French Alliance Day: When Valley Forge Celebrated a New Ally

In the spring of 1778, after a hard winter at Valley Forge, the Continental Army got the news it had been waiting for.

The Continental Army celebrates the alliance with France at Valley Forge, May 6, 1778. Credit: National Park Service.

The news arrives

On May 5, 1778, General George Washington learned that France had formally recognized the United States and signed a mutual defense pact with its new ally. To mark the moment, he freed condemned prisoners and ordered extra rations of rum for the troops.

A "fire of joy"

At half past eleven on the morning of May 6, the army assembled on the Grand Parade at Valley Forge. Anyone standing there would have heard the rat-tat-tat of musket fire and the cheers: Huzzah! Long live the King of France!

The troops performed a feu de joie — a "fire of joy" — in which each soldier fired in turn down the line, so the salute rippled along the ranks. They cheered for long life to King Louis XVI — ironic, given what would befall him in France's revolution fifteen years later — and to the "friendly European powers."

A musket salute, or "fire of joy." Credit: National Park Service.

A global war

France and Britain were empires with territory around the world. With France in the war, Britain had to divert troops and resources from Philadelphia to defend its other possessions.

Washington welcomed the alliance but worried that Patriots might slip into a false sense of security. He was right to: the fight for independence would go on for another five years.

Sources

Based on "French Alliance Day," National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The article draws on Washington's General Orders of 5 May 1778 and his letter to Major General Alexander McDougall of the same date, in The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 15, via Founders Online, National Archives.