Plan of Ticonderoga

Michel Capitaine du Chesnoy
Plan of Carillion ou [sic] Ticonderoga:
which was quitted by the Americaines
in the night from the 5th to the 6th
of July 1777
Map, cloth backing
Geography & Map Division
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. H.F. Lenfest (21B.8)

Michel Capitaine du Chesnoy
for General LaFayette
Plan de Rhode Islande, les differentes operations de la flotte françoise et des trouppes Américaines commandeés par le major général Sullivan contre les forces de terre et de mer des Anglois depuis le 9 Aout jusqu'a la nuit du 30 au 31 du même mois que les Américains ont fait leur retraite 1778
Hand-colored manuscript map
on cloth backing
Geography & Map Division
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. H.F. Lenfest, 2000 (21B.9)

Michel Capitaine du Chesnoy, a highly skilled French engineer, accompanied General Lafayette to America. He recorded battles of the American Revolutionary War, including this map of the area near Fort Ticonderoga. Although the Americans suffered defeat there in July of 1777, in October of that year a decisive American victory at the Battle of Saratoga influenced the French government's decision to enter the war to assist the American colonists. The map shows the military installations and British troop positions in New York during this time period.

The second map details the miliary operations of the French fleet and American troops commanded by Major General Sullivan against the English land and sea forces around Newport, Rhode Island, in 1778. The Library has recently acquired six rare manuscript maps drawn by Capitaine. As a group they document Lafayette's activities as a volunteer in the Continental Army under George Washington's command.