The Revolutionary Journal of Baron Ludwig von Closen, 1780-1783

Baron Ludwig von Closen-Haydenburg's lively account of his campaigns in America as aide-de-camp to Rochambeau during the Revolution is at last available here in published form. This is not only a translation but a critical edition that identifies the numerous eighteenth-century sources the Baron used in rewriting his journal in later years.

Originally published in 1958.

A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the latest in digital technology to make available again books from our distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These editions are published unaltered from the original, and are presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both historical and cultural value.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Omohundro Institute and UNC Press
• Release date: Oct 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9780807839928

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THE REVOLUTIONARY JOURNAL OF BARON LUDWIG VON CLOSEN 1780-1783

The Institute of Early American History and Culture is sponsored jointly by the College of William and Mary and Colonial Williamsburg, Incorporated.

BARON VON CLOSEN

A lithograph printed about 1824, in which the Baron's titles and honors are listed as Major-General, Chamberlain, and Chevalier of the French Orders of Merit and of the Legion of Honor, as well as of that of the Cincinnati of the United States of America.

THE REVOLUTIONARY JOURNAL OF BARON LUDWIG VON CLOSEN 1780-1783

Translated and Edited with an Introduction by

EVELYN M. ACOMB

PUBLISHED FOR THE

Institute of Early American History and Culture

AT WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA

BY

The University of North Carolina Press • Chapel Hill

COPYRIGHT, 1958, BY

THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS

Manufactured in the United States of America

THIS BOOK WAS DIGITALLY PRINTED.

To

My Mother

and to the memory of

My Father

Preface

BARON LUDWIG VON CLOSEN’S Journal of his Campaigns in America would probably have continued to be read only by a few scholars if Professor Douglass Adair, then editor of the William and Mary Quarterly, had not asked me in 1950 to translate and edit selections from it for publication. In beginning this agreeable task, I found that almost nothing was known about Baron von Closen or the circumstances surrounding the making of the transcript of his Journal for the Library of Congress. Indeed, it soon became evident that what appeared to be a simple diary was in reality a composite of numerous and unidentified sources carefully woven together at a later date. From that moment on, my project became something of a study in higher criticism. By good luck I discovered the C. W. Bowen Papers in the American Antiquarian Society, which told of the finding of the Journal in 1888 in the castle of Gern in Bavaria, and explained Closen’s references to an appendix. In Paris I found that the personal dossier of the Baron and the records of his regiment had miraculously survived the bombings of the Second World War and were housed in a seventeenth century building in the military compound, replete with medieval donjon and church, known as the Chateau de Vincennes. His dossier as sub-prefect under Napoleon had also been preserved in the Soubise Palace. Slowly the sources that he had used came to light in the Rochambeau Papers in the Library of Congress, in the Balch Collection in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, and his military missions in America were traced not only on maps but in many a ride through New York, Connecticut, and Virginia. In April, 1953, some selections from the Journal, together with an introduction, were published in the William and Mary Quarterly.

In the course of this work the value of the Journal as an historical document became increasingly apparent, and interest in it was manifested not only in the United States but also in France and Germany. I therefore decided to translate and publish the complete Journal in the hope that the general public as well as scholars would be interested in this account of the French expedition under the command of General Rochambeau, which played such an important part, together with the French fleet under Admiral de Grasse, in the decisive victory at Yorktown.

I am deeply grateful to Professor Adair for his initial suggestion and constant encouragement in my work. I wish also to acknowledge my profound gratitude to Herr Friedrich Bracker and his wife, Frau Berta Bracker, sister-in-law of the late Baron von Closen-Günderrode, and to Gräfin Alice von Lösch and her son, Graf Guntram von Lösch, daughter and grandson of the late Baron, for their generous consent to publication of the Journal in the interests of scholarship. Herr Bracker sent me all the information at his disposal concerning the castle at Gern, and Graf von Lösch sent me some excellent photographs of the Von Closen monument on his estate.

Among those abroad expressing an interest in the study were Comte Michel de Rochambeau and Dr. Max Schüler of Zweibrücken, Germany, a student of local German history, who contributed bibliographical suggestions. The late Mr. Stephen Bonsai, who tells in his book, When the French Were Here, that Georges Clemenceau was much amused by the Baron’s Journal and hoped some day to trace the route of the French army in America, wrote me shortly before his death that I would find material on the Baron in the French National Archives. Professor Robert L. Schuyler, emeritus, of Columbia University, has given me constant encouragement and advice. Professor Louis Gottschalk of the University of Chicago called to my attention the acquisition of the Von Closen map by the John Carter Brown Library and opened up a new field of interest. Mr. Lloyd Brown of the Peabody Library wrote me concerning the unsolved problem of the authorship of the maps in the Rochambeau Collection.

The staffs of many archives, historical societies, and libraries have been unfailingly courteous and helpful. Mr. Clarence Brigham of the American Antiquarian Society, Mr. Lawrence C. Wroth of the John Carter Brown Library, Mr. Carl Lokke of the National Archives, and Mr. Robert Land of the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress have been particularly kind. Mr. Charles Hatch, Historian of the Colonial National Park at Yorktown, lent me photostats of half the Journal. The staffs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the New-York Historical Society, the Rhode Island Historical Society, the John Hay Library of Brown University, the Yale University Library, and the New York Public Library have been of great assistance. I owe a special debt to Vassar College and to the staff of its Library, whose resources have generously been made available to me.

In France the librarians of the Bibliothèque Nationale and the archivists of the Archives Nationales, the Archives du Ministère de la Guerre, and the Archives du Ministère de la Marine, particularly M. Olivier Deprat of the last, have extended every courtesy to me. In Germany the state archivists have supplied me with copious information concerning their documents, especially Professor Dr. Ludwig Maenner of the Bayerisches Haupstaatsarchiv, Abteilung Geheimes Staatsarchiv, in Munich, and Dr. Fitz of the Kreisarchiv in Munich. Dr. R. Schreiber, Director of the Staatsarchiv in Speyer, also sent me valuable information.

Several other friends and colleagues have assisted me with details of the translation: Professor Theodore Ropp of Duke University; Professor David Pinkney of the University of Missouri; and Professors Jane Tulloch, John Sherwig, Ignatz Feuerlicht, and Dr. Goeta Steuer of State University Teachers College, New Paltz, New York. I am indebted to Professor George B. Carson, Jr., Director of the Service Center for Teachers of History, Washington, D. C, for information concerning Chastellux. My sister, Professor Frances Acomb of Duke University, has discussed with me a number of historical problems related to the Journal. My mother has given me many valuable suggestions and unfailing support and encouragement in my task. Together we have found much pleasure in tracing the Baron’s rides and the route of the French army on our drives.

Publication of the Journal has been aided by funds made available to the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia, by the Lilly Endowment, Inc. I should like to express my very deep appreciation to Mr. James Morton Smith, Editor of Publications of the Institute, for his continuing interest in publication of the Journal and helpful criticism of the manuscript. My thanks also go to Mr. Frederick A. Hetzel, Assistant Editor of Publications, for his great pains in preparing the manuscript for the press. I alone, however, am responsible for whatever errors or misinterpretations may be found in my work.

EVELYN M. ACOMB

Poughkeepsie, New York

Introduction

A FRESH, LIVELY, and observant account of life in town and country along the Atlantic seaboard during the last years of the American Revolution is given by Baron Ludwig von Closen, an inquiring young aide-de-camp to General Rochambeau, in his voluminous memoirs and diary, here translated from the French and published in full for the first time. His Journal also presents a detailed and generally accurate record of the organization, campaigns, and movements of the French expeditionary force under Rochambeau, from its embarkation at Brest in the spring of 1780 until its return to France in June, 1783. A conscientious captain in the Royal Deux-Ponts regiment, eager for professional advancement, Closen carefully examined former battle sites, drew maps of fortifications, engaged in bold reconnoiters, studied siege warfare, and bravely led his men under fire at Yorktown. He was entrusted with important dispatches for General Washington and Admiral de Grasse, and occasionally served as interpreter in conferences. Although a native of the Palatinate and an officer in a German-speaking regiment, he was closely associated with some of the most brilliant and sophisticated members of the French aristocracy, and felt a warm allegiance to his adopted country, France.

On his military missions or in his hours of leisure, Baron von Closen tried to inform himself about the country in which he was living, in the spirit of Raynal, whose great history he admired. He described the flora and fauna, the climate and the landscapes, and the natural curiosities of the regions through which he passed, with an artist’s appreciation of their beauty. He inspected wharves and markets, sampled food and drink, and noted taverns, highways, and ship sailings. Cosmopolitan in outlook, he assiduously collected information concerning constitutions and elections, visited museums and colleges, and attended the religious services of various faiths. He was delighted to find that religious tolerance prevailed in America to a great degree. Humane in feeling, he expressed his marked distaste for slaveholding and the slave trade, and for the British treatment of Americans on their prison ships. He commented shrewdly and humorously upon American character: the hospitality of his hosts and the avarice of innkeepers, the bravery of American soldiers and the timidity of civilians, the austerity of Quaker life and the luxury of Virginia plantations. His experiences in Spanish Puerto Cabello and French Santo Domingo provided an interesting contrast to those in continental North America and heightened his appreciation of life in New England.

Whenever possible, Closen sought out famous Americans, such as Washington, Jefferson, and Hancock, to savor their conversation and appraise their noble qualities. In his memoirs he drew charming vignettes not only of these heroes but also of such colorful personalities as Mirabeau Cask, the huge and bibulous French captain; Anthony Benezet, the Philadelphia philanthropist; Colonel Clark, a doughty but slightly foolish Connecticut militia officer; and Major Johnston, the keeper of the filthiest inn in America. Needless to say, the youthful Baron enjoyed the society of fashionable young ladies and those of a certain age from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to Williamsburg, Virginia, and he compared their charms and sketched their silhouettes.

One of the most engaging portraits in these pages, however, is that of Baron von Closen himself, with his zest for adventure, his natural gaiety and wit, his keen sense of humor, and his appreciation of the dramatic. Young Closen was personable and talented. Rather short of stature, he was blond, blue-eyed, with a high forehead, oval face, long and rather retrousse nose, and thin, firm lips. His expression was serene, alert, intelligent, and good-humored.¹ His manners were gay and affable; his spirit was venturesome. He was something of a linguist, knowing French, German, English, and Italian after a fashion, and he loved to sketch. He belonged to the Reformed church, which may account for some of his interest in dissenting sects, but he shrank from religious fanaticism.² Intellectual curiosity and ambition were his most outstanding traits.

In the long winter evenings in Newport, Williamsburg, and Puerto Cabello and on interminable sea voyages across the Atlantic and to South America, Closen, like so many of his fellow officers, noted his impressions in his Journal for the entertainment and profit of his friends and posterity. Many years later, after the upheavals of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, he compiled his Journal of the Campaigns in America of Baron Louis de Closen, based upon and sometimes reproducing verbatim not only his own but a number of other diaries. The passage of the years had not dimmed his admiration for the American revolutionary leaders, his genuine liking for the American people, and his appreciation of the blessings of civil liberty.

Despite rewriting, faulty transcription, and translation, Closen’s work retains considerable liveliness and charm. Other journals, such as that of Chastellux, may have greater literary value, or, like that of Blanchard, reveal greater acumen; but none gives such a comprehensive picture of eighteenth century military and social life in the United States and the Spanish and French colonies as that of Baron von Closen.

II

One might wonder why such a valuable document as this has escaped publication in full for so many years. Its history is a curious one. It was first brought to the attention of the American public by Clarence Winthrop Bowen (1852-1935), publisher of the Brooklyn Independent, treasurer of the American Historical Association for over thirty-three years, and secretary of the committee on arrangements for the celebration of the centennial of Washington’s inaugural. Through his search for a portrait of Washington, which had been painted in 1784 for the Comte de Solms by the Quaker artist, Joseph Wright, Dr. Bowen learned of the existence of the Von Closen Journal. On November 27, 1888, Berthold Kalbfus of Munich, in response to a newspaper inquiry, wrote him that he had recently discovered this Journal, together with related documents and portraits, in the library of his brother-in-law, the prospective head of the Von Closen family, at Gern, near Eggenfelden, and had obtained permission to dispose of them. He was preparing a German translation of the French original, which he would have transcribed into English, and hoped that Dr. Bowen would persuade an American firm to publish the manuscript.³

Dr. Bowen’s interest in the diary was immediate and lasting. Over a period of sixteen years he worked indefatigably to bring the Von Closen Papers to America and have them published. In 1890 he reported his discovery to the American Historical Association and the New-York Historical Society.⁴ Justin Winsor and other American scholars attested to the authenticity and freshness of detail of the Journal, but publishers found the English translation unreliable. Unfortunately microfilm had not been perfected at that time, and Mr. Kalbfus could not be persuaded to send his valuable family relic to America.⁵

Over a decade later, however, Dr. Bowen arranged to have the Von Closen Papers and a portrait of the Baron displayed at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, in the hope that they would arouse so much interest that Baron von Closen-Günderrode might be persuaded to present them to the President of the United States. Dr. Bowen lectured to a number of historical societies concerning them. President Theodore Roosevelt examined the papers at a White House luncheon on March 14,1905, where he showed much interest in the sketches and translated aloud certain passages from the Journal.⁶ Nevertheless, their owner insisted that he must retain the originals. Fortunately he did permit the Library of Congress to make a transcript of the diary so that students might use it. In November, 1905, the Journal and the entire collection of related documents and pictures were shipped back to the Baron.⁷ On November 12, 1921, they were completely destroyed when the castle of Gern in Bavaria burned to the ground.⁸

The Library of Congress transcript of the French original is, therefore, the only known copy of the Von Closen Journal. Although scholars have consulted it for over half a century, its use has been considerably restricted, because the transcript is handwritten, unin-dexed, and in eighteenth century French, containing many errors in spelling. Only brief selections from the Journal have appeared in historical journals.⁹ It is hoped that this translation will make it more readable and accessible to scholars, students, and the general public.

III

The translation and editing of the Von Closen Journal have presented difficult yet fascinating problems in historical criticism and linguistics. When shipped to the United States, the Von Closen Papers consisted of two thick, bound volumes of about 250 octavo pages each, entitled Journal des Campagnes d’Amérique de Baron Louis de Closen; two volumes containing about 106 written and printed documents, sketches, and plans, called Recueil de Pièces Détachées Relatives ö la Guerre pour l’Indépendance des États-Unis de l’Amérique Septentrionale faisant Suite au Journal des Campagnes d’Amérique du Baron Louis de Closen jusqu’ö la Paix de 1783, and Journal Américain Pièces Détachées Relatives; and two volumes of bound documents, one containing a summary of legal proceedings, and the other headed Maps and Plates of Major Long’s Expedition of the Rocky Mountains. With the papers were also copper and wooden plates of autograph letters of Washington, and of portraits of Washington in 1782, Lady Washington, Lord Cornwallis, and Washington’s daughter.¹⁰ The Library of Congress did not copy the documents and unbound papers but Closen gives some indication of their contents in his references to them in the Journal, and the Bowen Papers in the American Antiquarian Society contain a brief, though sometimes inaccurate, inventory of these documents.

From internal and external evidence, the final draft of the Von Closen Journal and Memoirs was probably written about 1823, the latest date cited in the text. The completed Journal had been read by others by 1824.¹¹ The tenses change from past to present frequently in the text, and there are a few references to later events, such as General Mathieu Dumas’s campaigns under Napoleon in Germany and Russia. But the bulk of the Memoirs is based upon a daily journal which Closen kept himself, or is copied verbatim or derived from other eighteenth century journals, documents, notes, and newspaper clippings that he assembled at the time of the American campaign.

En route to the West Indies and on the return voyage to France, he secured a cabin to himself for several hours each morning so that he might work on his diary.¹² Many of his details are too precise and fresh to be recollections forty or more years after the events had transpired. His accuracy concerning dates, encampments of the French army, towns and houses visited, and travels by his associates shows that he relied upon firsthand sources.

At general headquarters Closen avidly read the intelligence reports from the South, the West Indies, Spain, and India. He was aware of the interdependence of the campaigns in these areas and of the importance of seapower. He was informed as to secret decisions concerning allied strategy. For his account of the siege of Yorktown, Closen relied heavily upon the Engineers’ Journal, but he also used the daily reports in the Journal of the Siege of York by the General Staff of the French army.¹³ In addition he consulted the Journal des Operations du Corps Français depuis le 15 D’Aoust, 1781, and probably the Journal du Siège d’York en Virginie, October 20, 1781, both to be found in the Rochambeau Papers. He also mentions other materials in the Rochambeau Papers, which were available at headquarters, or perhaps at Rochambeau’s residence in later years. As aide-de-camp he could of course consult the General’s Letter-Books.¹⁴ These official records he supplemented with his own notes and reminiscences, and he may have drawn other details of the siege from De Ménonville’s Journal and Comte de Grasse’s account of the campaign.

One of the most important sources used by Closen was the unsigned Journal attributed to Baron Marie François Joseph Maxime Cromot du Bourg (1756-1836), who arrived in America on May 6,1781, ten months later than Closen, to serve as an aide-de-camp to General Rochambeau. He mentions Closen occasionally and refers to him as his most intimate companion.¹⁵ Together they visited Totowa Falls, Germantown, and Philadelphia, and traveled overland through Maryland and Virginia en route to Williamsburg in 1781. Du Bourg’s Journal ends shortly after the siege of Yorktown, although he remained in America and sailed to the West Indies with the army.

For the period from May to November, 1781, the Von Closen and Du Bourg Journals are often quite similar in phrasing. This is true of their accounts of the topography, fortifications, and birds of Rhode Island, the fortifications of West Point, the visit to Dr. Chovet’s collection of wax figures in Philadelphia, and the stay with the Walker family in Maryland. Certain felicitous comments are found in both, such as the remark that an aide-de-camp without a general is like a body without a soul.¹⁶ Yet Closen sometimes adds details that are not to be found in Du Bourg’s Journal, and their judgments differ in regard to such subjects as the ladies of Boston, General Washington, and relations between the French army and navy.¹⁷ Du Bourg was not as familiar with English as was Closen, and his spelling of proper names was less likely to be correct. His style was more direct and terse, and he was more inclined to be critical. Perhaps some of the interest in natural history in Closen’s Journal is derived from Du Bourg, for Lieutenant Robernier wrote in South America that the latter took pleasure in writing about some of these animals, and people will receive with pleasure a work he made at the expense of his leisure and in which truth guided his pen.¹⁸ It is difficult to say how much Closen and Du Bourg borrowed from each other. The resemblance between parts of their diaries may be attributed to their close association in North America; or Closen may have acquired a copy of the Du Bourg Journal later and have woven it into his work.

Another interesting question connected with the relationship between these two Journals is the authorship of the unsigned manuscript maps to be found with the Du Bourg Journal. Closen refers in his Journal to some 27 maps or plans that he drew or copied, only four of which are listed in the inventory in the Bowen Papers. A number of these maps seem to correspond with maps in the Du Bourg and Rochambeau collections, as will be indicated in the annotations to the text. No reference has been found to Du Bourg’s skill as a draughtsman and no map signed by him has been found. He does not refer in his Journal to maps now with his collection, except for the plan of Newport, Rhode Island. He did not reach Newport until May, 1781, shortly before the army left, and he did not participate in the Morrisania reconnaissance, the subject of one of the maps in his collection. The maps with his Journal are detached and are all in the same style; the handwriting and lettering resemble those on a map known to be by Closen.

Closen’s artistic talent is apparent in his sketches of soldiers and Indians and in his delicate silhouettes; he also refers to his sketches of a waterfall, a sugarmill, etc. General Rochambeau wrote the Minister of War on May 5, 1780, that he was attaching some officers as draughtsmen to the general staff, M. Damas, one of my aides-de-camp and the Baron de Clauzen of the Royal Deuxponts, a relative of the late General, both of whom draw very well; they are both subjects who show great promise.¹⁹ The John Carter Brown Library has recently acquired a charming colored manuscript map, signed Closen fecit, of the French fortifications and fleet at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1780-1781.²⁰ It is difficult to be sure of authorship, since a number of copies of important maps were sometimes made, and cartographers followed a conventional style in lettering; but it seems likely that Closen copied from engineers’ maps the originals of or perhaps all the maps in the Du Bourg collection.²¹ The close association between Du Bourg and Closen perhaps accounts for the fact that these maps are with the Du Bourg Journal.

Closen mentions having read the Journal of his superior and friend, Comte Guillaume des Deux-Ponts, and seems to have been influenced by its style. He undoubtedly had read that of Chevalier de Chastellux, but the only section that he might have taken from it is the description of Fort Lafayette on Verplank’s Point.²² Indefatigably he gathered other materials for his collection, such as statistics, Congressional resolutions, accounts of battles, public addresses, lists of ships, and newspaper clippings, chiefly from London papers or Rivington’s Gazette, and translated some of them into French. He made notes on the climate, religions, and products of North and South America.²³ He used a History of the American War, probably that by Stedman, and from the Annual Register for 1775 he copied almost word for word the description of the Battle of Bunker Hill, after visiting the site in 1781 with an American captain who had fought there.

In short, Baron von Closen’s Journal is an informal history of the French expedition, based for the most part upon firsthand sources, probably compiled many years later by a man who had kept a journal of his own participation in those events. Despite its late composition, it has a vital freshness and a very real ring of authenticity. Closen’s judgments, of course, must be considered critically, for they were undoubtedly influenced to some extent by later events. His tributes to Washington and Jefferson may reflect their subsequent reputations. His spirited defense of General Rochambeau may result in part from his sense of personal obligation to his patron and from his resentment at later attacks upon the General. The references to nationalism may well be nineteenth century additions.²⁴ But these later glosses are readily apparent and do not detract greatly from the value of Von Closen’s Journal as a military and social history, if the manner of its composition is understood.

Except for descriptive passages, the style of the Journal is simple, and the vocabulary is rather limited. At times Closen uses both French and English expressions for the same idea, and his English may be faulty. According to Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress in 1905, A good deal of the text was difficult and could not safely be turned over to an ordinary transcriber. A great deal of this has in fact been transcribed by Mr. [Worthington Chauncey] Ford personally.²⁵ Some parts of the text were difficult to translate because of eighteenth century spelling, obsolete or illegible words, or incorrect transcription from the original. Moreover, Closen tended to exaggerate size and, like so many writers of the eighteenth century, he often spelled proper names incorrectly or inconsistently. Thus it is sometimes puzzling to decide whether he or the copyist was in error.

The spirit and form of the original have been followed as faithfully as possible, but some long sentences containing many dependent clauses and dangling participles have been broken up. The names of ships and newspapers have been italicized; all other italics are found in the original. Abbreviated titles have been written out except for the usual civilian forms of address, and punctuation and capitalization have been modernized when necessary. Some extremely short paragraphs have been combined for greater continuity, when this did not distort the meaning or emphasis; occasionally, paragraphs covering several days have been divided. About one third of Closen’s entries are dated; for the rest the editor has supplied the date in brackets.

The eleven parts of the Journal have been treated as chapters and given headings devised by the editor. Important errors in the text have been indicated in the editorial notes. Closen’s notes have generally been placed with the editor’s footnotes, but if they are very long or closely related to the text, they have been incorporated in it. All of Closen’s footnotes are preceded by the phrase Closen’s note. If the editor has added something to Closen’s note, the phrase Ed. note distinguishes the addition from the Baron’s original notation.

With some reluctance it was decided to correct the spelling of proper names in the manuscript, which reflects the mingled German and French background of the author and perhaps may result from occasional errors in transcription; the original form has been given in a footnote if it differs markedly. The loss of such quaint spellings as Pigskill for Peekskill robs the Journal of some of its special charm, but perhaps greater accuracy and readability more than compensate for this. When Closen uses both French and English expressions for the same idea, the English alone is retained, with a note indicating that it is Closen’s English. References to the collection of documents which was destroyed by fire have been deleted if they do not indicate sources or provide additional information. All but the most prominent or the most obscure persons mentioned in the text are identified in the Biographical Directory, which precedes the Bibliography. Since the Bibliography carries full publication information, citations in footnotes list only the short title.

IV

The author of these Memoirs and Journal, Baron Hans Christoph Friedrich Ignatz Ludwig von Closen-Haydenburg, was descended through the Rhenish line from one of the most ancient and honorable families of Bavaria, which traced its ancestry to George von Mühlberg, a knight of the Holy Roman Empire, who married Siguna, Countess of Landau, in 1130. According to legend, their children were known after 1150 as Klausner, and later as Klosner or Closen, from a Klause or hermitage to which the Countess was forced to flee when her castle was destroyed. Their descendants became renowned for their services to church and state and for their extensive lands, among them Gern in northeastern Bavaria, acquired about 1348.²⁶ By the eighteenth century the two chief branches of the family were those of the Barons von Closen-Haydenburg, who were hereditary marshals of Lower Bavaria, and of the Counts von Closen Gern-Urbain, whose line died out in 1784.²⁷

Baron Ludwig von Closen was born in the small village of Monsheim, near Worms, in territory of the House of Leiningen attached to Pfalz-Zweibrücken (Palatinate-Deux-Ponts). The date of birth is given as August 14, 1752, in a copy of the Monsheim church records and other official documents in the Administrative Archives of the Ministry of War in Paris; but it is listed as 1754 in credentials that he submitted to the Minister of War in 1783, in which his parents were said to have been married in 1752. In his service record drawn up in 1788, Closen dates his birth in 1755 and he generally used this date in requesting advancement or making application for a position. His father was Lieutenant-Colonel Ludwig Heinrich, Baron von Closen-Haydenburg (1725-1765), lord of Bläzemberg and Wancken, and his mother was Elizabeth Charlotte Friederike, Baroness von La RocheStarkenfels. All that is known of his father is that in 1752 he was a captain in the regiment of Baden-Durlach, and that he was a lieutenant-colonel in the service of the Dutch Netherlands at the time of his early death. His mother, who was left with Ludwig and four young daughters, was re-married in 1768 to Baron Ernst Ferdinand Ludwig von Fürstenwärther (1737-1821), a captain in the Royal Deux-Ponts regiment and a widower with two young children. Twin sons and a daughter were born of this second marriage.²⁸

It was natural that Closen should follow a military career in the service of France, for members of his family were prominent in the Royal Deux-Ponts regiment, first commissioned in the French army by Duke Christian of Deux-Ponts in 1757 for action in the Seven Years War. A relative, Baron Christian Karl Wilhelm von Closen (17171764), had served with so much distinction as colonel of the regiment that he had been promoted to the rank of major-general, awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Louis, and presented to King Louis XV.²⁹ Not only the young Baron’s step-father, but the latter’s brother, Baron Karl Leopold von Fürstenwärther (1741-1802), were captains in the regiment.³⁰ According to General Rochambeau, Closen had inherited from the major-general his military virtues, and an unalterable attachment to France, to whom he had dedicated his first arms at the age of twelve in the Royal Deux-Ponts regiment.³¹

Actually, the young Baron entered military service as a sub-lieutenant on September 10, 1769, at the age of fourteen or seventeen. In the records of his regiment, still preserved in the Chateau de Vincennes, notations made for the years from 1770 to 1778 indicate that he was a subject of great promise, pleasing, very industrious, extremely intelligent, especially well-informed, a good officer. His promotions were correspondingly frequent: to lieutenant on December 13, 1773; to second-lieutenant on June 7, 1776; to first-lieutenant on August 23, 1777; and finally to second-captain on April 4, 1780, just before sailing for America.³² He was stationed until 1779 in such frontier towns as Sedan, Strasbourg, Lille, Dunkirk, and Metz. In December of that year he was moved to Landerneau and Saint-Pol de Léon in western Brittany, where he remained until his regiment marched to Brest.³³ At embarkation he was thus in his late twenties with almost eleven years of military service, but he had never experienced actual combat.

At the time of his departure for America, he was engaged to Dorothea Friederike Karoline, Baroness von Fürstenwärther (17641800), then only sixteen, daughter of his step-father and Juliana Mariana Karoline von Günderrode.³⁴ Closen seems to have been warmly attached to his fiancee and to his family, whose letters were eagerly awaited.³⁵ It was for the entertainment of his family and friends that he began keeping his Journal. He once observed that since his diary would be read only by them, he could reveal that the negligence of the Agénais regiment at the siege of Yorktown was responsible for the surprise of a battery, and that M. de Custine’s drunkenness had cost them nine men.³⁶

Shordy before the Royal Deux-Ponts regiment sailed, General Rochambeau asserted that it was as strong in its composition as any French regiment and in the best condition.³⁷ Although most of its officers and men were German, their point of view was cosmopolitan, for the Duchy of Deux-Ponts, in the ever-shifting borderland between France and Germany, had been ruled by Sweden in the early eighteenth century, was returned to German hands in 1731, and later became united with Bavaria in 1799.³⁸ In 1780 the colonel and lieutenant-colonel of the regiment were Comte Christian des Deux-Ponts and Vicomte Guillaume des Deux-Ponts, respectively, sons of Duke Christian IV by a morganatic marriage with a famous Parisian dancer, Fontenay, later created Baroness de Forbach. Vicomte Guillaume was one of Closen’s intimate friends.³⁹ The officers and men were gay in sky-blue coats with citron-yellow collars and facings. The regimental flag was divided by the cross of St. Andrew into blue-and-white and crimson-and-white striped triangles. It was adorned with the arms of Deux-Ponts and a royal crown, and the arms of the cross were decked with fleurs de lis.⁴⁰

That German-speaking troops fought with as well as against Americans during the Revolution is sometimes overlooked. In addition to the men from Deux-Ponts, there was a battalion from Trier in the Saintonge regiment, there were Alsatians and Lothringers in the light companies attached to the Bourbonnais and Soissonnais regiments, and there were many Germans in the Duc de Lauzun’s cavalry legion. It has been estimated that perhaps one-third of Rochambeau’s army at Yorktown consisted of German and Swiss troops.⁴¹

These four regiments and the Lauzun legion were ordered to embark for America on April 4, 1780, but unfavorable winds delayed their departure until May 2. Although the King had promised to send eight thousand men to aid the Americans, General Rochambeau was forced to sail with only five thousand because of the scarcity of ships.⁴² After a tedious voyage of seventy days, enlivened by a brief but indecisive encounter with a British squadron, the fleet and convoy anchored in Newport harbor on July 11, 1780. Closen disembarked with his company on the 13th and camped on the height southeast of Newport. The next day he was pleasantly surprised to learn of his appointment as aide-de-camp to General Rochambeau and moved to a lodging in town.

The position of aide-de-camp was one much sought after. Among those selected by General Rochambeau were two of his nephews, M. Victor Collot and Comte de Lauberdières; Comte Fersen, the favorite of Marie Antoinette; Comte de Vauban, great-grandnephew of Louis XIV’s famous marshal; and Comte Charles de Lameth, nephew of Marshal de Broglie.⁴³ General Rochambeau wrote that he had chosen Closen out of respect for the memory of the late general of this name, and added that the younger Baron was an accomplished gentleman, a charming subject, and gives evidence of all his uncle’s talents.⁴⁴ His skill as a draughtsman and knowledge of English were no doubt considerations. The new post suited Closen’s inquiring mind and energetic temperament, for it enabled him to meet important visitors, to obtain the latest information, and to travel widely. Some of the officers found General Rochambeau to be suspicious, irritable, and cold in manner, although they acknowledged his moderation and wisdom in military affairs,⁴⁵ but a close relationship based upon mutual respect and affection sprang up between the seasoned general and the young captain. The General found funds for the salaries of junior officers attached to his staff by paying the other officers only 800 instead of 1,000 livres per month.⁴⁶ Some of these Counts Couriers⁴⁷ retired from time to time and were replaced by others, such as Baron Cromot du Bourg.

Closen’s experiences as an aide-de-camp are so fully described in his Journal that there is no need to linger over them here. To him General Rochambeau entrusted some of his most important dispatches. In February, 1781, Closen carried letters concerning the Chesapeake expedition to General Washington, then in New Windsor, New York. In March he bore dispatches for the Court to the French consul in Boston. On June 10 he marched south with the French forces to the Philipsburg camp and accompanied the generals on reconnaissances around New York. When the Yorktown campaign was determined upon, he rode with General Rochambeau as far as Head of Elk. In Virginia he was engaged in carrying dispatches between the French headquarters and Admiral de Grasse’s fleet. On the night of October 1415 he commanded fifty men in one of the redoubts when the Gâtinais and Royal Deux-Ponts regiments won acclaim for their valor in storming the enemy’s fortifications. Although he attributed the success of the Yorktown campaign in large part to General Rochambeau, he was warm in his praise of General Washington and the American troops. He was impressed by the usually harmonious relations between the French and American general staffs and between the French army and the civilian population, but he noted occasional misunderstandings.

In recognition of his services, Closen was recommended for promotion to the rank of second-colonel in a foreign regiment. He accompanied General Rochambeau on his visits to Virginia plantations in February, 1782, and on April 29 was sent with dispatches to Luzerne and Washington concerning supplies for the West Indies and future campaign plans. On September 25 he was sent from Crompond, New York, to Boston and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to consult with Admiral Vaudreuil regarding the embarkation of the army for the West Indies. On December 22, 1782, he boarded the Brave with the Vicomte des Deux-Ponts and Comte de Fersen, and sadly took leave of the United States.

When the fleet carrying the French army reached the West Indies, it learned that Admiral Hood was lying in wait for them off Santo Domingo with a British squadron. The French therefore altered their course and sailed to Puerto Cabello in Venezuela, arriving on February 10, 1783. During his two months in South America Closen continued his Journal and made notes on natural history, agricultural products, social customs, and the Spanish army and administration. He was unfavorably impressed by the rigid mercantilism, graft, exploitation of the Indians, and religious fanaticism that he observed in this colony, and stated his marked preference for life in New England. Overjoyed to learn on March 18 that the peace preliminaries had been signed almost two months earlier, he left South America on April 3 without the least regret. After two weeks in the French colony on the Cape of Santo Domingo, where he inspected sugar plantations, savored creole society, and visited the local Masonic lodge, he sailed on the Brave with the army for France on April 30.

The fleet landed at Brest on June 17, and Closen set off at once for Paris. General Rochambeau presented him to the Marquis de Segur, the minister of war, who received him graciously. He then proceeded to Deux-Ponts, where on August 28, 1783, he was married to his faithful fiancee, Dorothea von Fürstenwärther. In the ensuing years four daughters and a son were born to them.⁴⁸

Closen continued his military career, serving with his regiments at Landau, Phalsburg, Metz, Belfort, and Neufbrisach between 1783 and 1790.⁴⁹ The army, which had been declining since the Seven Years War despite periodic reforms under Choiseul and St. Germain, had reached a new low in morale and efficiency. There was a surplus of officers, and many of them, despairing of promotion, neglected their duties and led a frivolous life. Despite some attempts at reform in 1788, the spirit of disaffection grew.⁵⁰ Nevertheless, Closen’s professional zeal continued unabated and in 1785 he was recommended for advancement in a laudatory citation:

Merit in all respects. . . . One cannot praise too highly his fulfillment of all the duties of his profession, and it would be desirable to give him the rank of major before realizing the hope that he has been given of the rank of second-colonel.

It was not until April 1, 1788, however, that he was promoted to the rank of second-major and received the Cross of Military Merit.⁵¹

Closen’s industry and eagerness to please won him the affection and support of his superiors, but awakened bitter jealousy in his fellow officers. While the French army was in Williamsburg, Baron Eberhard d’Èsebeck, Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Deux-Ponts and a brother-in-law of Closen’s famous relative, the late General von Closen, charged that Closen was not really related to the General.⁵² This was a serious accusation, for an edict of 1781 required officers to have proof of noble ancestry on four sides, another indication of the resurgence of the aristocracy before the Revolution.⁵³ It is quite evident that Baron d’Èsebeck was moved by jealousy and disappointment because he had not received the promotion given to Comte de Fersen, and resented favors shown by General Rochambeau to the young Baron. It may be that General Rochambeau had gained the impression that Closen’s relationship with his old comrade-in-arms was closer than was actually the case. In any event, he felt impelled by duty to report the charge to the Minister of War but the slight credence he gave to it is shown by his entrusting Closen with important dispatches for General Washington the following day.⁵⁴ Nevertheless, Closen was required to submit numerous documents to prove his noble ancestry⁵⁵ and it was not until February, 1784, after the intercession of General Rochambeau,⁵⁶ that a royal official expressed his satisfaction with Baron von Closen’s noble lineage⁵⁷ and stated that he was related in the fourth degree to the General of the same name.

The jealousy that had delayed Closen’s advancement flared up once more upon his promotion to second-major. On October 27, 1789, six captains of the Royal Deux-Ponts regiment appealed to the Minister of War, M. La Tour du Pin, to transfer or demote Baron von Closen on the grounds of seniority, his religion, and army ordinances concerning promotion. The Due des Deux-Ponts stood firmly by Closen, however, and said that he had urged his promotion as the only aide-decamp to Rochambeau in America who had not been rewarded for his services, and as a zealous, talented, and intelligent officer. On December 17, 1789, and again on May 31, 1790, the Duke requested that Closen be promoted to lieutenant-colonel.⁵⁸

That the Comte de Rochambeau had not forgotten his young protégé was also evident. In 1789 he appointed him as his aide-de-camp while he was in command in Alsace.⁵⁹ On November 18, 1790, the Comtesse de Rochambeau addressed a letter to President Washington, soliciting membership for Baron von Closen in the Society of the Cincinnati, which had been restricted to French officers of the rank of colonel or higher. Washington replied in a stately and gracious note that he would like to grant her request, but that the Society had decided to refer such applications from Gentlemen of the French Nation to Counts Rochambeau and d’Estaing and to the Marquis de Lafayette, who were better acquainted with the merits of their countrymen.⁶⁰ The French branch of the Order finally agreed in February, 1791, that all lieutenant-colonels or majors of that date who had served three years in America would be eligible, and the appointments of Baron von Closen and thirty-six other officers were approved by the King on February 8, 1792.⁶¹

By 1791 the French Revolution was making the life of a French nobleman increasingly precarious, and many emigrated. Closen, however, remained loyal to the King and continued to serve in the army. On April 1, 1791, he became aide-de-camp to General Rochambeau again, and on September 15 bore a letter from the General, in the name of the Army of the North, to the King, to assure the sovereign of the Army’s fidelity under the Constitution, which the King had solemnly sanctioned. On September 23 Closen was promoted to colonel of the 42nd infantry regiment,⁶² and on December 7 became aide to Rochambeau once more. When France declared war on Austria and Prussia the following spring, General Rochambeau was ordered to attack the Austrian Netherlands immediately. Against his better judgment, he carried out the assault but the results were disastrous. Although Rochambeau refused to emigrate—he deemed that to be treason—he requested and received an indefinite leave of absence.⁶³

Promoted to the coveted rank of major-general on July 22, 1792, Closen was assigned to interim command of the camp at Soissons; but on August 5, five days before the King was suspended from office, he resigned from the service. On August 18 he secured a passport permitting his return to Germany with his German servant, Philippe Gadsohn. Two days later he left France for Deux-Ponts. In later years, Closen asserted that he decided to resign because his native sovereign, the Due des Deux-Ponts, had threatened repeatedly to forbid him to return to his estates in the Duchy, or had proposed to confiscate them, if he continued to serve in France. He also claimed that he felt the French would think ill of him if he bore arms against his own fatherland.⁶⁴ In addition, his resignation was prompted undoubtedly by General Rochambeau’s retirement, chaotic conditions in the French army, and the growing violence of the Revolution.

French armies occupied the left bank of the Rhine in 1793. In May of that year, Closen and his family left the town of Deux-Ponts to attend to family affairs in Meisenheim, Ratisbon, and Munich. He was armed with a passport signed by the French commander. Graf Anton von Closen, last of the Gern-Armstorff line, had died in 1784, and Closen instituted lengthy legal proceedings in Munich in 1795 through which his son Karl eventually acquired Gern.⁶⁵ But for almost ten years the Von Closen family lived in desperate circumstances. The abolition of feudal dues on the left bank of the Rhine deprived him of an annual revenue of 9,000 francs. Moreover, the Baron’s furniture and other property, which he had left in Deux-Ponts, were carried off or damaged to the extent of 100,000 francs by troops on November 23, 1793. For two and one-half years his wife lived in Frankfort-am-Main with three of her children, but she had absolutely no income, and had to live off loans. In a touching plea for aid in 1798, she lamented:

I cannot move before the return of my husband, because I do not know where to go, and I would not want to leave without paying. My position is frightful . . . one does not complain so much when one suffers alone, but when one has children, it is difficult to be resigned to such unfortunate circumstances.⁶⁶

She finally died in Munich on September 25, 1800, at the age of thirty-six, leaving an inconsolable husband and five young children, for whose upbringing she had sacrificed herself, as Closen wrote the Elector.⁶⁷

Closen returned to Deux-Ponts in 1801, the year in which Bavaria, now ruled by Duke Maximilian of Deux-Ponts, recognized French annexation of the left bank of the Rhine. In 1803 he addressed the first of a series of memoirs to Napoleon, applying for a position on the general staff or a post as prefect, sub-prefect, or mayor of Deux-Ponts. He declared that he had never borne arms against France, that he had considered France as his adopted fatherland during his 23 years of military service, and that he had lost everything in the Revolution.⁶⁸ His old patron, General Rochambeau, wrote a statement attesting to these facts in 1804.⁶⁹ The following year Closen asked the King of Bavaria, now an ally of France, to permit him to accept a position in France while reserving his eventual rights of succession in Bavaria.⁷⁰

After the intercession of M. Alexandre Lameth, a former comrade in the American Revolution and now prefect of Rhin-et-Moselle, Closen was finally appointed sub-prefect of Simmern, one of three arrondissements in that department, on February 19, 1806.⁷¹ He found the post a difficult one, for his predecessor, Vanrecum, had alienated the inhabitants by four years of corrupt and harsh rule, and now intrigued against him.⁷² After Lameth was transferred to another department, his successor, Lezay-Marnésia, although paying tribute to Closen’s integrity, loyalty, firmness, and humane instincts, criticized his inexperience, frivolity, and lack of tact.⁷³ In 1807 and again in 1809 Closen requested a transfer in vain.⁷⁴

Closen’s fortunes seemed to improve with the transfer of Lezay-Marnésia to Bas-Rhin in February, 1810. An excellent insight into his policies as sub-prefect may be obtained from a testimonial submitted on his behalf by the arrondissement council of Simmern in 1810:

Your Excellency is without doubt already informed as to the order and precision that he has shown in supplying transportation, provisions, and forage for his majesty’s troops in the armies of Germany and Spain. His work in forming classes for the draft and with the national guard leaves nothing to be desired. Soldiers en route owe to him the humane reception that they receive in our arrondissement, where they are almost always given free food by the inhabitants. Note his zeal in establishing equality in the imposition of taxes, in sparing other burdens, in protecting commerce, in stimulating public education by the supervision of the primary schools and by establishing a fine secondary school at Creuzenach, in tolerating and conciliating the different dogmas, which is so essential in regions where there are five or six different religions, in maintaining unity and public tranquillity, of which he has given proof in the recent organization of the national guard, when his arrondissement immediately supplied its contingent, whereas the neighboring department of Sarre revolted against this policy and tried to incite the people of Rhin-et-Moselle against it—finally, in furthering the prosperity of agriculture, by the wise measures that he has taken to create depots of stallions, from which the arrondissement of Simmern has already profited by the birth of superb colts which will propagate the ancient breed of Deux-Ponts.⁷⁵

Closen’s zeal in rounding up recruits in other German states and his vigorous policy of searching for deserters indicated his continued interest in the army. He proposed that parents whose sons did not answer the roll call should be deprived of their communal rights, and that Jewish synagogues should be made responsible for Jewish recruits.⁷⁶ In recognition of his services he was named a member of the Order of the Legion of Honor on March 12, 1811.⁷⁷ In 1813 his prefect, M. Doazan, praised his efforts to obtain conscripts and volunteers despite the opposition that he encountered from Jews and merchants in Creuzenach.⁷⁸ Despite Vanrecum’s harassing maneuvers against him, therefore, he remained sub-prefect of Simmern until 1813.⁷⁹

When Napoleon’s armies were decisively defeated in 1813, Closen retired from official life and once again adapted himself to a new regime. A portion of the Duchy of Deux-Ponts was returned to Bavaria, but Closen apparently settled in Mannheim, a prosperous town and cultural center on the Rhine which had become part of Baden in 1803. His son Karl had renounced his French citizenship in 1805 to become a Bavarian vassal and had entered the Bavarian civil service.⁸⁰ During his retirement Closen completed the laborious task of writing the memoirs of his campaigns in America. In reliving those happy days of the American Revolution, he remembered with affection his friends in the United States, as evidenced by a note that he gave a Mr. Michel of Baltimore in 1819:

May the Ladies and Gentlemen, which I had the honor to get acquainted with, during the War for the Independence of the united States of America, remember me as heartily of my eagerness to serve our common cause and to be useful to my friends of all Classes, at every opportunity, as I still do (and ever will) remember of their most amiable and interesting society, and of the kind reception I always met with as Officer and Citizen and freeman, together in heart and mind. Still more, I never shall forget the happiness I enjoyed of in the united States, and my wishes for their increasing happiness and everlasting prosperity will finish but with my life.⁸¹

Death overtook him in Mannheim on August 9, 1830, at about the age of seventy-five.

To his son, Karl, Closen appears to have transmitted an enthusiasm for liberty that inspired him to fight as a volunteer in the war