François-Jean de Beauvoir, Marquis de Chastellux, was a high-ranking military official under Rochambeau during the American Revolution. Chastellux stayed behind in America after the victory at Yorktown and became great friends with George Washington before returning home to France. Over the course of their friendship, Washington and Chastellux wrote many letters which were recently discovered in the Chastellux family archives in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. These letters serve to tell an important story about Franco-American relations.

 

​The Foundation is proud to support the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association in their acquisition of some of these letters and

the research of Mount Vernon Fellow Iris de Rode in her new scholarship about this important friendship. Dr. de Rode is working on the biography of Chastellux based on her exciting discoveries in the archives and her work with the Chastellux family.

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Several of the letters are currently on display at Mount Vernon and are available to read on their website.