Rochambeau Monument

See the White House Grounds Tour web page for a map and links to other attractions on the grounds of President’s Park.

The Rochambeau Monument is located at the southwest corner of Lafayette Park. The monument honors General Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Viemur, Comte (Count) de Rochambeau, leader of the French Army that fought with General George Washington during the American Revolution. The combined armies of Washington and Rochambeau defeated British General Charles Cornwallis at the Battle of Yorktown, which effectively ended the war. It was Rochambeau’s idea to attack Cornwallis in Virginia, whereas Washington wanted to invade New York.

The original statue of Rochambeau was erected in France in 1900. The French chancellor to the United States felt that a second statue, a replica of the first, would be fitting for Washington, D. C., and would help mend strained French-American relations after the Spanish-American War in which France sided with Spain. In addition to the Rochambeau statue, the French had recently erected statues to Washington and Lafayette, both aimed to show they wanted to honor the heroes of the American Revolution.

Congress agreed to fund the statue in 1901, and the original sculptor Fernand Hamar set about creating the replica, though this one was to be larger than the original in order to match the size of the existing Lafayette Monument on the southeast corner of the park. Also, since the Lafayette Monument had a female figure at the base, Hamar added a female Victory figure and an American eagle. The figures are made of bronze, while the pedestal, designed by L. Laurant, is made of granite. The statue depicts Rochambeau on the eve of the Yorktown battle.

The dedication ceremony for the Rochambeau Monument took place on May 24, 1902. Unfortunately, controversy emerged a few weeks later because the American public thought the statue was a gift from the French, not a purchase by the U. S. Government. To rectify the situation, the inscription “By the Congress – May XXIVMDCCCII” was added to the base of the monument that September. Today this inscription and nearly all others on the pedestal have been worn away and are barely readable. Only the ROCHAMBEAU inscription remains largely intact.

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