Would you like a history lesson with that?
Brandon points out on a recent post that my Google Maps directions from Springfield, Missouri to Williamsburg, VA end on Rochambeau Dr.
Indeed the road is named after Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau, a French noblemen who served as Lieutenant General in the American Revolution. In 1781 he led 5,000 French troops from Newport, Rhode Island to Dobbs Ferry, New York where he joined forces with George Washington. Together they marched through Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland to Yorktown, Virginia. This is known as the Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, which our little road is a part of.
At Yorktown Washington and Rochambeau combined forces with Marquis de Lafayette, another French general. The battle of Yorktown ended on October 19th, 1781 when British general Lord Cornwallis surrender to Rochambeau (instead of surrendering to Washington as a fuck-you of sorts). That pretty much ended the American Revolution and the Red Coats went home big fat losers.
So thanks to the French the Americans have their independence from Britain, which is kinda cool if you ask me. And to remember the awesome French general that brought us our Independence the cartoon South-Park popularized a game that involves voluntarily being kicked in the balls. Thanks Parker and Stone!
April 17th, 2008 at 7:27 am
Gah. Wish I would have known you were in MO. I don’t check here too often. Next time you come out this way, look me up.
Thanks for the history lesson, though!
April 17th, 2008 at 7:31 am
@ax0n, I visit Shannon in Springfield frequently. I’ll be out there next weekend. Hit me up if you’re in the area we’ll get drinks.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:44 am
You guys can Rochambeau to see who pays for the drinks.
April 19th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I had looked it up as well, but is that common knowledge in Williamsburg?
April 19th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
@Brandon: Yeah pretty common knowledge. You can’t live in Williamsburg and not pick up all sorts of history. This place has been kickin’ for a couple hundred years. Anyway I did have to look up the dates, names, check facts etc but yeah. Thanks for inspiring the post.