The Glorious Cause - Jeff Shaara [355]
He returns to England, and in 1797, accepts the lucrative posts of commander in chief and governor-general of Ireland, and serves as Plenipotentiary to France. The honors are more symbolic than enjoyable, and he yearns to return to India, for which he has developed a deep affection. He arrives in 1805, but contracts an illness and dies soon after. He is sixty-seven.
Ironically, it is in America that his name carries the stigma of the man who “lost” the Revolution. In England, he does not receive any of the public censure that is given to Howe, Burgoyne, or Clinton. His one grave mistake was marching his army to Virginia without the consent of his superior, but fault must be placed far more at the feet of Henry Clinton for failing to recognize Cornwallis’ crisis at Yorktown.
King George shares the sentiments of the English people that during this most unfortunate war, Charles Cornwallis was the one capable officer, who, if he had served under a capable commander, would likely have destroyed Washington’s army.
JEAN-BAPTISTE, COUNT ROCHAMBEAU
While not entitled to full credit for engineering the strategy that resulted in the astounding victory at Yorktown, he is nonetheless the man who convinced Washington to look beyond New York as a means of ending the war.
He remains close to Yorktown until January 1783, then returns to France. King Louis grants him considerable favors, and for his heroic role in the American Revolution, Rochambeau receives the highest regard of the French people, second only to Lafayette. He serves King Louis in various government posts, and in 1789 is named military commander of the Alsace Region, which borders the incendiary Germanic states.
During the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution, he is imprisoned, but returns to the army to serve Napoleon, who promotes him to marshal of the French army in 1803. He dies in 1807, at age eighty-two.
Though so many of the French senior command viewed their American allies as no more than a rabble, Rochambeau is credited with both patience and tolerance of the continentals and their commanding general. His obedience to Washington, against the sentiments of so many of his subordinate officers, provides the most important link in the chain that connects the alliance, and thus secures the American victory.
FRANÇOIS, COUNT DE GRASSE
The French admiral sails away from his triumph at Yorktown in November 1781, and returns to action in the West Indies. In one of the largest naval battles to that time, he is soundly defeated by the British, captured, and imprisoned in London. Released in August 1782, he returns to France and serves as the go-between for the crucial peace negotiations between France and England that will end their part of the war.
Loudly blamed for the naval catastrophe, de Grasse seeks to exonerate himself by laying blame on a lengthy list of subordinates, which instead lowers him further in the eyes of both the French people and King Louis. He dies near Paris in 1788, at age sixty-six. His descendents escape the Reign of Terror by sailing to America and settling in the Carolinas.
CHARLES GRAVIER, COUNT DE VERGENNES
The French minister most credited with helping to finance the Revolution continues his active role in American affairs by participating in the negotiations of the final peace with England. Though King Louis is seen by most Americans as their financial savior during the war, it is the persuasiveness of Vergennes that influences Louis’ policies. His closeness to Louis creates enemies, and his generosity to the Americans is blamed for the financial chaos that grips France in the mid-1780s, which many believe contributes to the French Revolution. While he certainly would have been a primary target of the Reign of Terror, he escapes by dying in 1787, at age seventy.
WILLIAM HOWE
On his return to England, he begins a lengthy campaign to exonerate himself for his failings in America. But no conclusions are drawn by either Parliament or King George, and Howe is allowed to languish in relative inactivity. He is promoted