Book excerpt: Excerpt from The French in America During the War of Independence of the United States, 1777-1783, Vol. 2 The present volume is a translation from these proofs, with the addition of the numerous manuscript notes in the margin. Most of these notes are in my father's handwriting. These I have inserted as notes, with the explanation: Marginal note by T. B. A few other notes were added in a revision of the book made at the Archives of the French Navy. These I have inserted as notes, with the explanation: Mar ginal note. My one aim in translating has been accuracy. I have been as literal as possible, and have tried to get the absolute meaning of every sentence. The references, Archives of War or Archives of the Navy, refer to the French Archives. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.