La Gazette Francoise, 1780-1781: Revolutionary America's French Newspaper

On July 11, 1780, after a sixty-nine-day voyage, 6,000 French troops under the command of General Rochambeau disembarked in Newport, R.I. Cognizant of the anti-Catholic feelings against France that ran rampant among the general population, the French military officers who arrived in Newport on that July day anxiously descended from their ship, not knowing how they would be received.
Once it became clear that the French stay in Newport would last through the winter months, the French soldi…