PRESS RELEASE:
December
3rd thru 8th, 2012
December 2012 celebrates the 230th anniversary of the
Expédition Particulière - the codename given to the French expeditionary army
sent during 1780 to 1782 to support the American War of Independence. To
commemorate this event, French and American reenactors will “March” the new
Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route National Historic Trail (W3R NHT),
from Providence RI to Boston MA.
In 2006, the 225th anniversary of the 1781 Yorktown
Campaign, the reenactors – who are all
over sixty and known as "America's March to Yorktown" (AMTY) -
marched the entire 700+ mile journey of the French Army under General
Rochambeau, from Newport RI to Yorktown VA, using French records and maps as
their guide. This year AMTY will finish this effort as they march the last leg
of the route to Boston, where, after the victory over Cornwallis, the French
army returned to board troop transports for the
Caribbean, departing Boston Harbor on December 24, 1782.
Although this section of the 1782
march took three days, AMTY will be extending it to five days to facilitate
school visits and speaking engagements. Due in part to their 2006 effort,
including two visits to Congress and the work of hundreds of volunteers along
the nine-state, and District of Columbia, route, Congress passed a bill that
was signed by President Obama in 2009 designating the Washington-Rochambeau
Revolutionary Route as a National Historic Trail.
The "March" will terminate at the site of the Boston
Massacre on Saturday December 8. Interested parties/individuals are welcome to
join the “March” along the way. A
ceremony celebrating the French march and that of the AMTY is being planned for
1:00 PM, December 9th, at the site of the USS Constitution. The ceremony is
open to the public.
For more immediate information please contact Michael Fitzgerald
at: MajRobtRogers@aol.com or by cell at;
860.912.7366.
Round two will start Early June. Now free of injuries, and hopefully then, will do the full route in June. 