PHILIPPE CHARLES JEAN BAPTISTE TRONSON DU COUDRAY.
Philippe Charles Jean Baptiste Tronson du Coudray, born in Rheims, France, on the 8th of September, 1738, was educated to the vocation of a mining engineer, and ranked as one of the best in his native country, when in 1776, he offered his services to Silas Deane and Benjamin Franklin. These commissioners entered into an arrangement with Du Coudray by which, on condition of his furnishing certain military supplies, he was to enter the American service, with the rank and pay of major-general, and the command of the artillery. After several days’ debate on the subject, Congress did not see fit to ratify this agreement in full, Washington also expressing a doubt as to whether so important a command as that of the artillery should be vested in any but an American, or one attached by ties of interest to the United States. He was accorded his promised rank, however, being appointed major-general on the 11th of August, 1777, and placed in superintendence of the works being constructed on the Delaware. His service was of short duration, for on the 16th of September in the same year, while hastening, after the battle of Brandywine, to offer himself as a volunteer, he accidentally lost his life. While crossing the Schuylkill in a ferry-boat, his horse became unmanageable, plunged with him into the river, and he was drowned before any assistance could be rendered. The next day Congress passed a resolution directing his burial at the expense of the United States and with the honors of war.