La double victoire, poeme dédié a madame la comtesse de Rochambeau

An extremely scarce contemporary account in verse of the Yorktown Campaign and the Siege of Yorktown in 1781.

A commemoration of the Siege of Yorktown in October 1781, the "double victory" on land and on the sea, a decisive victory of the French and American forces over the British Army. The American Continental Army troops were led by General George Washington with support from Marquis de Lafayette and French Army troops led by Comte de Rochambeau, while the British Army was commanded by Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis.

The poem, La double victoire, dedicated to Madame la Comtesse de Rochambeau, composed by the journalist, Caron de Chanset, served fresh news from America and of the Revolutionary War to the Parisian society, two months after the British surrender (the Royal censor's permit to print the poem is dated December 15, 1781). Besides telling the story of the campaign, du Chanset included many illustrious names with due respect to rank and precedence, beginning with Comte de Rochambeau, Comte de Grasse, and George Washington.

Extremely scarce publication, we could trace only one copy in institutional holdings at the Princeton University Library, of which the 1954 facsimile edition was made after by the Institut Français de Washington.

Literature: Caron de Chanset J.-B.-P.; Rice H. C. (1954). La Double Victoire [...] with an Introduction by Howard C. Rice. Institut français de Washington.; Vail J. J. (2011). Rochambeau Washington's ideal lieutenant: A French General's Role in the American Revolution. Word Association. p. 271.