Replies to post #2146 on Excel's Coffee Shop (ECS)

[iOwnSomeNVEI]

The French did fight side by side with the US some time ago..

General Washington agreed to attempt to save Newport in the spring of 1778. It was to be a coordinated attack General John Sullivan, moving in from Massachusetts with 8,000 soldiers, and Lafayette, moving in from New York with 2,000, were to attack the island from the north, while a French fleet under Comte Jean Baptiste d'Estaing, with 2,800 marines, would attack from the southwest. Because of a violent storm, the fleet had to withdraw to Boston for repairs. Sullivan had pushed the enemy to the barricades of Newport, but, lacking reinforcements, he was forced to retreat. The British stayed on until October 1779, when they themselves decided to leave.

In July 1780, a French fleet of ten war vessels and 6,000 men under Comte de Rochambeau arrived in Newport, and the people warmly welcomed them as friends and allies. They stayed on through the winter, but could not provide aid to General Washington because British reinforcements had them bottled up in the Bay. In March 1781, Rochambeau entertained General Washington in his quarters at Vernon House. The French fleet left shortly afterward, and the island saw no more military action.