Emmanuel De Pliarne
Emmanuel de Pliarne (d.1776), a French merchant, is one of the first Frenchmen who took part in the American Revolution.
He had settled down in Nantes as a merchant. The American archives show, as early as 1775, that two French “officers”, Pierre Penet and De Pliarne, were recommended by governor Nicholas Cooke (of Providence) to General Washington[1], so that Washington should listen to the suggestions they had, in favour of the cause of Independence. However, neither Pierre Penet nor Emmanuel de Pliarne were officers ; and de Pliarne is found nowhere else than in this American adventure. Was it a pseudonym, commonplace in a period during which secrecy outweighed everything else?
The two men were coming from France via the Cap Français[2] (Saint-Domingue); they were received in December by the United States Congress, which agreed to their offer regarding the provision of powder, weapons and various ammunition.[3]
Falsely claiming to be undercover French agents for the Government, they negotiated with the Committee of Secret Correspondence, of which Benjamin Franklin was a member, and offered to supply powder and weapons to the Americans(1776).
The secret agreement was signed and enforced, at least partially: in a letter submitted from Paris, on 10, June, 1776, by physician Jacques Barbeu-Dubourg, and addressed to Benjamin Franklin, Benjamin Franklin stated that he had received news from M.Penet, just arrived from Philadelphia[4], and that a shipment of 15 000 garder ensemble of royal manufactures which had been supplied to him under the name “La Tuilerie", an arms manufacturer, would leave from Nantes with Penet himself.
De pliarne died “accidentally” by drowning in the Potomac River, in 1776. Some say he was drowned intentionally, and that the case was premeditated murder.
References[edit]
- ↑ Franklin, Benjamin (2006). Letters from France: The Private Diplomatic Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin, 1776-1785. Algora Publishing. ISBN 9780875864891. Search this book on
- ↑ Rappleye, Charles (2010-11-02). Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781416572862. Search this book on
- ↑ Dull, Jonathan R. (December 2010). Benjamin Franklin and the American Revolution. U of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0803230338. Search this book on
- ↑ Morton, Brian N.; Spinelli, Donald C. (2003). Beaumarchais and the American Revolution. Lexington Books. ISBN 9780739104682. Search this book on
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