Contact: Ken Molloy at gemcape@comcast.net

Companion Organizations

• Massachusetts Society of the Sons of the American Revolution

• Massachusetts State Society Daughters of the American Revolution

Major Historical Events in Massachusetts

• A squadron of French warships and troop transports with about 6,500 sailors under the command of Admiral de Barras were stationed in Boston from 1780 to 1782. The squadron had brought the troops from Brest to Newport in 1780, they ferried the siege guns from Boston to Yorktown in 1781, and they took 5,000 troops from Boston to the Caribbean in December 1782.

• Nearly 600 reinforcements for Rochambeau's army landed in Boston in June of 1781, and 400 were well enough to march immediately to join the main body of the French Expeditionary Force in Providence as it started the great march south.

• Some 5,000 soldiers in the French Expeditionary force (almost all except Lauzun's Legion) marched through MA, using two overnight camps and then camping near Boston for three weeks in December of 1782. On Christmas day they boarded ships bound for the Caribbean and more fighting before the peace treaty was signed on 1783 Sept 3.