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| Pierre Charles L'Enfant, |
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| Pierre Charles L'Enfant (French: [pjɛʁ ʃɑʁl lɑ̃fɑ̃]; August 2, 1754 – June 14, 1825), self-identified as Peter Charles L'Enfant while living in the United States, was a French-born American military engineer who designed the basic plan for Washington, D.C. (capital city of the U.S.) known today as the L'Enfant Plan (1791). |
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| Early life and education |
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| L'Enfant was born in Paris, France on August 2, 1754, the third child and second son of Pierre L'Enfant (1704 – 1787), a painter with a good reputation in the service of King Louis XV of France, (1710 - 1774, reigned 1715 - 1774), and Marie L'Enfant, the daughter of a minor official at court. |
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| In 1758, his brother Pierre Joseph died at the age of six, and Pierre Charles became the eldest son. |
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| He studied art at the Royal Academy in the Louvre, as well as with his father at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. |
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| He left school in France to enlist in the American Revolutionary War on the side of the rebelling colonials. |
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| Military service |
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| L'Enfant was recruited by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais to serve in the American Revolutionary War in the United States. |
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| He arrived in 1777 at the age of 23, and served as a military engineer in the Continental Army with Major General Lafayette. |
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| He was commissioned as a captain in the Corps of Engineers on April 3, 1779 to rank from February 18, 1778. |
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| Despite his aristocratic origins, L'Enfant closely identified with the United States, changing his first name from Pierre to Peter when he first came to the rebelling colonies in 1777. |
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| L'Enfant served on General George Washington's staff at Valley Forge. |
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| While there, the Marquis de Lafayette commissioned L'Enfant to paint a portrait of Washington. |
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| He was wounded at the Siege of Savannah on October 9, 1779. |
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| He recovered and became a prisoner of war at surrender of Charleston, South Carolina on May 12, 1780. |
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| He was exchanged in November 1780 and served on General George Washington's staff for the remainder of the American Revolution. |
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| L'Enfant was promoted by brevet to Major in the Corps of Engineers on May 2, 1783, in recognition of his service to the cause of American liberty. |
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| He was discharged when the Continental Army was disbanded in December 1783. |
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| After the war, L'Enfant designed the badge of the Society of the Cincinnati, an organization of former officers of the Continental Army, shaped as an eagle, at the request of Washington. |
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| He was sent to France to have insignias made for members of the Society, a group of veterans of the war. |
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| Career |
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| Post–Revolutionary War |
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| Following the American Revolutionary War, L'Enfant established a successful and highly profitable civil engineering firm in New York City. |
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| He achieved some fame as an architect by redesigning the City Hall in New York for the First Congress of the United States (See: Federal Hall). |
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| He also designed furniture and houses for the wealthy as well as coins and medals, including the insignia of the Society of the Cincinnati. |
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| He was also a friend of Alexander Hamilton, and some of their correspondances from 1790 to 1801 now reside in the National Archives. |
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| While L'Enfant was in New York City, he was initiated into Freemasonry. |
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| His initiation took place on April 17, 1789, at Holland Lodge No. 8, F&AM, which the Grand Lodge of New York F&AM had chartered in 1787. |
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| L'Enfant took only the first of three degrees offered by the Lodge and did not progress further in Freemasonry. |