For many decades, there has been a lot of family mythology and embellishment regarding the service of Jean Mouginet aka John Mozena. This needs to be corrected. The story of John's service during the Revolutionary War needs to line up with historical records and events. I dedicate this research to the memory of the man himself, and to all his descendants.

Over time, our family oral histories apparently got the service of John Mozena conflated with Lafayette. I have various old audio tapes of my Mozena relatives. One says John Mozena "came over with Lafayette." Another says that John Mozena was a French soldier "brought over by Lafayette." I think the first quote is trying to say that John came over about the same time as Lafayette, that is, during the Revolutionary War. The second is more accurate, that in February 1779 Lafayette returned to France and lobbied the French government for French troops to be sent to America. He was successful, so that Rochambeau's regiments including John Mozena were "brought over by Lafayette" in 1780.

However, this careless storytelling gave rise to the assumption that John Mozena actually came over on the same ship with Lafayette in 1777, and therefore he must have served with Lafayette and fought in the same battles too. Some descendant probably told how Lafayette was wounded at Brandywine, but someone thought he was talking about John Mozena, and the story got morphed yet again. I have no idea how John Mysener got mixed up in all this, too many Mozena name variations I suppose.

I have posted images of my ancestor Jean Mouginet's original service record in this memorial. They are microfilm records, and I have included transcriptions and translations. It is clearly the right person, as he is recorded as the son of Nicholas Mouginet and Elizabeth Longer.

I located his record at the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) library in Louisville Kentucky. It was no easy task to dig through these microfilm records, hand-written in French. I knew Jean's record would be there, since the printed book "Combattants Francais de la Guerre Americaine" was based on these written records. However, this book contains only a summary of each record, not a complete account. I was able to find Jean's record by looking up his company commander, then scrolling forward to that approximate section in the microfilm.

So, I believe for the first time, we have a physical description of Jean Mouginet.

We also now know that Jean deserted April 1 1783. The exact date is very significant in that it was well after the battle at Yorktown (October 1781) and shows that Jean served exclusively in the Regiment de Saintonge until that date. The date of April 1 1783 is also one week after the news of the Preliminaries of Peace reached the French forces stationed at Wilmington Delaware and Baltimore. This meant that all ships, both French and English, could return from the United States to Europe without the risk of attack. Jean's decision to remain in the US was not to avoid combat. He had already served at Yorktown. The French ships at Baltimore were seaworthy and there was no risk of attack by the English at sea. So Jean simply wanted to remain the the US, but there was no other way to accomplish that other than desertion.

In addition to the SAR microfilm, here are the sources I have used for this research:

Combattants Francais de la Guerre Americaine, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1783

The French in America During the War of Independence, Thomas Balch, 1891

The Marquis De La Fayette in the American Revolution Vol 2, Charlemagne Tower, 1901

Rochambeau, a Commemoration, Deb. Randolph Keim, 1907

New York in the Revolution, James A. Roberts, 1898

La France au secours de l'Amérique, Jacques Trentinian 2017 (French only book)

Library of Congress, Manuscript Room, copies of original French documents (B4 series)

Archives départementales de Meurthe-et-Moselle (French online genealogy records)

(Note that the book "Presidents, Soldiers, Statesmen" posted elsewhere as a reference, is a book about the Civil War and has no information about the French during the American Revolution or John Mozena)

From these documents and the original entry on microfilm for Jean Mouginet we can draw the following conclusions:

Jean enlisted in the French Army in November 1773 in Choloy near his hometown

in April 1780 Jean was called into service as part of the French Regiment de Saintonge, commanded by Custine. Jean's company commander was the Baron de Ferrette. The Regiment Saintonge was one of six that sailed to America in June 1780, under the overall command of French General Rochembau.

Jean Mouginet/John Mozena did not sail to America with Lafayette in 1777. He first arrived in July 1780 with the French convoy commanded by Ternay. Jean's company commander Ferrette was recorded with his unit aboard the transport ship "Cybelle" for the crossing from Brest France to the US.

Jean Mouginet/John Mozena never served directly with or under the command of Lafayette (Lafayette did not command French forces). Jean served in the vicinity of Lafayette at Yorktown and most likely saw both Lafayette and Washington many times there during September and October 1781. Jean served under Custine (and overall commander Rochambeau).

John Mozena was not in the Battle of Brandywine (September 1777, near Philadelphia) (Jean first arrived in July 1780). Note that Brandywine was a route of US Continentals by the British. No French soldiers had arrived at this time except for Lafayette, who was wounded trying to rally US troops.

John Mozena was not in the Battle of Monmouth (June 1778, near Trenton NJ) (Jean first arrived in July 1780).

John Mozena never served in the Congo. He marched with his unit from Toul to Brest France in early 1780, then crossed the Atlantic to Newport RI, served at Yorktown in 1781, then remained there (and in Baltimore) as part of a detachment while the rest of his unit marched back to Boston in 1782. The Saintonge served in many places over many decades.

John Mozena did not serve in the New York State Militia during, or after the war (he would have had to resign or desert from the French army at that time), that person was "John Mysener".

John Mozena is not the same person as American John Mysener aka John Msene. John Mysener/Msene was an American living in rural New York who served in the American militia at Saratoga.

The Saintonge Regiment remained in Rhode Island from July 1780 until August 1781.

The Saintonge Regiment fought in the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781, distinguishing itself, with John Mozena participating. His unit dug trenches under British fire and installed French heavy artillery.

There is no evidence John Mozena was ever wounded. (A badly wounded soldier would normally receive a discharge, which would be recorded). Very few French soldiers were killed or wounded at Yorktown.

The Regiment Saintonge marched back to New England in the spring/summer of 1782 as did the other Rochambeau regiments, except for a detachment of 400 left to guard the French heavy artillery and ammunition.

John Mozena did not go to the Caribbean "French West Indies" after Yorktown. The Rochambeau regiments sailed from Boston to the French West Indies, departing Dec 25 1782. The detachment of 400 including John Mozena was in Baltimore at this time.

John Mozena remained in the Regiment Saintonge in Baltimore until the last ships were preparing to depart for France in April 1783. The last French ships finally departed in early May 1783, sailing directly back to Brest.

John Mozena was never granted a land bounty in Ohio or elsewhere, since this was offered only to American soldiers. He never owned any land in Ohio since he is not in the tax records.

Thomas Ellis, 2020, a descendant of Jean Mouginet

Jean Mouginet aka John Mozena aka John Mozeney