Site of the "French Oven" - Lebanon CT
Posted by: 
nomadwillie
N 41° 38.251 W 072° 12.830
18T E 732059 N 4613281
Located across the street from the Lebanon Historical Society Museum. The French Army assisting the Continental Army during the US Revolution baked their bread here.
Waymark Code: WMVC0J
Location: Connecticut, United States
Date Posted: 03/30/2017
Views: 1
Marker reads:
SITE OF
"THE FRENCH OVEN"
USED BY THE FRENCH HUSSARS OF THE
DUKE DE LAUZIN WHO WERE ENCAMPED
ON LEBANON GREEN FROM DECEMBER 1, 1780
TO JUNE 23, 1781. IT ALOS SERVED THE FIVE
REGIMENTS OF BOURBONS UNDER COUNT
ROCHAMBEAU JUNE, 1781. On February 6, 1778, France signed the Treaty of Alliance with the United States. Under the terms of this treaty, nearly 6,000 French troops arrived in Rhode Island in 1780 under the command of General Rochambeau. General Washington asked Governor Trumbull to help provide provisions for the allied troops.
With forage for horses in short supply in Rhode Island, General Rochambeau sent part of Lauzun’s Legion, the calvary unit of the French army, to Lebanon for the winter. On November 20, 1780, about 220 hussars or cavalrymen led by their commander, the duc de Lauzun, galloped into Lebanon. Officers were quartered with local residents while the troops were housed in newly built barracks west of the green. For nearly eight months, the French soldiers conducted daily drills, trained horses, and acted as messengers between Newport and Hartford.
They baked their bread in ovens built in a bake house on the green. In June 1781, the French cavalry joined the rest of Rochambeau’s troops as they marched across Connecticut to join the American army in New York State.
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