Public Events and Commemorations 
for the W3R® during 2015

Links to Events

Jan 01: MD - Ratification of the Treaty of Paris
Feb 22: DE - GW - First in Business
May 09: AZ - Memorial Note for Jacques Bossiere
June 05-July 15: East Coast - Cruise of L'Hermione
June 06: VA - Wayside Marker placed in Yorktown
June 25: PA - Annual Meeting of the W3R®
Oct 25: CT - Memorial Note for David Holloway

2015-01-03 (Saturday) Annapolis MD from 11 AM to 3 PM  
Ratification of the Treaty of Paris
During the Treaty of Paris Period (1783-87):
  • The Maryland State House in Annapolis served as the first peacetime capital of the United States.
  • General George Washington retired from the Army before Congress.
  • the Treaty of Paris was ratified by Congress and signed by President Thomas Mifflin -- one of the fourteen forgotten U.S. Presidents before George Washington.
  • Thomas Jefferson was appointed to be Minister to France
  • Maryland and Virginia agreed to the Mount Vernon Compact (1785), in which MD and VA agreed that the Potomac River should be a common highway belonging to both states.
  • Shays's Rebellion -- an armed uprising against state taxes and debt collection in Massachusetts in 1786 and 1787 -- threatened to spark a new war.
  • The report of the 1786 Annapolis Convention led to a new Constitution! Experience.
The Treaty of Paris Center will celebrate the New Year in the Crown and Crab Room at the Maryland Inn, 16 Church Circle, Annapolis, Maryland (right down the hall from the Treaty of Paris Restaurant). Fifteen framed documents, a multi-part exhibit, five films, four walking tours, interactive computer screens, dozens of souvenirs and a midday lecture on Mann's Tavern, the site of the 1786 Annapolis Convention.

2015-02-20 (Friday) Wilmington DE 
First in Business - George Washington, the Entrepreneur
by Prof. Edward G. Lengel, sponsored by the George Washington Society,
$65 per person, for details, see the flyer.

2015-02-24 Richmond VA
The General Assembly of Virginia adopted a resolution, "Designating March 14, in 2015 and in each succeeding year, as a Day of Honor for the Marquis de Lafayette in Virginia."
See text of the resolution.


March 30, 2015, is the Sixth Anniversary of the

Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route

as a National Historic Trail.


Passing of Our Founder,
The Rev. Dr. Jacques Bossiere (1919-2015)  

The officers and members of the W3R®-US were deeply saddened at the news of the passing of Jacques Bossiere on 2015 May 9 in Tucson AZ. Born in Suresnes, France (a western suburb of Paris), in 1919, he had a long, eventful, caring, and fulfilling life as a prisoner-of-war, a philosopher, a priest and abbot, a professor, and a parent.

Long-term members in the W3R®-US knew him as the man whose strong and consistent focus and effort drove the concept of a National Historic Trail to completion. It was he who in 1991 suggested to the (Connecticut) Governor's Commission for Cultural and Francophone Affairs (of which he was a member) that they commemorate the presence of the French Expeditionary Force under General Rochambeau in the U.S. during 1780-1783. Col. Serge Gabriel joined the Commission in 1996 and continued this focus.

In early 1999 Dr. James Johnson, chair of the History Department at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) heard of the effort and joined the leadership group. The three decided that the best physical embodiment of French aid during the American Revolution would be the trail taken by the French and U.S. troops to Yorktown VA in 1781. At a meeting of about 50 interested people in Newburgh NY Jacques was elected chairman. Christian Bickert suggested the name Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, reflecting the fact that General Washington was the senior officer in command of the allied armies. In early 2000 a conference at West Point on the W3R® attracted participants from all nine states along the route. They agreed to work toward developing an historic trail recognized by the U.S. Congress.

Coordination and funding by Email proved unsatisfactory, so in 2004 the organization was incorporated in Delaware. Jacques served its first elected chair for three years (2004-2007), and he was a valued resource and counsellor until the W3R® was designated as a National Historic Trail in 2009. He then retired to Arizona, but maintained a lively communication with his successors by phone and Email. As a Frenchman in the U.S. with a significant network of influence and much personal goodwill, Jacques Bossiere was -- in this non-military endeavor -- our Rochambeau.

Jacques Bossiere (at left) after receiving the insignia of the French Legion of Honor on October 19, 2006, at the Yorktown Day commemoration W3R®-US Director Serge Gabriel is in the back row and W3R®-US Director John Welsh is in Rochambeau uniform.

~ ~ ~ Requiescat in pace. ~ ~ ~

To honor Jacques we have re-named our endowment fund
the Dr. Jacques Bossiere W3R® Fund.
If you wish to make a donation to honor his work
to create and develop the W3R®, please use Our Donation Form.



L'Hermione at Yorktown VA - U.S. Port #1 - photo courtesy of A. Patten

The 2015 Maiden Voyage of the Replica L'Hermione  

The maiden voyage of the replica L'Hermione will be its East Coast cruise of the U.S. in 2015. This is a great opportunity to teach the public about the W3R®-NHT. L'Hermione will stop at the ports of
  • Yorktown, Virginia (June 5-7)
  • Mount Vernon, Virginia (June 9)
  • Alexandria, Virginia (June10-11)
  • Annapolis, Maryland (June 15-17)
  • Baltimore, Maryland (June19-21)
  • Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania (June 25)
  • Philadelphia PA with Tall Ships America (June 26-28)
  • New York City with Tall Ships America (July2-4)
  • Greenport, New York (July 6-7)
  • Newport, Rhode Island, with Tall Ships (July 8-9)
  • Boston, Massachusetts (July 11-12)
  • Castine, Maine (July 14-15).
History: In April 1780 the original L'Hermione brought American General Lafayette back to the United States from France. Lafayette carried a secret message to General Washington that France was about to send thousands of troops in an expeditionary force under General Rochambeau. Their mission was to help the Continental Army defeat and expel the occupying British army from the United States. Later L'Hermione joined French Admiral de Grasse's fleet for the siege at Yorktown. The ship then sailed to Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress visited and paid tribute to her.

Building the Replica: In 1997 the international Hermione-La Fayette Association -- now consisting of over 4,000 members -- began the momentous task of constructing, crewing, and sailing a replica of the historic French frigate L'Hermione. The ship was launched and completed its sea trials in 2014.

The Maiden Voyage: In 2015 a U.S. website Hermione 2015 was created to support the 2015 cruise of the replica L'Hermione to ports along the east coast of the United States. The National Park Service, the Washington-Rochambeau National Historic Trail, and W3R®-US are working with the Friends of Hermione-Lafayette in America to maximize this tremendous opportunity to reach the hundreds of thousands of visitors that will see L'Hermione in the U.S. in 2015.
Hermione 2015's Mission Statement

2015-06-06 (Saturday) Yorktown VA:  
A Wayside Marker was dedicated in conjunction with the arrival of L'Hermione in Yorktown. In support of this marker the W3R®-VA received a $500 donation from the Sons of the Revolution in the Commonwealth of Virginia, whose president, Carter Reid, was present at the dedication.

2015-06-25 (Thursday) Philadelphia PA   The Twelfth Annual Meeting of the W3R®-US was held at the Independence Seaport Landing in Philadelphia PA. One highlight was a lecture by Robert A. Selig on Lafayette, L'Hermione, and the Washington-Rochanbeau Revolutionary Route.


2015-07-16: C-SPAN
Streaming video of a C-SPAN interview of Dr. Robert A. Selig on Washington, Rochambeau, and the March to Yorktown [CSPAN video, 1 hr 16 min]


Huzzah!    Huzzah!    Huzzah!

October 19, 2015, is the 234th Anniversary of the


Surrender of the British at Yorktown to


Generals Washington and Rochambeau.


Huzzah!    Huzzah!    Huzzah!

Passing of an Original Full-Route Marcher,
David Holloway (1951-2015)  

The officers and members of the W3R®-US mourn the passing from our ranks of David Trumbull Holloway on October 25, 2015. Dave was born in New Haven CT, achieved the rank of Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America, and served in U. S. Navy as a Seabee, retiring as a Chief Petty Officer Builder. He served Troop 5 in Wallingford CT as Assistant Scout Master, Scout Master, and Eagle Advisor. He was a member of the Memorial Day Committee of American Legion Post #73. He was a member of the Sixth Connecticut Regiment (living historians of the American Revolution) and also a member of the Connecticut Society SAR.

David was instrumental in publicizing and establishing the W3R® as a National Historical Trail. In 2006, as part of "America's March to Yorktown" he, Mike Fitzgerald and David Fagerberg, marched the entire over-700-mile path on or near the original 1781 route -- from Boston MA to Newport RI to Yorktown VA -- marched by French and U.S. Continental Army forces under the commands of French General Rochambeau and U.S. General Washington. They camped at or near the same campsites on the same days as the French army did in 1781, 225 years previously.
See Photo-reports of the 2006 W3R® Trek

David wore a replica of the uniform of a French soldier of 1781 and carried a replica flag of the Bourbonaise Regiment. Rose Morin drove the support truck (with trailer) and wrote a blog. Richard Swartwout helped with the organization and supplies, marched part of the route, and provided a historical blog (as though from a Revolutionary soldier). Hundreds of people joined the march at various points along the route (through nine states), and the march received considerable newspaper coverage.
Michael Fitzgerald, Rose Morin, David Fagerberg,
and David Holloway on the trail again in 2010

The same group toured the route in 2011 for the 230th anniversary of the original march, meeting old friends and making new presentations to school groups, lineage organizations, and history societies.

If you wish to make a donation to honor David's work
to publicize and honor the W3R®, please use Our Donation Form.