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The Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route (W3R) is a 680-mile (1,094 km)-long series of roads used by the Continental Army under the command of George Washington and the Expédition Particulière under the command of Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau during their 1781 march from Newport, Rhode Island, to Yorktown, Virginia. The route is a designated National Historic Trail (2009) with interpretive literature, signs, and exhibits that describe the key role of French diplomatic, military, and economic aid to the United States during the American Revolutionary War.〔|http://www.nps.gov/waro/index.html.〕 ==Background== In 1780, French King Louis XVI dispatched Rochambeau, 450 officers, and 5,300 men to aid Washington and the colonial forces. They arrived in Narragansett Bay off Newport, Rhode Island, on July 10, 1780. In June 1781, Rochambeau prepared to march from Rhode Island to join the Continental Army near White Plains, New York. He divided his force into four regiments: "Royal DeuxPonts" under the Baron de Viomenil; "Soissonnais" under the Baron's brother, Count de Viomenil; "Saintonge", under the Marquis de Custinel; and a fourth regiment. This final unit remained in Providence, where it guarded the baggage and munitions stored in the Old Market House, and supported the surgeons and attendants at the hospital in University Hall. Judging from the maps in the Rochambeau Collection and the early maps of Providence, the French army started leaving, on June 19, the camp ground between Broad and Plane Streets, passed through the present Stewart Street to High Street, and west along this to the "junction" (Hoyle Tavern), where they took the road to the left, Cranston Street (then called the Monkey Town road) that went to Knightsville (then Monkeytown). They continued right, following the old Scituate road over Dugaway Hill past the late Pippin Orchard School house, over Apple House Hill, Bald Hill, crossing the Pawtuxet River at the village of Kent and on to Waterman's Tavern — a first day's march of 15 miles.〔Rhode Island Historical Society Collections, XVII, No. 1 (January 1924).〕 The French forces marched across Connecticut to join George Washington on the Hudson River at Dobbs Ferry, New York. The advance party was led by Armand Louis de Gontaut or Duc de Lauzun. Lauzun's Legion marched ahead of the main army and stayed ten to fifteen miles (24 km) to the south protecting the exposed flank from the British.〔Life and Letters of Samuel Holden Parsons, Major General in the Continental Army and Chief Judge of the Northwestern Territory 1737 — 1789, Charles S. Hall 1905, page 364 ()〕 The combined American and French armies marched through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, a route that allowed them to evade British troops. They reached Williamsburg, Virginia, in late September 1781. On September 22, they combined with troops commanded by the Marquis de Lafayette. The French royal fleet blocked the Chesapeake, preventing the British from either delivering reinforcements from New York or evacuating General Cornwallis' army by sea. A three-week siege of Yorktown led to Cornwallis' surrender on October 19, 1781. Washington's force then moved to defend northern posts. Rochambeau's force wintered in Williamsburg, then marched north in the summer of 1782 to Boston, Massachusetts. The return for both armies was much different than the original march by welcoming them as they passed every town and city along their return route. Rochambeau and the French Troops in Providence in 1780-81-82 Howard W. Preston. (Read before the Rhode Island Historical Society, March 12, 1922.) On March 30, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the Omnibus Public Land Management Act, one of whose provisions was to designate the Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route as a National Historic Trail. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary Route」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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