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Browsing: Diary of John Adams, Volume 2
Docno: ADMS-01-02-02-0007-0003-0003
Date: 1777-09-18
1777. Septr. 18. Thursday.
The violent N.E. Storm which began the Day before Yesterday continues. We are yet
in Philadelphia, that Mass of Cowardice and Toryism. Yesterday was buryed Monsr. Du
Coudray, a French Officer of Artillery, who was lately made an Inspector General of
Artillery and military Manufactures with the Rank of Major General. He was drowned
in the Schuylkill, in a strange manner. He rode into the Ferry Boat, and road out
at the other End, into the River, and was drowned. His Horse took fright. He was reputed
the most learned and promising Officer in France. He was carried into the Romish Chappell,
and buried in the Yard of that Church.
This Dispensation will save Us much Altercation.1
1. Much altercation had, however, preceded this event. On Philippe Tronson du Coudray,
a French artillery officer and prolific writer on artillery science, see Lasseray, Les français sous les treize étoiles, 2:444–454. By agreement with { 264 } Silas Deane in France, Du Coudray expected to be appointed major general and to take
command of the Continental artillery upon his arrival in America in April 1777. This
prospect outraged Generals Knox, Greene, and Sullivan and led them to threaten resignation
of their commands. JA, distressed about what to do with Du Coudray, was much more distressed by the American
generals' behavior. See JA to Nathanael Greene, 7 July 1777, LbC, Adams Papers; RC printed by Bernhard Knollenberg, with valuable comments, in R.I. Hist., 1:78–81 (July 1942). Lafayette described Du Coudray's death as “peutetre un heureux
accident” (Lasseray, 2:452).
Cite web page as: Founding Families: Digital Editions of the Papers of the Winthrops and the Adamses, ed.C. James Taylor. Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2016.
http://www.masshist.org/apde2/
http://www.masshist.org/apde2/