In 1781, General Rochambeau’s French army camped at Newtown during its westward march across Connecticut to join American forces for operations against the British. Newtown became the army’s 10th camp and one of its largest in the state, with all four French regiments assembled there before moving on toward New York and ultimately Virginia. The army occupied several areas around the village, while officers stayed at the Caleb Baldwin Tavern. In 1783, after the Yorktown campaign, the army returned through Connecticut and reused the Newtown encampments, giving the site its paired camp numbers, 10 and 41. The surviving ground preserves a tangible reminder of the French role in the Revolutionary War.