ISABELLE "MARCHIONESS DE ROCHAMBEAU" DUTEY-HARISPE - AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED 11/07/1881 CO-SIGNED BY: MAJOR GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK - HFSID 30386

MARCHIONESS DE ROCHAMBEAU and WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK
Preparing to return to France after the Yorktown Centennial celebrations, the wife of France's official representative thanks their host, US Commanding General Hancock, for photographs of the event. Her letter is docketed in Hancock's own hand.
Autograph Letter signed: "Marchioness de Rochambeau", 2 pages (integral leaf), 5x8. No place, 1881 November 7. To "My dear General". In French, translated in full: "I received yesterday evening your charming photographs [Items not included.] and I thank you a thousand times. They gave me much pleasure, and when I look at them in France, I will think about the good times which we spent in the United States. I thank you also for the pretty flowers which you were kind enough to send me yesterday. I did not have a moment yesterday to be able to write to you. We leave tomorrow for France. M. de Rochambeau was very busy with the preparations. Accept, my dear General, with all my many remembrances for Mrs. Hancock, the assurance of my most affectionate sentiments. M. de Rochambeau also will not forget you." Docketed in Hancock's hand: "7th of November 1881/5th Ave. Hotel/New York/Marchioness de Rochambeau". On October 19, 1881, the US held a grand celebration of the anniversary of the British surrender at Yorktown, the decisive moment in the American War for Independence. A French fleet and Army, the latter commanded by the Count of Rochambeau, completed the encirclement which compelled the surrender of General Cornwallis. When the British officer sent by Lord Cornwallis attempted to surrender to Rochambeau, the latter insisted that the sword be yielded to George Washington. Achille de Rochambeau, the Marquis de Rochambeau (1836-1897), the grandson of the Count de Rochambeau, represented France at the event. (Other descendants present included the families of LaFayette and von Steuben.) The Marquis, accompanied by his wife the Marchioness, were hosted by General WINFIELD SCOTT HANCOCK (1824-1886), the capable Union Corps commander and by then Commanding General of the US Army, presided over the ceremony. (Hancock had been the Democratic nominee for President in 1880.) An obvious second purpose of the elaborate celebrations was to rekindle national patriotism only 16 years after the end of the Civil War. The MARCHIONESS DE ROCHAMBEAU (1844-1921), born Isabelle Dutey-Harispe, married the Marquis in Paris in 1864. The couple had two sons. Toned and creased. Multiple mailing folds. Otherwise, fine condition.