34 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



Jean Audubon's release from captivity in New 

 York, in June, 1780, probably marks the period of his 

 first intimate acquaintance with the United States. 

 We know only that he did not return immediately to 

 either Santo Domingo or France, but became an en- 

 thusiast for the American cause, and sought the ear- 

 liest opportunity to avenge his wrongs at the hands of 

 the British. He did not have long to wait, for through 

 the exertions of the Ambassador de la Luzerne, he was 

 placed in command of the corvette Queen Charlotte. 

 With her, in October, 1781, he joined the fleet of the 

 Count de Grasse before Yorktown, 10 where he soon 

 witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis and the humilia- 

 tion of his enemies. After this turning point of the 

 war Captain Audubon remained in the United States, 

 and in April, 1782, commanded a merchantman called 

 L* Annette, 11 in which he was also personally interested, 

 and delivered a cargo of Virginia tobacco at the port 

 of Nantes. Shortly after his return to America in the 



time; which said person, appearing in said names, in the quality afore- 

 said, by these presents has sold, ceded, given up, transferred, and re- 

 linquished all his legal rights in the aforesaid ship, to the business-asso- 

 ciates Lacroix, Formon de Boisclair & Jacques, three merchants in partner- 

 ship, living in this town, purchasers conjointly and severally, for them- 

 selves and the assigns of each, to the extent of one third; To wit: the 

 said ship Le Comte d'Artois, of the said port of Nantes, of about two 

 hundred and fifty tons, at present anchored in this roadstead of Les 

 Cayes, dispatched, and at the point of departure for France, with all its 

 rigging, outfit, and dependences, which consist among other things of two 

 sets of sail, complete, and newly fitted out, all the tools, and the reserve 

 sets of these, with the munitions of war, consisting of ten cannon, four 

 of them mounted on gun carriages, and all that goes with them. . . .'* 

 (Translated from the French original in possession of Monsieur Lavigne.) 



10 The fact that Captain Audubon did not accompany Rochambeau's 

 fleet which assembled at Brest in April, 1780, and reached Newport in mid- 

 July, may account for the omission of his name from the lists that have 

 been recently published. See Les Combattants Frangois de la Guerre 

 Ame'ricaine, 1778-1783 (Paris, 1903). 



11 Others interested in this vessel were Messrs. David Ross & Com- 

 pany, with whom Captain Audubon later had financial difficulties (see 

 Chapter VIII). 



