everybody here, dear general, asks me if you intend to come over—i give them little hope after what you told me. your excellency may be certain that he would be received in France with great pleasure but no body could have a greater satisfaction to see you than myself—you may be an object of admiration from those who are at a distance and who know only your military and political life but for those who are so happy as to be particularly acquainted with your excellency’s private character you are equally an object of veneration and attachment—however if i have little hopes of seeing you in France i hope to see you in america for i am far from renouncing from that country forever. maybe i shall be able to tell you more about it a few weeks hence. i suppose this letter will find your excellency in Virginia. permit me to present my respects to Mrs. Washington and my compliments to the gentlemen our companions in the war who are so happy as to live near you. i have the honor to be etc.
Duportail33
Major General Duportail’s letter of November 6, 1783, recommending the promotion of Captain Castaing to the rank of major by brevet, was read before Congress on December 24, 1783, and referred to a committee consisting of Jacob Read, Edward Hand, and James Monroe. They considered the matter on February 26, 1784, and reported that Captain Castaing received a promotion by brevet as an officer of a regiment in the late Massachusetts line:
But that as his extraordinary services out of the line of duty of his regiment, as an aid de camp to Major General Duportail for four years and particularly in the defence of Charles Town in So. Carolina and the seige and reduction of York Town in Virginia and the recommendation given him by the letter of Major General Duportail deserve the acknowledgement and attention of Congress, And as the dissolution of the army prevents any inconvenience, arising on the subject of this promotion in the line of the regiment to which Capt. Castaing lately belonged, and the rank requested may prove useful to him in his own country, your Committee recommend that the request of Major General Duportail, in behalf of Capt. Castaing be granted, and that the Secretary in the War Office do make out, and enclose to Capt. Castaing the brevet of Major in the Army of the United States of America.34
The motion was defeated.
SERVICE IN THE FRENCH ARMY
Duportail returned to France as brigadier des armées du roi (brigadier general of the king’s armies). He and Gouvion accompanied the Marquis de Lafayette to Silesia in August and September 1785 for Prussian army drills. On June 16, 1787, the king ordered Duportail to accompany the Baron de Sales to Naples and to serve under him to train the Army of the Two Sicilies for two years. He was appointed to the general staff of the French armies as Aide-Maréchal des Logis, that is, Sous-chef d’état-major des Armées (assistant quartermaster general) on June 29, 1787. He was promoted to field marshal (Maréchal de camp) on March 9, 1788, at the age of forty-four. He was noticed for his authority in suppressing a riot in the government of Rouen in Normandy without bloodshed and for his organizational abilities in merging the artillery and engineers and in the reorganization of the general staff of the army. He retired from the general staff on May 14, 1789.
He was given regional command of Flanders on March 7, 1790, and was appointed to the regional command of the departments of Eure and the lower Seine on October 15, 1790.
MINISTER OF WAR
Duportail succeeded La Tour du Pin as minister of war (November 1790–December 1791) during the French Revolution. He resigned a year later to accept a military appointment in Lorraine.
In assuming the ministry, he found the Royal Army so disorganized that it invited a complete audit. The status of the troops was a complete disaster. Out of a theoretical total of 140,965 officers, subalterns, and rank-and-file, few fought in America, and many were absent from their units. He was constrained to make a regulation on February 4, 1791, creating a corps of 100,000 auxiliaries between the ages of eighteen and forty, enlisting in the army for three years in time of war. On June 21, the assembly sent 26,000 national guardsmen to the borders.
Duportail realized on October 11, 1791, that he had only forty-four battalions of volunteers, and most of them were undermanned. He also realized that 1,932 officers had left their post in the infantry and cavalry, and he could only find 764 replacements, while the assembly decided to raise the number of troops to about 176,616 officers and soldiers.
Duportail would be criticized for a lack of muskets, even though the government decided in 1784 to cut back its orders for weapons. As national production was insufficient, his efforts to diversify the rapid acquisition of new weapons during very difficult economic times would attract unscrupulous suppliers, sometimes recommended by subordinates. There was also a lack of horses, especially for the artillery, for the same reasons. That would lead to abnormally high expenses to bring them up to code.
However, his biggest difficulty was the general lack of discipline, and he was accused of finishing his overhaul of the army by allowing soldiers to visit clubs. He believed that allowing soldiers to frequent popular clubs and organizations, where new ideas were read and discussed, would bring new ideas into the army. He hoped that this would result in better cohesion between the officers, subalterns, and enlisted men and eliminate insubordination. Duportail wanted to ensure that the army would not become an instrument of the counterrevolution.
The queen’s partisans wanted to chase him out of the ministry as quickly as possible. The patriots criticized his allegiance to the king and
