The last battle of the American Revolutionary War

Naval battle of Gondelour, June 20, 1783 by Auguste Jugelet
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If asked, most Americans would think that Yorktown was the last battle of the Revolutionary War. However, in the years before Yorktown, what had been an English civil war expended to a global war as France, Spain and the Netherlands took advantage of England's problems to declare war on therm. 

That war continued well after Yorktown and even after peace negotiations had begun. As pointed out in the article India: The Last Battle of the American Revolutionary War:  

A preliminary treaty finally came on November 30, 1782, a year after Yorktown… but there was still no formal treaty. Washington remembered what Ben Franklin had said, “The British Nation seems… unable to carry on the War and too proud to make peace.” The politicians were all still talking in Paris. Washington instinctively didn’t trust the British and knew it could be a mistake to lower his guard of them, even while talks were going on. As late as January 1783, from Newburgh, New York, he wrote to Maj. John Armstrong that he suspected Parliament would still “provide vigorously for the prosecution of the war.”

But in the meantime, between Yorktown and the preliminary peace treaty, there were at least forty-four more documented world-wide battles, sieges, actions, incidents, and skirmishes of the American Revolutionary War.

The last Revolutionary War battle, the Naval Battle of Cuddalore, took place off the coast of India. It occurred after the treaty ending the war had been signed, but before news of it could reach the distant combatants.

The French were occupying the city of Cuddalore and the British were besieging it. English naval forces were bombarding the city in support of the siege, so the French sent a naval squadron to intervene. For a few days light and variable winds kept the two forces apart, but on June 20th the French closed with the English ships for combat. 

The battle that followed was rather desultory, with little damage on either side. The battle lasted 3 hours and the British withdrew. There was still a bit of back and forth with the siege, but that naval battle counts as the last battle fought in the American Revolutionary War.  

 

The Paris Morgue as a tourist trap

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The was a time when the Paris Morgue was an attraction. In 19th century Paris unidentified corpses were brought in from the streets or the river. In an attempt to identify them it was decided to display them in the hope a relative or acquittance would claim them. They were frozen, displayed on angled iron tables, and their clothes displayed. They would be publicly exhibited for three days.

Entry to the viewing area was free, and soon it became a popular destination for the curious. Newspapers would print lurid details of the cadavers, and the more infamous ones (decapitations, mutilation or children) would draw large crowds.

From the article The Paris Morgue: A Gruesome Tourist Attraction in the 19th Century:

The Paris Morgue was open seven days a week from dawn to 6pm and was drawing up to 40,000 visitors a day. Parisians and tourists mingled side by side. It became a family day out at weekends, the respectable mixing with the disreputable, young and old, male and female, small children and workers on their lunch break; all filed past the bodies with unabated curiosity.

The more horrendous or gruesome a death, the longer the queues grew. Decapitated, or limbless bodies, tiny children, only added to the morbid desire to see the bodies up close.

Of course what was undeniably adding to the dubious attraction of seeing dead bodies on display was that it was free to enter.

A glimpse of the Paris Morgue’s interior. The left wall of the entrance hall consisted of a row of windows through which guests could see the “salle d’exposition” where cadavers were laid out on iron tables, their clothes hung from thick iron hooks over their heads. 

Indeed if on a rare day, the morgue was empty of bodies, the dissatisfaction of the crowd was made apparent. Their appetite for death up close had become almost insatiable.

Because of the guarantee of daily crowds, street vendors set up outside the morgue selling oranges, coconut ice or whatever else they thought would tempt the queue.

It all sounds rather macabre and gruesome, but then again, we all slow down and rubberneck for traffic accidents, don't we?  

George du Maurier's illustrations

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George du Maurier (1834-1896) was a French novelist and artist who settled in London. He was a caricaturist whose illustrations appeared primarily in the satirical Punch weekly magazine. His subjects were the upper class of the Victorian era. 

George du Maurier'

Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower

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Henri Rivière (1864-1951) was French artist. When Japan opened up in the 1850s a wave of goods had entered Europe, including woodprints which considerably influenced European artists. They were to influence Rivière as well. 

In 1888 the construction of the Eiffel tower began. Inspired by Hokusai’s Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji Rivière decided to do a similar portfolio featuring the tower. He started by trying to replicate the Japanese printing process, although he actually didn't know how it was done. His experimentation led to two prints, but it was a costly and time-consuming process, so he abandoned it for lithography for the rest of the series.

These images are from the Public Domain Review' post Henri Rivière’s Thirty-Six Views of the Eiffel Tower (1888–1902). There are more images at that post, as well as a discussion of his series. 

Henri Rivière

Maximilien Luce

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Maximilien Luce (1858–1941) was a French neo-impressionist painter who also experimented heavily with pointillism. He painted landscapes, portraits, workers, WWI soldiers, scenes of the industrial revolution, and everyday activities.

In his younger years he was an active anarchist. In 1894 he was arrested upon suspicion that he was involved in the conspiracy to assassinate the French president. However, he was acquitted and released after 42 days. Later in his life he drifted away from active participation in politics.

Maximilien Luce self-portrait

Maxime Maufra

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Maxime Maufra (1861–1918) was a French impressionist painter. He primarily painted landscapes and the seaside. His use of color is quite striking.

Maxime Maufra

Léon Lhermitte

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These some of the works of Léon Lhermitte (18844-1925) a French artist who worked in pastels. He primarily created rural scenes. He was well known in his day and Vincent van Gogh was an admirer of his artwork.

Léon Lhermitte

Gustave Caillebotte

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Gustave Caillebotte was a 19th century French impressionist painter. He came from a wealthy family and so he did not need to paint to support himself. In fact, he retired from painting in his mid-30s to pursue his other interests. Along with his works, one of his major contributions to the impressionist movement was financially supporting a number of other painters including Monet, Degas, Renoir and others. 

Gustave Caillebotte self-portrait

Albert Guillaume paintings

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Albert Guillaume was a late 19th century/early 20th century French artist. He was primarily known for his posters, but he painted as well. The topic of his paintings was upper-class society nightlife. He was a caricaturist and many of the details in his paintings are amusing.    

Albert Guillaume

Paintings by Ferdinand Loyen Du Puigaudeau

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Puigaudeau was a late 19th century/early 20th century French artist. He was an impressionist painter and friends with both Gauguin and Degas. He painted village life and a lot of sunsets and sunrises, as well as moonlit nights. In his lifetime he exhibited rarely and was not particularly successful. 

Ferdinand Loyen Du Puigaudeau