Page:A French Volunteer of the War of Independence.djvu/142

118 His quarrel with Captain Landais, of which this fight was a part, was not for the possession of a Helen, but for the command of the frigate Alliance, which had been ordered to sail at once for America, for, owing to some veering of the political compass, everything had been changed.

Six thousand Frenchmen, under the command of Comte de Rochambeau, and including a great number of young noblemen of the Court, anxious to have the privilege of serving as volunteers, were sent to the aid of the Americans, and embarked on a fleet of vessels, commanded by the Chevalier de Ternan, which was to sail from Brest. M. de la Fayette having sent in his resignation as Colonel of Dragoons, had taken leave of the King in the uniform of a Major General of the United States' army, and was already on board the French frigate Aigle, commanded by M. de la Touche Treville. La Fayette was to take the command of a division of Washington's army which was then encamped in Jersey Province, near New York. We received orders to join him, and embarked on the