THE FRENCH CAMP AT WATERBURY.
Mr. D. H. Tierney, vice-president of the Society for Connecticut, has erected on the camp ground of the French army to commemorate its march through Waterbury, Conn., enroute to Yorktown, June 27, 1781, a handsome monument of rustic construction with a good foundation, securely cemented and with a polished granite slab on top on which the following words are cut: “Camp of the French Army enroute to Yorktown, June 27, 1781.” The date of the erection of the monument is cut on the lower left-hand corner which is “1904.” Mr. Tierney writes:
“The erection of this monument brought out and emphasized the fact that in the French army there were a large contingent of Irishmen. At the unveiling exercises, the monument was draped with the American, French and Irish flags. An American boy raised the American flag; a French boy raised the French flag; and my son, Mark Tierney, raised the Irish flag. At the unveiling of the monument, we had a large gathering of representatives of patriotic societies and citizens, and it was learned for the first time that in the French army there was a large delegation of Irishmen who participated with the French in helping the continentals to throw off the English yoke. It created such a controversy that I was compelled many times to give authentic proof concerning the fact that there were Irishmen in the French army on that occasion.
“At the time of the erection of this monument, I entertained hopes that others along the route of the French army would see fit to erect monuments in the different states commemorating the march of the French army while enroute to Yorktown.”