Duke de
Lauzun, was a gay French nobleman, very handsome, very fond of
good living, brilliant and witty as well as brave; nobody like
him or his men had ever been seen before in Lebanon. The people
of that quiet little town opened their eyes in surprise when the
dashing French hussars, in their tall black caps and their
brilliantly braided jackets, came galloping in over the muddy
country roads. Governor Trumbull had made provision for them.
Barracks were built for some on a farm which he owned just
outside the town, and others camped on the village Green.
With their arrival life in Lebanon changed. At daybreak the
French bugles blew the reveille. There were parades and reviews,
there were balls and parties. Washington held a review of
Lauzun's Legion when he passed through the place one day in
March. The corps was finely equipped. Its horses were good, its
men brave and handsome, and their uniforms vivid and trim. The
hussars wore sky-blue jackets braided with white, yellow
breeches, high boots, and tall caps with a white plume at the
side. They made a great impression on the country people, who had
seen their own men, dressed in homespun clothes, mount their
rough farmhorses and ride away, just as they were, to the war.
The duke himself was friendly and pleasant and popular with his
new neighbors. He lived in a house lent him by David Trumbull,
the governor's son.
[Illustration: THE MARQUIS OF LAFAYETTE
This statue was presented to France by the School Children of the
United States]
Once, early in the winter, two distinguished visitors from the
French army came to see him, the Marquis de Chastellux, who wrote
a book of "Travels in North America," and the Baron de Montesquieu;
and he gave a dinner for them to which he invited Governor Trumbull.
In the marquis's book we can read a description of it and of Governor
Trumbull as he appeared to these French gentlemen from the Old World.
"On returning from the chase," says de Chastellux (he had been
out hunting squirrels), "I dined at the Duke de Lauzun's with
Governor Trumbull. This good methodical governor is seventy years
old. His whole life is consecrated to business, which he
passionately loves, whether it is important or not. He has all
the simplicity and pedantry of a great magistrate of a small
republic, and invariably says he will consider, that he must
refer to his council. He wears the antique dress of the first
settlers in this colony." Then the marquis goes on to tell how
the small old man, in his single-breasted, drab-colored coat,
tight knee-breeches, and muslin wrist-ruffles, walked up to the
table where twenty hussar officers were waiting and with "formal
stiffness pronounced in a loud voice a long prayer in the form,
of a Benedicite." The French officers must have been surprised;
they were not used to simple country manners and to grace before
meat on all occasions, but they were too polite and too well
trained to laugh. "Twenty amens issued at once from the midst of
forty moustaches," says the marquis, and in spite of the fun he
makes of the old Puritan governor's stiff manners, we feel in
reading the story that he fully appreciates his sterling good
qualities.
Some of these pleasure-loving French gentlemen met a strange and
sad fate, years later, in the terrible days of the French
Revolution. The Duke de Lauzun was beheaded in Paris in 1793, his
long and adventurous life "ended with a little spurt of blood
under the knife of the guillotine"; and Lafayette spent five
years in an Austrian prison.
There is another story of old Lebanon which is connected with the
visit of the French soldiers. The French commander-in-chief, the
Count de Rochambeau, had given to Madam Faith Trumbull, the
governor's wife, a beautiful scarlet cloak, and one Sabbath day
she appeared in the governor's pew in the Lebanon meeting-house
wearing the French general's handsome gift. Now, in those hard
times contributions for the army were often collected after
service on Sundays, and the people not only gave money, but
whatever else they could spare, Indian corn, flax, wood, shoes
and stockings, hats and coats. Quietly the governor's wife rose
in her seat and, taking the scarlet cloak from her shoulders,
carried it down to the front and laid it with the other gifts.
Later, it was cut into narrow bands and used to make red stripes
on the soldiers' uniforms.
All that is left of those stirring times in Lebanon to-day is the
little "War Office,"--restored and kept as a memorial of the
Revolution,--and the mound on the Green where the brick oven
stood in which bread was baked for the French soldiers who fought
for American independence.