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Welcome to our collection of Documentos Originales, courtesy of wonderful librarians from around the globe. These documents are copies of original 18th century letters and manuscripts that are housed in the Library of Congress (Washington, DC), the Archives General of the Indies (Sevilla, Spain), the Yale University Beineke Collection (New Haven, Connecticut), and the Saavedra Foundation (Granada, Spain). The documents are from the people who participated in the Spanish, French, and Latin American contribution to the American Revolutionary War.
 On August 30, 1781, Rear Admiral Francois Josef Paul, Comte de Grasse wrote to General Rochambeau from his battleship, the Ville de Paris, anchored in the Chesapeake Bay. Admiral De Grasse noted his "great pleasure" in arriving at the Chesapeake Bay, and that he had departed on August 3rd from Santo Domingo. De Grasse wrote that it had it had been necessary to stop in Havana to obtain the 1.2 million livres, which was the funding in hard currency (silver and gold) that Rochambeau had requested as being necessary for the Battle of Yorktown. De Grasse also noted that his fleet included the 3,200 reinforcements that Rochambeau had also requested to join General Washington's forces at Yorktown.
This letter verifies that the funding for the Battle of Yorktown was provided by the citizens of Havana, Cuba. The letter is housed in the Yale University Beineke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection in New Haven, Connecticut. Your copy is here! Download Adobe .PDF.
General Rochambeau also wrote to several diplomats to acknowledge the Spanish contribution of troops and the funds raised within 24 hours by the citizens of Havana. A copy of Rochambeau's letter from Yorktown on October 28, 1781 hosted in the Manuscripts Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, is available here. |
