Ken Burns’s The American Revolution presents the war for independence as a defining event with consequences that reached far beyond the thirteen colonies. At the moment of Cornwallis’s surrender at Yorktown, the film underscores this significance with the observation that “the world would never be the same.” Some reviews have noted that while the film suggests the Revolution reshaped the wider world, it does not explore that global impact in detail. The experiences of the French officers who served in America help fill that gap. Their letters, journals, engravings, and portraits show how the war quickly grew into an international story and how its outcome reverberated across the Atlantic. Many of these firsthand accounts survive today because they were preserved by the American Revolution Institute, which maintains a rich collection of French officers’ writings and artifacts. For these men, the American Revolution was not only an American struggle but part of a larger shift in world affairs.

Journal of Robert Guillaume Dillon, 1780-1781

Robert-Guillaume, baron de Dillon (1754–1837) left one of the most vivid French records of the American campaign. His journal describes the march toward Yorktown in 1781 and includes a striking account of his meeting with George Washington at New Windsor, where he was impressed by the general’s bearing and command. Dillon also recounts his wounding near Gloucester, Virginia, during the final operations around Yorktown. His writing blends battlefield observation with social commentary, noting both the character of prominent American leaders and the customs he encountered while traveling through the colonies. For Dillon, the Revolution was a lived experience that revealed how American and French forces worked together to bring the war to its decisive close.

Claude-Anne de Rouvroy, marquis de Saint-Simon-Montbléru (1743–1819) played a central military role in the Yorktown campaign. As commander of the French left flank, he helped seal off Cornwallis’s potential escape route toward Williamsburg. Although severely wounded during the siege, he remained at his post and later stood with the allied generals at the formal British surrender. A portrait of Saint-Simon created after the war shows him proudly wearing the insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati, evidence of the lasting bonds formed between French and American officers. His later life, which included fighting revolutionary forces in Europe and serving in the Spanish army, demonstrates how deeply the American War for Independence intersected with the broader political upheavals that swept across the continent.

“Notes relatives aux mouvemens de l’armee françoise en Amerique” by François-Ignace Ervoil d’Oyré

François-Ignace Ervoil, chevalier d’Oyré (1739–1798), an officer in the royal corps of engineers, contributed essential technical expertise to the allied victory. His notebooks document the engineering work that advanced the siege trenches toward the British defenses at Yorktown, including the preparations that enabled the capture of key redoubts. He also recorded the allied march south and the memorable stop at Mount Vernon, where Rochambeau’s army reunited with Washington at his home. Oyré’s meticulous notes reveal the logistical complexity underlying the Yorktown campaign and show why success depended on careful coordination between French and American forces.

Jean-Baptiste Dupleix de Cadignan (1738–1824) preserved one of the most detailed French accounts of the war. His two-volume journal includes a day-by-day chronicle of the Yorktown siege, a full transcription of the Articles of Capitulation, and a description of the surrender ceremony in which British officers attempted to present Cornwallis’s sword. Dupleix’s writings make clear how French forces understood their role in securing American independence and how closely they observed the unfolding of events that would later become foundational moments in American history. His journal also illustrates how extensive French involvement was, extending from the Caribbean to the Chesapeake.

François-Jean de Beauvoir, marquis de Chastellux, by Jacques-Philippe Voiart, 1787

François-Jean de Beauvoir, marquis de Chastellux (1734–1788), a major general and philosopher, helped interpret the American experience for European audiences. Fluent in English and serving as the chief liaison between Rochambeau and Washington, he recorded reflections on American landscapes, society and politics during the allied march to Yorktown and in months of travel afterward. His published account of these travels introduced European readers to American culture and governance, including his observations of Virginia’s Natural Bridge, which he studied with scientific interest. Chastellux’s writings helped frame the Revolution as an event that raised questions about freedom, nature and political authority in ways that resonated across the Enlightenment world.

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834) became the most famous French participant in the American cause and a symbol of the Revolution’s international character. As a young major general in the Continental Army, he commanded troops that helped pin Cornwallis at Yorktown before Washington and Rochambeau arrived. His success in America shaped his political vision in France, where he became a leading advocate for constitutional reform and authored the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Lafayette’s lifelong commitment to liberty, along with his correspondence with Washington and his celebrated return tour of the United States in 1824, shows how deeply intertwined French and American memories of the Revolution became.

Manuscrit des memoires politique et militaires du marechal de Rochambeau, 1725-1807

The war also had profound consequences for France itself. Supporting the American cause placed heavy financial strain on the French government and contributed to the crisis that led to the French Revolution in 1789. Many officers who served in America returned to a country in turmoil. Some, like Admiral Charles Hector, comte d’Estaing (1729–1794), were executed during the Terror. Others, including Saint-Simon, fought against revolutionary forces and later served in foreign armies. Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau (1725–1807), narrowly avoided execution and later wrote about his American experiences with Washington as he tried to understand the political upheavals around him. Their writings show that the ideals they encountered in America became part of the debates in France about liberty, loyalty and the future of the state. Burns emphasizes that revolutions can lead to unpredictable outcomes, and the experiences of these French officers demonstrate how the American Revolution helped set major changes in motion in Europe.

Together, the experiences of these officers illustrate how Burns’s line that “the world would never be the same” is grounded in historical reality. The war drew European powers into its orbit, produced new political conversations in France, created durable ties among veterans on both sides of the Atlantic, contributed to the pressures that sparked the French Revolution and showed that established political orders could be successfully challenged. Critics sometimes suggest that Burns’s film leaves the meaning of the Revolution open-ended. The French evidence helps explain why. The Revolution’s impact was not limited to America. It reshaped identities, institutions and governments across the Atlantic world. For the French officers who marched to Yorktown and later witnessed upheaval in their own country, the American Revolution marked the beginning of a broader era of political change that affected nations on both sides of the ocean.

Thomas Lannon
Library Director

In the library of the American Revolution Institute, history surrounds on the shelves. Among the collections are works that help tell the story of the alliance between France and the United States, one of the most important turning points in deciding the Revolution. This partnership, formalized in February 1778 with the Treaty of Alliance, was more than a military arrangement. It was a meeting of political ideals, strategic necessities and mutual hope for reshaping the balance of power in the Atlantic world.

The library holds printed and manuscript material from before the alliance through to the war’s conclusion after the Franco-American victory at Yorktown and the establishment of the Society of the Cincinnati. From its founding in 1783, the Society included French officers who had served in America under Rochambeau, d’Estaing and Lafayette. This bond was deliberate. The Society wasn’t simply a fraternal group for Americans, but a transatlantic order intended to promote and cherish the ideals and national honor for which these individuals had fought.

This summer, we were happy to continue the Society’s tradition of French-American exchange and welcomed a library intern from France to work with collections related to American forces and their French allies’ role in securing independence for the United States. Alice du Gardin, a master’s student at HEC Paris, was in Washington, D.C., for much of June and July and helped library staff process and translate manuscript materials. Among the items Alice helped translate were the journals of Robert Guillaume Dillon. Baron de Dillon served as mestre de camp of the régiment de Lauzun-Hussards and lieutenant-général during the Revolutionary War. He was also an original member of the French Society of the Cincinnati and kept a journal that covers the period from November 1780 through the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781.

Alice du Gardin, 2025 Research Library intern

“In his Journal, Dillon reports his memories about his time in America during the war. Unlike the memories of Rochambeau, this manuscript deals with personal and lived experience. Therefore, it provides us with broader information about what the life of a high-ranking officer could have been during the war—which it is very different from the experience of soldiers, for example.

During his time in America, Dillon didn’t only fight; he also travelled a lot, especially in the Northeast, and encountered many people, including George Washington. That’s why his memoir sometimes sounds more like a travel diary than actual military memories. He also shows a good sense of humor and a taste for Roman-like narration, which can lead us to wonder if some parts of the memories weren’t a bit exaggerated.

Dillon was born in 1754. He was from a military family whose name had been given to a regiment (the Dillon regiment). He entered the army in 1765, aged fifteen, and quickly climbed up the military ladder until he was promoted colonel of the Dillon regiment in 1768.

Robert Dillon became captain-commander in the Legion of Foreign Volunteers of the Navy in 1778 and fought under the Duke of Lauzun in the capture of British trading posts in Senegal in January 1779. Promoted to colonel in June 1779, he was appointed second colonel of Lauzun’s Legion in April 1780.

Wounded in a duel shortly before sailing for America in April 1780, Dillon later fought another duel with the Vicomte de Noailles. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Gloucester on 3 October 1781, leading 150 hussars against 400 British dragoons. For his service in the American campaign, he received the Cross of Saint Louis in 1783. At the end of the war, he came back to France, just a few years before the French Revolution broke out. Having chosen to stay loyal to the king, he encountered numerous obstacles in his career. He died in 1839.”

-Alice du Gardin, July 2025

Selected Extracts and Translations
(see also English translation, Jane L. Bush, 2020.)

At the beginning of the journal, Dillon narrates his encounters with General Washington and Eliza Hamilton:

Journal of Robert Guillaume Dillon, 1780-1781, page 1

After having walked almost one mile, we arrived at the house where the hero of the Revolution, for whom my astonishment and my admiration rose with each moment, was staying. It was around five o’clock and he was still at his dessert; the Marquis de Lafayette (Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis) was at the table with him. We withdrew with discretion when the Marquis, who had without any doubt already been notified that there were French officers at the door, ran after us and, recognizing Mr. de Charlus who was his friend, led us immediately to the dining room and introduced us to the General. Mr. Washington offered his hand to us affectionately; I presented mine with a respectful bow, after which he turned to Mrs. Washington (Martha Washington) to whom he introduced us, as well as to General Howe (Robert Howe) and Colonel Jackson (Henry Jackson) who were dining with him.

Mr. Washington completely fulfilled the impression I had made of him. It seemed that nature was pleased to lavish upon him what she often grants with whimsicality. She bestowed upon him a general effect which seduces accordingly when one gazes upon him; his large personality and his soul are etched in his features. I would have recognized the General among a thousand officers of his army without any trouble. He is one of the most handsome men I have ever seen, but it is a kind of handsomeness that emanates more from his soul than from his outward appearance. His ways are noble and easy, without embarrassment nor affectation. Speaking little, but with strength, his voice is gentle without losing what the Majestic gives to the expressions of a voice, strong and clear. We sat down at the table with him and drank several toasts.

After having dined, we moved to the adjoining room where we stayed until supper-time. I had a fairly long conversation with his Excellency. As it was not for me to ask questions, I let him take the lead. The conversation turned to the country through which I had just travelled; he seemed delighted by the praise I made of it. Mr. de Charlus, who had been to Boston, spoke to him, with admiration, about the places which had inspired him where he had made his first campaign against the British.

He laughed a lot with us about the fear of the English, saying that if they had turned out just two thousand men he would have been obligated to retreat.

Someone came to let us know that supper was served. We passed through to the dining room where several minutes later Mrs. Washington arrived, accompanied by Mrs. Hamilton (Elisabeth “Eliza” Schuyler Hamilton), a young and pretty woman, recently married to Mr. Hamilton (Alexander Hamilton) General Washington’s personal aide-de-camp. The young man is witty and talented, and speaks French admirably. We retired shortly after having dinner.

Dillon then travels through many American cities and describes many places he visited, including Philadelphia and Baltimore:

Journal of Robert Guillaume Dillon, 1780-1781, page 13

Philadelphia is perfectly beautiful and orderly; all houses there are made of brick. The place where Congress assembles is a really beautiful building. I lodged at the residence of the Spanish Ambassador; the house he occupies would be as beautiful in Paris. Philadelphia is built on the model of the city of London; one is surprised to see the large number of beautiful ships (there are more than 150 vessels docked at the port.) If America wins [the war], Philadelphia, in a hundred years, will be equal, at least, to London or Paris. We were charmingly received by Mr. le Chevalier de la Luzerne (Anne-César, chevalier de la Luzerne), Minister Plenipotentiary of France, and fêted with a number of balls and very pleasant gatherings. The women have almost all adopted French fashions. Several of them surprised me by the taste and the style of their adornment; their shoes impressed me the most. They are, in general, much better heeled than the women in our largest cities. They all dance terribly but, nevertheless, it’s all the rage to dance French contra dances. I noticed that, with their unpretentious look, they are, at the very least, as fashionable as are our ladies. But they limit their intelligence to flirting, gallantry still being in its infancy. One must hope that their marital partners will take charge of their education and that, from here, in ten to twelve years, they will at least be discreet and will start to make themselves understood in the houses of Philadelphia.

After three weeks of my visit, Mr. de Charlus and I decided to travel through Pennsylvania and Maryland until Annapolis which is situated on the other side of the Chesapeake Bay.

[…] [The Chesapeake Bay is] one of the most beautiful bays in the world. It forms a basin of about seven or eight leagues in circumference at the location from where we saw it. The Susquehanna is, after the Potomac, the most beautiful of all the rivers which flow into this bay. While crossing the river, we saw an astonishing number of all kinds of birds, some of which were eagles, who walked very solemnly on the ice floes which were carried along by the river. Twelve miles from there we bedded down in the town of Buck.

The [15^th] we arrived in Baltimore, the most commercial and wealthiest town of all those situated on the Chesapeake Bay. We stayed there a day and a half. Its port is likely to have all possible comforts and will certainly be one of the largest on this continent. There are about four thousand souls in the town, and it has only been in the last thirty years that there have been more than twenty houses. We saw nice tobacco shops, etc.; about forty small vessels. The port is defended by a bad fort. We counted upon going to Annapolis but we were assured that all the inhabitants had deserted it and had retreated to the countryside by fear of an attack by Arnold, and someone also told us that the town was much less notable than it used to be but, as it was the county seat of Maryland, all the wealthy people of the province had beautiful homes there where they spent winter and [had] created a pleasant community.

About the Library

The research library of the American Revolution Institute houses more than fifty thousand rare books, manuscripts, prints, broadsides, maps and modern reference sources, and is one of the most important resources in the world for advanced study on the Revolution. The library welcomes researchers to use the collections by appointment and supports scholarship by offering several research fellowships each year to graduate students and advanced scholars. To learn more, and make an appointment click here.

The library of the American Revolution Institute recently hosted four graduate students as part of the University of Michigan’s School of Information (UMSI) Alternative Spring Break program. The UMSI students spent a week in Washington, D.C., to work with us on a project, “Mapping the Revolution,” that supports cataloging and digitization of historic and rare maps. Beginning in 2025, a selection of the American Revolution Institute’s maps, charts, views and surveys will be featured in American Revolutionary Geographies Online, a new online resource led by the Leventhal Map and Education Center at the Boston Public Library and the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon.

To increase exposure and improve the discoverability of the Society of the Cincinnati’s map collection, UMSI students surveyed additional maps, improved catalog records and completed an inventory of cartographical materials which have not yet been digitized. In this post, we are happy to share discoveries made by the University of Michigan team and to highlight their favorite maps to demonstrate how informational professionals can help support the library’s mission to advance scholarship of the American Revolution.

From left to right, UMSI graduate students Sarah Moore, Erin Mettler, Clare Sahijdak and Latitude Brown

“My favorite map is the Carte du Theatre de la Guerre Dans L’Inde ou se trouvent une parue de la Chine, or ‘Map of the Theatre of War in India where part of China is located.’ This map is extremely detailed and shows a series of 18th-century conflicts in India and the East Indies including the Anglo-French War, the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and the Second Anglo-Mysore War. While not of the United States, this map shows how the American Revolution was a global event and part of a pattern of conflicts and wars that took place around the world. This 1781 map is a single sheet from a series of maps intended to showcase expanding conflicts that then shaped the French Empire. While working to digitize this map, I was able to learn more about the far-reaching effects of the American Revolution and to think more critically about the impacts that seemingly localized conflicts can have on the broader world and political landscape.” – Erin Mettler

Detail of Carte du Theatre de la Guerre Dans L’Inde ou se trouvent une parue de la Chine, 1781

“My favorite map isVorstellung einiger Gegenden und Plaetze in Nord-America unter Franzoesisch und Englishce Jurisdiction gehoerig, or ‘Presentation of some areas and places in North America under French and English jurisdiction.’ It was printed in Germany in 1756 and includes views of Canadian cities. It’s not just a map of the land, there’s also a ‘plan for the town of Halifax,’ which reflects a once-held vision for the future of the location. I wondered how the past’s future lives up to today’s reality. This map was also hand-colored, which set it apart from other versions. Many of the maps we looked at dated from the 1700s and were over three hundred years old. I currently work with digital and born-digital material, which is much closer to our current day. Over the week at the American Revolution Institute, I learned that maps are another tool held in libraries that help us to imagine hypothetical time travel. Diaries and journals serve as similar primary sources as they document what people did and discussed. However, maps are not only representations of what was, but also what was hoped some places might become. Maps invite viewers to think not just about the geographical transformations but also cultural and political shifts that occurred since their creation. These maps are also pieces of art and pieces of power; they serve as excerpts of how colonialism shaped our world and its future.” – Latitude Brown

Presentation of some areas and places in North America under French and English jurisdiction, 1756

“My favorite map is the Particular Draughts and Plans of some of the Principal Towns and Harbours belonging to the English, French, and Spaniards in America and West Indies. I enjoyed how it emphasizes the other countries then invested in the Americas. The map depicts thirteen different towns, and it is fascinating to see how these locales differed based on geography and population. Beyond the amazing opportunity to browse rare and historical maps, I researched their accessibility through WorldCat. I counted how many institutions claimed to hold each map and which institutions also had their maps available digitally.  I was happy to find that some maps in the Society of the Cincinnati’s collection have not been digitized by any library in the world. This project is a great opportunity for the Society of the Cincinnati to showcase their significant rare map collection and bring in researchers who study events around the American Revolution. Though the collection focuses on the time of the American Revolution, the maps are from all around the world, because the Revolution affected more nations than the United States and England.” – Sarah Moore

Detail of Particular Draughts and Plans of some of the Principal Towns and Harbours belonging to the English, French, and Spaniards, in America and West Indies, ca. 1747

“One map that I enjoyed working with was called A New Map of the Province of Quebec. This map is from the year 1776 and was pieced together on fabric because the paper has been worn thin from where its previous owner(s) folded it multiple times. I was amazed at how the indexes at the top of the map were stylized to look like additional sheets of paper and how the yellow and teal coastlines were intricately hand colored. This map is truly a work of art. Since I currently work with 20th-century first edition books, I am always fascinated by how the historical objects we study today are things once used in daily life. Working with this map, I was able to have a detailed glimpse into this copy of the map’s physical history, but also how the world was experienced in 1776. Even though we were working to digitize these maps, seeing this map in person at the library has enriched how I understand the period of the American Revolution and how cartographic resources can be described as unique copies in libraries.” – Clare Sahijdak

A section of A New Map of the Province of Quebec, 1776

The American Revolution Institute research library and archives houses more than fifty thousand rare books, manuscripts, prints, broadsides, maps and modern reference sources and is one of the most important resources in the world for advanced study on the revolution. The library welcomes researchers to use the collections by appointment and supports scholarship by offering several research fellowships each year to graduate students and advanced scholars. The work supported by students from the University of Michigan’s School of Information Alternative Spring Break on “Mapping the Revolution” will increase and improve digitization of the map collection. Stay tuned for more updates about collections, posts from research fellows, and more.

Click here to learn more about the American Revolution Institute library and collections.