During the war in America, Louis XVI asked Rochambeau to lead a force of 5,500 French soldiers to assist the fight against the Kingdom of Great Britain.

In the late 1800s, a plan was made to erect four statues in Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C., honoring foreign heroes of the war.

A few years later, a commemorative book was written by De Benneville Randolph Keim, and given to people who were in attendance at the ceremony.

The statue rests on a tall base adorned with two figures: a woman depicting Victory who is holding a sword and two flags, and an eagle beside her.

When he was 17, Rochambeau joined the French military and received praise from his commanding officers for his conduct in the War of Austrian Succession, leading to a promotion to colonel at 21 years old.

When the American Revolutionary War broke out, Rochambeau was near retirement from the military, where he held the rank of lieutenant general.

In 1780, Louis XVI requested he participate in the Expédition Particulière, which would see 5,500 French soldiers fight alongside the Continental Army against the Kingdom of Great Britain.

[4][5] Rochambeau and his forces sailed for 70 days before reaching Newport, Rhode Island, where the soldiers quickly built fortification.

However, with the arrival of Admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse and additional French troops, both Washington and Rochambeau chose to attack General Charles Cornwall in Virginia.

Rochambeau returned to France in 1783 and several years later commanded the Army of the North during the French Revolutionary Wars.

French embassy official Jules Boeufvé had been contacting U.S. senators since April of that year, asking them to have a replica of the Rochambeau statue brought to the United States.

Senator George P. Wetmore introduced an amendment on May 23, 1900, to allocate $10,000 for the installation of the statue, but the bill did not make it past committee meetings, which had already reduced the funding to $7,500.

A few months later Porter wrote a letter to the chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, which stated: "At the request of Mr. Boeufvé, of the French Embassy in the United States, I beg to say that I participated, on June 4th last, at Vendôme, in the unveiling of the statue of Rochambeau by the French artist Fernand Hamar, and that I found it to be a spirited and excellent work of art.

It seems to me that it would be very appropriate and would give great satisfaction, if means were found to erect in Washington, D.C., a replica of the Marshal’s Statue.

Architect L. Laurant designed the base, Ferdinand Gaussen carved the stonework, and Val d'Osne Foundry was responsible for the founding.

He assigned a delegation of officials to attend the ceremony, including General Joseph Brugère and Vice Admiral Ernest François Fournier.

[4] Roosevelt and his cabinet members were led from the White House to the statue by soldiers dressed in colonial military uniforms.

Countess Rochambeau then pulled the cords, unveiling the statue, while an artillery salute took place and the United States Marine Band played the French national anthem, La Marseillaise.

")[4][8] After the ceremony, the French delegation was taken on a tour of places Rochambeau had spent time, including West Point, Niagara Falls, Newport, and Boston.

The book, Rochambeau: A Commemoration by the Congress of the United States of America of the Services of the French Auxiliary Forces in the War of Independence, was written by De Benneville Randolph Keim.

[4] The Rochambeau statue is one of 14 American Revolution Statuary that were collectively listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on July 14, 1978.

[10] The Rochambeau statue is located on the southwest corner of Lafayette Square, at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and Jackson Place NW, in Washington, D.C.

There are waves at the bottom of these two figures, depicting the woman and eagle standing on the bow of a ship while the wind is blowing, which symbolizes France arriving to help the colonies in their fight for independence.

The eagle is clutching a shield made of granite that is adorned with the thirteen stars and stripes of the original U.S. flag.

On this top tier, in addition to the Victory and eagle statues, are decorative granite shields on the east and west sides.

(Base, north face:) We have been contemporaries and fellow labourers in the cause of liberty and we have lived together as brothers should do in harmonious friendship