Beschreibung:

Manuscript letter signed by the French officer to George Washington, concerning membership in the Society of the Cincinnati.
Paris: c. 1784]. 2 1/2 pages on a folded sheet (310x200 mm). Written in a clerk’s hand, but signed by De Corny at the end and with a lengthy footnote in his hand on the second page. Docketed on verso of the last leaf “Memorial of Mons de Cornay 1784” and “General Greene” (the latter in Washington’s hand?). Condition : a few tape repairs, some loss and separations along the gutter, minor foxing. De Corny initially served as Lafayette’s aide-de-camp at the outset of France’s participation in the Revolution and was commissioned as a Coloniel of Cavalry in the Continental Army. However, shortly thereafter he returned to France with Henry Laurens, charged with assembling supplies for American forces and petitioning France for more assistance. He continued to serve in that capacity throughout the remainder of the war. Of these duties, he writes in this letter that he “would think himself happy to have shared with [American officers] the Common dangers; but absolute and real services ought to supply more glorious ones.” Washington approved the petition and De Corny was accepted in the Society in 1785. See Washington’s 21 June 1785 letter to Marbois mentioning his admittance and Washington’s 5 December 1785 letter to De Corny concerning a receipt from the treasurer of the Society (for dues?).