Living in New England there are several areas where Rochambeau's troops camped during their march to Yorktown. I am given from most revolution texts that their presence was pivotal, but I' m interested in obsessive detail, perhaps even something from diaries or organizational records. Thank you in advance! Love dis sub....
There are! Many French officers seemed aware that they were embarked on a peculiar mission, and kept journals that were almost certainly intended for publication. I'll post a full list in a few minutes, but the best one I found when doing a research paper on this subject was the journal of Alexandre Berthier, later one of Napoleon's most indispensable marechals.
EDIT: Sources!
The Journal of Louis-Alexandre Berthier, in The American Campaigns of Rochembeau’s Army 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, translated and edited by Howard C. Rice Jr. and Anne S. K. Brown, vol. 1. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1972.
Blanchard, Claude, The Journal of Claude Blanchard, Commissary of the French Auxiliary Sent to the United States During the American Revolution, 1780-1783 Translated by William Duane and edited by Thomas Balch. Albany: J. Munsell 1876. http://archive.org/details/journalofclaudeb00blan
Journal of Robert Guillaume Dillon, Society of the Cincinnati, Washington DC. MSS L2014G54
Chevalier de Pontigbaud. A French Volunteer of the War of Independence, trans. Robert B, Douglas. Port Washington: Kennikat Press 1968.
Secondaries:
Balch, Thomas . The French in America During the War of Independence of the United States 1777-1783 vol. 1. Boston: Gregg Press 1972.
Osman, Julia. Citizen-Soldiers and the Key to the Bastille. London: Palgrave-Macmillian, 2015
The journal of the Comte de Lauberdière also exists in French, but does not yet have an English translation or a copy storied in the US.
Thank you very much.