Capitaine,
Michel du Chesnoy. Six
manuscript maps, various
sizes, hand colored:
Plan of Carillon ou Ticonderoga
(c. 1777); Plan de la
retraite de Barren Hill
en Pensilvanie (1778);
Carte de l'affaire de
Monmouth (1778); Plan
de Rhode Islande... (1778);
Carte des positions occupées
par les trouppes Américains
après leur retraite de
Rhode Island...(1778);
and Campagne en Virginie
(1781).
The
Library of Congress has
no original copies of
manuscript maps by Capitaine,
who was the exceedingly
gifted cartographer accompanying
Lafayette during his service
to America during the
Revolutionary War. Our
only holdings of his work
are facsimile and photostatic
copies of two manuscripts,
only one of which is in
this group of maps, and
a copy of one map that
was published.
These
beautifully colored maps
have not been available
for use by scholars of
eighteenth century America
as they have been in private
hands since they were
created. Although the
Geography and Map Division's
Revolutionary War collection
is legendary and contains
the work of many famous
cartographers of the time-French,
English, German, and American-it
does not include a cartographic
record of Lafayette's
contributions to the American
struggle for Independence.
Acquisition
of these historic and
beautiful manuscript maps
would document this "missing
link" in the story of
the American Revolution.
They are part of our national
heritage and belong in
the Library of Congress.
