On 4 May 1780, von Fersen secured the position of aide-de-camp to General Rochambeau and sailed from the port of Brest. Nearly two months later, his ship made anchor at Narragansett Bay in Newport, Rhode Island, where the French made camp until June of the next year. In mid-September 1780, von Fersen set off as part of Rochambeau's suite to meet the American General, George Washington, in Hartford, Connecticut. Washington's retinue included the young Alexander Hamilton, General Henry Knox and the Marquis de Lafayette. On meeting Washington, von Fersen remarked: