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24 Days of La Fayette: December 20th – Louis-Saint-Ange, chevalier Morel de La Colombe

Although it is not any longer December, we are going to finish this series – just a month or two delayed. :-)

Louis-Saint-Ange, chevalier Morel de La Colombe is one of La Fayette’s more prominent aide-de-camps and he was also one of his initial fours aide-de-camps (the other ones being Brice, Virgny and Gimat, all three of them were already covered in posts) and a passenger on La Victoire. Among all of La Fayette’s other aide-de-camps and travel companions, La Colombe had the most interesting motivation. He was not seeking glory, fame or fortune, he was not put at La Fayette’s side by chance or French or American agents. In short, he had no ulterior motives beside being with La Fayette. This is also evident in the agreement between the French adventures and Silas Deane.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 1, December 7, 1776–March 30, 1778, Cornell University Press, 1977, p. 18.

As we can see, La Colombe only ever desired to be made a Lieutenant, a, comparatively speaking, low rank. La Colombe was born in 1755 in the Auvergne, the same region that La Fayette hailed form and his family could easily rival those of La Fayette’s in terms of influence and means in the area. He was the son of Jean-Claude de La Colombe. The two families were closely connected and La Fayette and La Colombe were friends. In fact, La Fayette considered him the worthiest of his companions and called him his “best friend”. Despite his moderate demands, Congress was not very forthcoming with La Colomb’s commission – nor with that of anyone else, as we all know, even La Fayette had to fight for his commission and even more so for his commission to be taken seriously.

La Colombe was most likely in the group that travelled by water to Charleston and from there to Philadelphia. For the first months after his arrival, very little mind was paid to La Colombe’s case from official side. La Fayette wrote on September 25, 1777 to Henry Laurens:

The bearer of my letter [La Colombe] is a genteleman who came with me upon my assurance that he would be employed. He is of a very good birth, and a sensible young man. He wants only a commission of lieutenant, and General Canaouay is desirous of having him in his brigade. As Congress did not comprehend him in sending back the others I hope that he will be received in our service. Will you be so good to speack about it when you') find some occasions?

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 1, December 7, 1776–March 30, 1778, Cornell University Press, 1977, pp. 110-112.

The Marquis continued to petition Laurens on La Colombe’s behalf and he also wrote to George Washington on October 14, 1777:

among the officers who came on board of my ship, this whom Congress did pay the less regard to, is the very same whom I recommended as the most able and respectable man and my best friend—he was coming only for me (…)

“To George Washington from Major General Lafayette, 14 October 1777,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 11, 19 August 1777 – 25 October 1777, ed. Philander D. Chase and Edward G. Lengel. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2001, pp. 505–508.] (02/10/2023)

It was around that time that finally some movement in La Colombe’s case could be observed. On September 10, 1777, Congress recognized his rank as a Lieutenant (and his work he had done for La Fayette since his arrival) by paying him 243 Continental Dollar as his pay as a Lieutenant from December 1, 1776 until September 1, 1777. On November 15, 1777 he was commissioned an aide-de-camp to La Fayette with the rank of Captain. La Fayette himself wrote a note of thanks to Henry Laurens on November 29, 1777:

All the letters I receive from frenchmen are full of theyr gratefulness for your own particular kindness towards them. Will you be so good as to accept my thanks for them and for myself, and to join here my sincere ones on account of the appointement of Mr. de Ia Colombe?

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 1, December 7, 1776–March 30, 1778, Cornell University Press, 1977, pp. 160-161.

The next months passed relatively uneventful and La Colombe dutifully continued his service. There was only one more interesting episode during this time when La Colombe was send to negotiate with the Natives. La Fayette wrote to Charles Lee in June 1778:

Mr. de Fai'lly, de La Colombe See. are now going with Gal. MgKintosh, where theyr presence among the indians is of a great Service, but they’ll come again and we must provide for them or such others as may come from France

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 2, April 10, 1778–March 20, 1780, Cornell University Press, 1978, pp. 62-64.

Shortly before La Fayette returned to France for the first time, La Colombe desired to be made a Major and La Fayette was eager to lend a helping hand. He wrote to the President of Congress on January 9, 1779:

May I beg leave to Reccommend Mr. de La Colombe who desires to sollicit the commission of Major.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 2, April 10, 1778–March 20, 1780, Cornell University Press, 1978, pp. 220-222.

At first, La Colombe’s prospects seemed very good, the Committee for Foreign Applications was in favour of his promotion but he eventually failed to gain the nine votes in the Continental Congress required. Very interesting in this context are two letters between Alexander Hamilton and John Jay, whom, as President of Congress, La Fayette had previously petitioned. Jay wrote on September 18, 1779:

The Board of War are charged with Chevalier de Colombes affair, and will probably report in his favor; for my own Part I have ever been averse to giving Brevets except in very particular Cases; it cheapens us.

“To Alexander Hamilton from John Jay, 18 September 1779,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 2, 1779–1781, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 182–183.] (02/10/2023)

Hamilton replied on September 29, 1779:

I shall not be sorry if Colombe fails in his application. My sentiments correspond with yours on the operation of brevets; but we began wrong and the transition must be gradual.

“From Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, [29 September 1779],” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, vol. 2, 1779–1781, ed. Harold C. Syrett. New York: Columbia University Press, 1961, pp. 189–192.] (02/10/2023)

In the meantime, La Fayette had returned to France and believed that several of his aides, La Colombe among them, would follow shortly after. He wrote to the Comte de Vergennes on May 23, 1779:

Any day I expect three Americans and a Frenchman who would be of the greatest use to us, and I enclose their names so that M. de Sartine may send word to all the ports to urge them, upon their arrival, to come and see me at Saintes.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 2, April 10, 1778–March 20, 1780, Cornell University Press, 1978, pp. 268-269.

When the party did not arrive for several more weeks, La Fayette started to assume the worst. He wrote to George Washington on June 12, 1779:

I don't know what is Become of Cle[l]. Nevill and the Cher, de La Colombe. I beg you would make some inquiries for them, and do any thing in your power for theyr speedy exchange in case they have been taken.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 2, April 10, 1778–March 20, 1780, Cornell University Press, 1978, pp. 276-281.

In the end, the matter was not quite that dramatic and as it turned out, La Colombe and the others had never intended to immediately follow La Fayette. La Colombe in fact was transferred to the staff of the Baron de Kalb and served him as an aide-de-camp for some time. He eventually left Boston for France on November 15, 1779 onboard the French Frigate La Sensible, the same ship that also carried John Adams and John Quincy Adams. La Colombe and John Qunicy Adams would indeed meet again later in life. On July 8, 1794, John Quincy Adams wrote to his mother Abigail Admas:

I have likewise seen a Mr: Colomb, an aid to Mr De la Fayette; who went to Europe in 1779 with us on board the Sensible. “tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis.” Mr: Colomb and I sat and conversed very sociably together for half an hour before either of us discovered that we had been formerly acquainted, and fellow passengers.

“John Quincy Adams to Abigail Adams, 8 July 1794,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Adams Papers, Adams Family Correspondence, vol. 10, January 1794 – June 1795, ed. Margaret A. Hogan, C. James Taylor, Sara Martin, Hobson Woodward, Sara B. Sikes, Gregg L. Lint, and Sara Georgini. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011, p. 207.] (02/10/2023)

But back to the topic at hand. Washington wrote to La Fayette on September 30, 1779:

You enquire after Monsr. de la Colombe, & Colo. Neville; the first (who has been with Baron de Kalb) left this a few days ago as I have already observed for Phila., in expectation of a passage with Monsr. Gerard.

Idzerda Stanley J. et al., editors, Lafayette in the Age of the American Revolution: Selected Letters and Papers, 1776–1790, Volume 2, April 10, 1778–March 20, 1780, Cornell University Press, 1978, pp. 313-319.

De Kalb wrote on October 15, 1779 to John Adams:

The Chevr. de la Colombe having been in Marquess de la Fayette’s family while he Staid in our army, and a Supernumerary aid de Camp to me this Campaign, But his father desiring him to come home, I request the Favour of you to admit as a Passenger into the Same Frigate you are to Sail in.

“To John Adams from Johann Kalb, 15 October 1779,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Adams Papers, Papers of John Adams, vol. 8, March 1779 – February 1780, ed. Gregg L. Lint, Robert J. Taylor, Richard Alan Reyerson, Celeste Walker, and Joanna M. Revelas. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989, pp. 202–203.] (02/10/2023)

While in France, La Colombe transferred back to the French Forces under General Rochambeau. In the spring of 1780 and with the help of La Fayette, La Colombe was made a Captain in the King’s Dragoons. He returned to America in early September of 1780 onboard the Alliance and participated in the battle at Yorktown. After Yorktown, he returned to France with La Fayette where he retired from the King’s Dragoons in 1783.

By March 9, 1784, La Fayette included La Colombe’s name in an enclosed list of “Names of the American officers wearing now in France the badge of the society of the Cincinnati” in a letter to George Washington.

After the onset of the French Revolution, he again entered the military and became the colonel of an infantry regiment in 1791 before he once more took up working as La Fayette’s aide-de-camp in 1792. La Fayette’s wife Adrienne wrote on January 14, 1790:

The Chr de la Colombe who has had the honour of serving under your orders, and whose patriotism and sentiments for Mr De la Fayette have rendered eminent services to our cause as well in his province as in the parisien Army, in which he is Aid-Major, having known that I had the honour of writing to you wishes that I offer to you his best respects.

“To George Washington from the Marquise de Lafayette, 14 January 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 4, 8 September 1789 – 15 January 1790, ed. Dorothy Twohig. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1993, pp. 571–574.] (02/10/2023)

When La Fayette tried to leave France for America during the French Revolution, La Colombe was by his side and arrested along with him. While La Fayette would have to endure imprisonment for several years, La Colombe quickly regained his freedom. William Short wrote to Thomas Jefferson on October 19, 1792:

M. de la Colombe, aide de camp to the Marquis de la fayette, and stopped with him, has made his escape from the citadel of Antwerp—he wrote to me from Rotterdam to know whether he would be safe in this country—I did not suppose he would be if demanded by the Austrian government and gave him that opinion—he proceeded in consequence without delay to England.

“To Thomas Jefferson from William Short, 19 October 1792,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 24, 1 June–31 December 1792, ed. John Catanzariti. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990, pp. 502–504.] (02/10/2023)

I have seen some editors mention that La Colombe was imprisoned with La Fayette in Olmütz but that can hardly be, given the timing of events. There was a considerable back and forth between Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Pinckney (U.S. minister at London) and Edmund Randolph (Secretary of State) about some possible funds for La Colombe and the practicability of him coming to America. He eventually settled in Philadelphia in 1794 where he became a member of the Philadelphia mercantile firm of La Colombe Cadignan & Company, located at 97 South Water Street.

Once safe in America, La Colome started writing letters to garner support and practical aide for La Fayette.

Edmund Randolph wrote to George Washington on May 15, 1794:

If I do not mistake the hints from Mr Lacolombe, these letters are submitted to you, in order to interest you in making, or causing to be made, a demand of M. La Fayette, as a citizen of the United States. I presume, however, that the step, which you have already taken, will be found to be a satisfactory tribute of personal affection, and, altho’ not more than public duty warranted, yet as much, as actual circumstances will permit.

“To George Washington from Edmund Randolph, 15 May 1794,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Presidential Series, vol. 16, 1 May–30 September 1794, ed. David R. Hoth and Carol S. Ebel. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011, pp. 76–77.] (02/10/2023)

Several of the letters mentioned in the excerpt above were in fact addressed to La Colombe. When La Fayette’s son Georges came to America in the company of Felix Frestel, he likely stayed some time with La Colombe in Philadelphia – in any case, the two of them met. On November 21, 1797 La Colombe wrote to Washington, after having stayed at Mount Vernon in October of the same year:

I take the liberty of presenting you with a short abstract of a letter that may afford you a proof that the man for whose wellfare you have allways had the warmest interest in, General De Lafayette has at last obtained his liberty—as is ascertained by an official note from his Imperial Majesty’s minister, M. ⟨Biro⟩ resident at Hambourg, to a friend of mine Mr Masson formerly his aid du Camp.

“Hambourg 19th Septemr—I have the honor to let you know Sir, that I have received at this moment the official note—an order has been sent from Vienna to Olmutz to set at liberty instantly M. De Lafayette & the other Prisoners.” Several other letters that I have received from Hambourg, and from a particular Correspondent at Olmutz leave me no reason of doubt on this subject—I’m also particularly inform’d that the General & the other gentlemen that were in confinement with him were on the road to Dre[s]den and in all probability would arrive there about the 18th Septemr last, and from thence they were to proceed to Hambourg

“To George Washington from Louis La Colombe, 21 November 1797,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 1, 4 March 1797 – 30 December 1797, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 479–480.] (02/10/2023)

After helping with the travelling arrangements of Georges, he wrote January 5, 1798:

I have had news of all my Esteem’d friends who were confined in the austrian Bastilles. (…) I am happy sir, to have the honor of forwarding to you the enclosed letter from our mutual Friend Genl De Lafayette whose greatest happiness I’m well assured, was to avail himself the pleasure to write you on the first moment of enjoying his liberty—I took the liberty of sending him a Copy of your letter to me of 3d Decr last, It will be pleasing to him as it may afford a renewed proof of the Paternal sentiments you have for him (…)

“To George Washington from Louis La Colombe, 5 January 1798,” Founders Online, National Archives, [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Retirement Series, vol. 2, 2 January 1798 – 15 September 1798, ed. W. W. Abbot. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, p. 4.] (02/10/2023)

La Colombe died in America around 1800, the exact date is unknown. With the exception of one short trip, he had never returned to France, nor did he ever see La Fayette again.

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