Event
Evacuation Day Lecture: Frenchmen at the Siege of Boston
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Description
Presented in partnership with the Friends of the Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters.
Histories of the French government’s support for the American Revolution usually begin with Lafayette, the secret supply chain organized by Beaumarchais, and the formal alliance in 1778. But French gentlemen were actually at the siege of Boston in 1775—observing the armies, meeting Gen. George Washington at his headquarters, and even briefly overseeing the provincial artillery force. Washington and his generals were also trying to win over the francophone subjects of Canada. In this talk, author J. L. Bell will explore the first secret and tentative steps toward French-American friendship in Cambridge in 1775.
This event will take place in-person (registration required), and will also be livestreamed at youtube.com/longnps.
J. L. Bell is the author of The Road to Concord: How Four Stolen Cannon Ignited the Revolutionary War and of Gen. George Washington’s Home and Headquarters, Cambridge, Mass., a historic resource study for the National Park Service. He shares new research and old stories at Boston 1775.