Comte de Rochambeau from “Galerie des Batailles” in the Chateau de Versailles in France. 

On Thursday, August 12 at 6 p.m., join Morven Museum for a virtual event exploring the history of Rochambeau’s French officers and soldiers in Princeton in August 1781. The talk will be led by historian and author Robert A. Selig, PhD, as he presents this unique talk just for Morven Museum’s audience. 

Marshal Jean-Baptists Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, led the French expeditionary forces through Princeton in August 1781 to help the Continental Army capture Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown. Rochambeau’s army included 5,000 men stationed on the grounds of Morven between August 29-31. Leading his troops from Phillipsburg, N.Y. to central N.J. on separate routes, the allied forces united just north of Princeton, following the encampment of Rochambeau’s men at the site of Morven. 2021 marks the 240th anniversary of this march. There is also a little-known monument to Rochambeau’s encampment on the grounds of Trinity Church in Princeton. 

Selig is a specialist on the role of French forces under the comte de Rochambeau during the American Revolutionary War and currently serves as project historian to the National Park Service for the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route (W3R) National Historic Trail Project. As part of this project, he has researched and written historical and architectural site surveys and resource inventories on the W3R for the nine states along the route. Selig also was the project historian for the Princeton Battlefield Mapping Study.

To register for this event, visit https://bit.ly/3y1YHp4. A personal Zoom link will be emailed to each participant on the day of the event. A recording of this lecture will also be sent to all registrants following the event. Questions for Selig may be emailed in advance to dlampertrudman@morven.org. 

To learn more about Morven Museum & Garden, visit https://www.morven.org.