January 29, 2026
The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati is pleased to announce that the 2026–2027 Thomas Jay McCahill III Fellowship has been awarded to Iris de Rode, Ph.D. The fellowship is made possible by a grant from the Thomas Jay McCahill III SOCNH Foundation, the support organization for the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Hampshire, and is offered in collaboration with the American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati, Inc.
The Thomas Jay McCahill III Fellowship supports advanced research on colonial British America and the early American republic. The fellowship supports Dr. de Rode’s research on the Franco-American alliance during the American Revolution. Her project shows how the alliance succeeded not simply because treaties were signed or because the Comte de Grasse arrived at a decisive moment, but because, by 1780, a small circle of Franco-American officers had learned to think and plan together in ways that made coalition warfare workable. A concluding case study follows François-Jean de Chastellux’s 1782 travels through Exeter, Portsmouth and neighboring towns, highlighting New Hampshire’s place in a transatlantic story.
Dr. Iris de Rode
Iris de Rode received her Ph.D. from Université Paris 8 Vincennes–Saint-Denis in 2019 and has held fellowships from institutions including the University of Virginia, the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, George Washington’s Mount Vernon and Monticello. Her book, François-Jean de Chastellux (1734–1788), un soldat-philosophe dans le monde atlantique à l’époque des Lumières (Paris: Honoré Champion, 2022), was awarded the Prix Guizot by the Académie française in 2023.
“The library collections of the American Revolution Institute include remarkable sources on the Military Enlightenment,” shared Dr. de Rode. “During the fellowship, I will work closely with the core ‘art of war’ holdings to show how French and American officers were often reading the same texts and applying them to the events of 1780–1781. In addition, unpublished French officers’ journals in the collection allow for a closer study of the cultural, intellectual and commercial exchanges that many purely military histories have overlooked.”
“The American Revolution Institute is delighted to congratulate Dr. de Rode as the 2026–2027 Thomas Jay McCahill III Fellow,” said Andy Morse, executive director of the Society of the Cincinnati and the American Revolution Institute. “We have long known Iris and have been proud to champion her important work through prior formal support, as she was tapped for a 2023 Massachusetts Society Fellowship at the Institute’s research library. We look forward to seeing how our rich library collection will further inform her study of the Franco-American alliance and illuminate an international and vital dimension of the American Revolution.”
The American Revolution Institute of the Society of the Cincinnati, Inc., seeks to ensure that the history and legacy of the American Revolution are understood and appreciated. The Institute houses one of the world’s leading research libraries on the revolutionary period and provides learning opportunities for teachers, students, scholars and lifelong learners through museum exhibitions and public programs.