Finding the French in Fairfax County, Virginia

Summary

On 10 July 1780, Lieutenant General Comte de Rochambeau arrived in Narragansett Bay off Newport, Rhode Island, with 450 officers and 5,300 men to assist the British colonies in North America in their struggle to gain independence from the British Empire. In June of 1781, they marched south to Yorktown, Virginia. The cannon brought by Lieutenant General Rochambeau and the French fleet under the command of Admiral de Grasse were essential in what proved to be the decisive battle of the Revolutionary War. The location of the Rochambeau encampment was established by integrating French military planning documents and records in a GIS and examining artifacts found where they were indicated to be by this. We consider here the importance of place and materiality in presenting history to a popular audience, and the role that method and evidence have in providing a usable past. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Archaeology of the French in the New World   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 1092