<P> Motivated by the prospect of glory in battle or animated by the sincere ideals of liberty and republicanism, volunteers like Pierre Charles L'Enfant joined the American army . The most famous was Lafayette, a charming young aristocrat who defied the king's order and enlisted in 1777 at age 20 . He became an aide to George Washington and a combat general . More importantly, he solidified a favorable American view of France . Kramer argues that Lafayette provided a legitimacy for the war and confidence that there was serious European support for independence . Lafayette's personal style was highly attractive; the young man learned quickly, adapted to the Patriot style, avoided politics, and became a fast friend of General Washington . Fifty years later, after a major career in French politics, he returned as a beloved hero of the war . </P> <P> Up against the British power, the young nation lacked arms and allies, and so it turned towards France . France was not directly interested in the conflict, but saw it as an opportunity to contest British power by supporting a new British opponent . Through negotiations conducted first by Silas Deane and then by Benjamin Franklin, France began covert support of the American cause . </P> <P> Secretly approached by Louis XVI and France's foreign minister, the comte de Vergennes, Pierre Beaumarchais was authorized to sell gunpowder and ammunition to the Americans for close to a million pounds under the veil of the French company Rodrigue Hortalez et Compagnie . The aid given by France, much of which passed through the neutral Dutch West Indies port of Sint Eustatius, contributed to George Washington's survival against the British onslaught in 1776 and 1777 . The aid was also a major factor in the defeat of General Burgoyne's expedition in the Champlain corridor that ended in a British disaster at Saratoga . French ports accommodated American ships, including privateers and Continental Navy warships, that acted against British merchant ships . France provided significant economic aid, either as donations or loans, and also offered technical assistance, granting some of its military strategists "vacations" so they could assist American troops . </P> <P> Silas Deane, appointed by the Americans and helped by French animosity towards Britain, obtained unofficial aid, starting in early 1776 . However, the goal was the total involvement of France in the war . A new delegation composed of Franklin, Deane, and Arthur Lee, was appointed to lobby for the involvement of European nations . Franklin, age 70 and already well known in French intellectual circles for his scientific discoveries, served as the chief diplomat with the title of "minister" (the term "ambassador" was not used). He dressed in rough frontier clothes rather than formal court dress, and met with many leading diplomats, aristocrats, intellectuals, scientists and financiers . Franklin's image and writings caught the French imagination--there were many images of him sold on the market--and he became the image of the archetypal new American and a hero for aspirations for a new order inside France . When the international climate at the end of 1777 had become tenser, Habsburg Austria requested the support of France in the War of the Bavarian Succession against the Prussia in line with the Franco - Austrian Alliance . France refused, causing the relationship with Austria to turn sour . Under these conditions, asking Austria to assist France in a war against the British was impossible . Attempts to rally Spain also failed: Spain did not immediately recognize potential gains, and the American revolutionary spirit was seen as threatening the legitimacy of the Spanish Crown in its own American colonies . </P>

At which battle did the french navy help