Born in Normandy, France, the Chevalier d’Annemours spent much of his childhood in Martinique before going to England to study the English language.
He returned to the West Indies in 1768 before exploring the English colonies in North America a few years later.
[1] In 1777 he returned to America, this time as a secret agent for France, making sure General George Washington was privy to his mission.
He followed Congress around for the next two years, reporting what he observed back to France.
[2] He remained in that post until 1793, when a post-revolutionary France sent a new minister to control all French consular action in the United States, leaving d’Annemours without a job.