The Illustrated Diary of French Lieutenant de Verger From the American Revolution

American Forces at Yorktown, 1781

The illustrated diary of Lieutenant Jean Baptiste Antoine de Verger is considered one of the most valuable artifacts in the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection at  Brown University.  de Verger came to America in the summer of 1780 with Rochambeau during the American Revolution.  Mrs. Brown acquired de Verger’s diary in the early 1960s through a fascinating New York book dealer, Hans Peter Kraus.  Kraus was twice imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps before fleeing Austria in 1939 to America. He purportedly escaped with a copy of the Guttenberg bible but had to abandon thousands of other rare books.

The de Verger diary is unique because of the illustrations including Native Americans, ships, tactical battle scenes, and one of the first images of a Black American soldier in a combat role.  In the early 1970s Mrs. Brown collaborated with a Princeton academic to transcribe, translate, annotate, and publish de Verger’s and two other French officers’ diaries from the American Revolution.

de Verger was only 18 when he arrived in America and his diary outlines his experience with a focus on facts more than personal impressions since young officers were encouraged to keep journals as a means for self-improvement. He had a keen eye for unusual action stories that he found particularly fascinating.  For example, he relays the story of an enraged French navy captain who chains and then throws overboard two local pilots who had incompetently crashed his ship onto rocks during a raging storm.  Another anecdote details a civilian Patriot who took shelter in an abandoned beaver dam then fought off a British patrol from this unusual “fort.”

I’ve always been interested in de Verger’s iconic and high-profile diary in the Collection but had never read it despite serving for 20+ years as a Trustee of the ASKB Collection.  During Covid I read the diary three times and was motivated to share it with outside audiences.  I have now presented the de Verger illustrated diary to a range of interested groups including the Society of the Cincinnati, Friends of Lafayette, Lafayette Society, Brown University alumni groups, and the Army and Navy Club. 

To commemorate the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence I am giving a series of illustrated presentations on the de Verger diary to a variety of educational and community organizations in the United States.  My talk provides context on de Verger and his war-time experience in America using both his diary entries and colorful illustrations. I start off in May 2026 with three presentations in my home state of Connecticut that de Verger passed through in 1782. He described “The inhabitants of Connecticut as the best people in the United States, without any doubt. They have a lively curiosity and examined our troops and all our actions with evident astonishment.”  In addition to the Connecticut talks I’ll be presenting at libraries and universities in my adopted state of North Carolina in the Fall.  My website lists upcoming presentations so feel free to attend one near you if interested.