Posted on Aug 14, 2020
Grateful Americans Welcomed Lafayette for a Triumph Tour in the 1820s
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On August 14, 1824, General Lafayette returned to the United States for a tour of America. From the article:
"The extensive year-long tour of America by the Marquis de Lafayette, a half-century after the Revolutionary War, was one of the greatest public events of the 19th century. From August 1824 to September 1825, Lafayette visited all 24 states of the Union.
Visit of Marquis de Lafayette to All 24 States
Called the "National Guest" by newspapers, Lafayette was welcomed in cities and towns by committees of prominent citizens as well as vast crowds of ordinary people. He paid a visit to the tomb of his friend and comrade George Washington at Mount Vernon. In Massachusetts, he renewed his friendship with John Adams, and in Virginia, he spent a week visiting with Thomas Jefferson.
In many places, elderly veterans of the Revolutionary War turned out to see the man who had fought beside them while helping to secure America's freedom from Britain.
Being able to see Lafayette, or, better yet, to shake his hand, was a potent way of connecting with the generation of Founding Fathers that was quickly passing into history at that point.
For decades, Americans would tell their children and grandchildren they had met Lafayette when he came to their town. The poet Walt Whitman would recall having been held in Lafayette's arms as a child at a library dedication in Brooklyn.
For the United States government, which had officially invited Lafayette, the tour by the aging hero was essentially a public relations campaign to showcase the impressive progress the young nation had made. Lafayette toured canals, mills, factories, and farms. Stories about his tour circulated back to Europe and portrayed America as a thriving and growing nation.
Lafayette's return to America began with his arrival in New York harbor on August 14, 1824. The ship carrying him, his son, and a small entourage landed at Staten Island, where he spent the night at the residence of the nation's vice president Daniel Tompkins.
On the following morning, a flotilla of steamboats decorated with banners and carrying city dignitaries sailed across the harbor from Manhattan to greet Lafayette. He then sailed to the Battery, at the southern tip of Manhattan, where he was welcomed by a massive crowd.
Welcomed in Cities and Villages
After spending a week in New York City, Lafayette departed for New England on August 20, 1824. As his coach rolled through the countryside, he was escorted by companies of cavalry riding alongside. At many points along the way, local citizens greeted him by erecting ceremonial arches his entourage passed under.
It took four days to reach Boston, as exuberant celebrations were held at countless stops along the way. To make up for the lost time, traveling extended late into the evenings. A writer accompanying Lafayette noted that local horsemen held torches aloft to light the way.
On August 24, 1824, a large procession escorted Lafayette into Boston. All the church bells in the city rang out in his honor and cannons were fired in a thunderous salute.
Following visits to other sites in New England, he returned to New York City, taking a steamship from Connecticut via the Long Island Sound.
September 6, 1824, was Lafayette's 67th birthday, which was celebrated at a lavish banquet in New York City. Later that month, he set out by carriage through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and briefly visited Washington, D.C.
A visit to Mount Vernon soon followed. Lafayette paid his respects at Washington's tomb. He spent a few weeks touring other locations in Virginia, and on November 4, 1824, he arrived at Monticello, where he spent a week as a guest of former president Thomas Jefferson.
On November 23, 1824, Lafayette arrived in Washington, where he was a guest of President James Monroe. On December 10, he addressed the U.S. Congress after being introduced by Speaker of the House Henry Clay.
Lafayette spent the winter in Washington, making plans to tour the southern regions of the country beginning in the spring of 1825.
From New Orleans to Maine in 1825
In early March 1825, Lafayette and his entourage set out again. They traveled southward, all the way to New Orleans. Here, he was greeted enthusiastically, especially by the local French community.
After taking a riverboat up the Mississippi, Lafayette sailed up the Ohio River to Pittsburgh. He continued overland to northern New York State and viewed Niagara Falls. From Buffalo, he traveled to Albany, New York, along the route of a new engineering marvel, the recently opened Erie Canal.
From Albany, he traveled again to Boston, where he dedicated the Bunker Hill Monument on June 17, 1825. By July, he was back in New York City, where he celebrated the Fourth of July first in Brooklyn and then in Manhattan.
It was on the morning of July 4, 1825, that Walt Whitman, at the age of six, encountered Lafayette. The aging hero was going to lay the cornerstone of a new library, and neighborhood children had gathered to welcome him.
Decades later, Whitman described the scene in a newspaper article. As people were helping children climb down into the excavation site where the ceremony was to take place, Lafayette himself picked up young Whitman and briefly held him in his arms.
After visiting Philadelphia in the summer of 1825, Lafayette traveled to the site of the Battle of Brandywine, where he had been wounded in the leg in 1777. At the battlefield, he met with Revolutionary War veterans and local dignitaries, impressing everyone with his vivid memories of the fighting a half-century earlier.
An Extraordinary Meeting
Returning to Washington, Lafayette stayed at the White House with the new president, John Quincy Adams. Along with Adams, he made another trip to Virginia, which began on August 6, 1825, with a remarkable incident. Lafayette's secretary, Auguste Levasseur, wrote about it in a book published in 1829:
At the Potomac bridge we stopped to pay the toll, and the gate-keeper, after counting the company and horses, received the money from the president, and allowed us to pass on; but we had gone a very short distance when we heard someone bawling after us, 'Mr. President! Mr. President! You have given me eleven-pence too little!'
Presently the gate-keeper arrived out of breath, holding out the change he had received, and explaining the mistake made. The president heard him attentively, re-examined the money, and agreed he was right, and ought to have another eleven-pence.
Just as the president was taking out his purse, the gate-keeper recognized General Lafayette in the carriage, and wished to return his toll, declaring that all gates and bridges were free to the nation's guest. Mr. Adams told him that on this occasion General Lafayette traveled altogether privately, and not as the nation's guest, but simply as a friend of the president, and, therefore, was entitled to no exemption. With this reasoning, our gate-keeper was satisfied and received the money.
Thus, during his course of his voyages in the United States, the general was but once subjected to the common rule of paying, and it was exactly upon the day in which he traveled with the chief magistrate; a circumstance which, probably in every other country, would have conferred the privilege of passing free.
In Virginia, they met up with former president Monroe and traveled to Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello. There, they were joined by former president James Madison, and a truly remarkable meeting took place: General Lafayette, President Adams, and three former presidents spent a day together.
As the group separated, Lafayette's secretary noted the former American presidents and Lafayette sensed they would never meet again:
I shall not attempt to depict the sadness which prevailed at this cruel separation, which had none of the alleviation which is usually left by youth, for in this instance, the individuals who bade farewell had all passed through a long career, and the immensity of the ocean would still add to the difficulties of a reunion.
On September 6, 1825, Lafayette's 68th birthday, a banquet was held at the White House. The following day, Lafayette departed for France aboard a newly built frigate of the U.S. Navy. The ship, the Brandywine, had been named in honor of Lafayette's battlefield valor during the Revolutionary War.
As Lafayette sailed down the Potomac River, citizens gathered on the banks of the river to wave farewell. In early October, Lafayette arrived safely back in France.
Americans of the era took great pride in Lafayette's visit. It served to illuminate how much the nation had grown and prospered since the darkest days of the American Revolution. And for decades to come, those who had welcomed Lafayette in the mid-1820s spoke movingly of the experience."
"The extensive year-long tour of America by the Marquis de Lafayette, a half-century after the Revolutionary War, was one of the greatest public events of the 19th century. From August 1824 to September 1825, Lafayette visited all 24 states of the Union.
Visit of Marquis de Lafayette to All 24 States
Called the "National Guest" by newspapers, Lafayette was welcomed in cities and towns by committees of prominent citizens as well as vast crowds of ordinary people. He paid a visit to the tomb of his friend and comrade George Washington at Mount Vernon. In Massachusetts, he renewed his friendship with John Adams, and in Virginia, he spent a week visiting with Thomas Jefferson.
In many places, elderly veterans of the Revolutionary War turned out to see the man who had fought beside them while helping to secure America's freedom from Britain.
Being able to see Lafayette, or, better yet, to shake his hand, was a potent way of connecting with the generation of Founding Fathers that was quickly passing into history at that point.
For decades, Americans would tell their children and grandchildren they had met Lafayette when he came to their town. The poet Walt Whitman would recall having been held in Lafayette's arms as a child at a library dedication in Brooklyn.
For the United States government, which had officially invited Lafayette, the tour by the aging hero was essentially a public relations campaign to showcase the impressive progress the young nation had made. Lafayette toured canals, mills, factories, and farms. Stories about his tour circulated back to Europe and portrayed America as a thriving and growing nation.
Lafayette's return to America began with his arrival in New York harbor on August 14, 1824. The ship carrying him, his son, and a small entourage landed at Staten Island, where he spent the night at the residence of the nation's vice president Daniel Tompkins.
On the following morning, a flotilla of steamboats decorated with banners and carrying city dignitaries sailed across the harbor from Manhattan to greet Lafayette. He then sailed to the Battery, at the southern tip of Manhattan, where he was welcomed by a massive crowd.
Welcomed in Cities and Villages
After spending a week in New York City, Lafayette departed for New England on August 20, 1824. As his coach rolled through the countryside, he was escorted by companies of cavalry riding alongside. At many points along the way, local citizens greeted him by erecting ceremonial arches his entourage passed under.
It took four days to reach Boston, as exuberant celebrations were held at countless stops along the way. To make up for the lost time, traveling extended late into the evenings. A writer accompanying Lafayette noted that local horsemen held torches aloft to light the way.
On August 24, 1824, a large procession escorted Lafayette into Boston. All the church bells in the city rang out in his honor and cannons were fired in a thunderous salute.
Following visits to other sites in New England, he returned to New York City, taking a steamship from Connecticut via the Long Island Sound.
September 6, 1824, was Lafayette's 67th birthday, which was celebrated at a lavish banquet in New York City. Later that month, he set out by carriage through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and briefly visited Washington, D.C.
A visit to Mount Vernon soon followed. Lafayette paid his respects at Washington's tomb. He spent a few weeks touring other locations in Virginia, and on November 4, 1824, he arrived at Monticello, where he spent a week as a guest of former president Thomas Jefferson.
On November 23, 1824, Lafayette arrived in Washington, where he was a guest of President James Monroe. On December 10, he addressed the U.S. Congress after being introduced by Speaker of the House Henry Clay.
Lafayette spent the winter in Washington, making plans to tour the southern regions of the country beginning in the spring of 1825.
From New Orleans to Maine in 1825
In early March 1825, Lafayette and his entourage set out again. They traveled southward, all the way to New Orleans. Here, he was greeted enthusiastically, especially by the local French community.
After taking a riverboat up the Mississippi, Lafayette sailed up the Ohio River to Pittsburgh. He continued overland to northern New York State and viewed Niagara Falls. From Buffalo, he traveled to Albany, New York, along the route of a new engineering marvel, the recently opened Erie Canal.
From Albany, he traveled again to Boston, where he dedicated the Bunker Hill Monument on June 17, 1825. By July, he was back in New York City, where he celebrated the Fourth of July first in Brooklyn and then in Manhattan.
It was on the morning of July 4, 1825, that Walt Whitman, at the age of six, encountered Lafayette. The aging hero was going to lay the cornerstone of a new library, and neighborhood children had gathered to welcome him.
Decades later, Whitman described the scene in a newspaper article. As people were helping children climb down into the excavation site where the ceremony was to take place, Lafayette himself picked up young Whitman and briefly held him in his arms.
After visiting Philadelphia in the summer of 1825, Lafayette traveled to the site of the Battle of Brandywine, where he had been wounded in the leg in 1777. At the battlefield, he met with Revolutionary War veterans and local dignitaries, impressing everyone with his vivid memories of the fighting a half-century earlier.
An Extraordinary Meeting
Returning to Washington, Lafayette stayed at the White House with the new president, John Quincy Adams. Along with Adams, he made another trip to Virginia, which began on August 6, 1825, with a remarkable incident. Lafayette's secretary, Auguste Levasseur, wrote about it in a book published in 1829:
At the Potomac bridge we stopped to pay the toll, and the gate-keeper, after counting the company and horses, received the money from the president, and allowed us to pass on; but we had gone a very short distance when we heard someone bawling after us, 'Mr. President! Mr. President! You have given me eleven-pence too little!'
Presently the gate-keeper arrived out of breath, holding out the change he had received, and explaining the mistake made. The president heard him attentively, re-examined the money, and agreed he was right, and ought to have another eleven-pence.
Just as the president was taking out his purse, the gate-keeper recognized General Lafayette in the carriage, and wished to return his toll, declaring that all gates and bridges were free to the nation's guest. Mr. Adams told him that on this occasion General Lafayette traveled altogether privately, and not as the nation's guest, but simply as a friend of the president, and, therefore, was entitled to no exemption. With this reasoning, our gate-keeper was satisfied and received the money.
Thus, during his course of his voyages in the United States, the general was but once subjected to the common rule of paying, and it was exactly upon the day in which he traveled with the chief magistrate; a circumstance which, probably in every other country, would have conferred the privilege of passing free.
In Virginia, they met up with former president Monroe and traveled to Thomas Jefferson's home Monticello. There, they were joined by former president James Madison, and a truly remarkable meeting took place: General Lafayette, President Adams, and three former presidents spent a day together.
As the group separated, Lafayette's secretary noted the former American presidents and Lafayette sensed they would never meet again:
I shall not attempt to depict the sadness which prevailed at this cruel separation, which had none of the alleviation which is usually left by youth, for in this instance, the individuals who bade farewell had all passed through a long career, and the immensity of the ocean would still add to the difficulties of a reunion.
On September 6, 1825, Lafayette's 68th birthday, a banquet was held at the White House. The following day, Lafayette departed for France aboard a newly built frigate of the U.S. Navy. The ship, the Brandywine, had been named in honor of Lafayette's battlefield valor during the Revolutionary War.
As Lafayette sailed down the Potomac River, citizens gathered on the banks of the river to wave farewell. In early October, Lafayette arrived safely back in France.
Americans of the era took great pride in Lafayette's visit. It served to illuminate how much the nation had grown and prospered since the darkest days of the American Revolution. And for decades to come, those who had welcomed Lafayette in the mid-1820s spoke movingly of the experience."
Grateful Americans Welcomed Lafayette for a Triumph Tour in the 1820s
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World History
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Marquis de Lafayette - Commemorating the Hero of Two Worlds at the Rider Tavern
Sponsored by The American Friends of Lafayette & The Charlton Historical Society A film by Interlock Media, Inc.
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that Genera Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette was welcomed back to the United States of America in 1824. During the French Revolution 1789-92 or so] 'as a nobleman who supported democratic ideals, he walked a thin line between two increasingly hostile camps. He had himself written the celebrated Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen, but he did not support the complete overthrow of the established order, including the removal (and eventual execution) of the king.'
Rest in peace Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette
Marquis de Lafayette - Commemorating the Hero of Two Worlds at the Rider Tavern
The American Friends of Lafayette & The Charlton Historical Society
A film by Interlock Media, Inc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8eFtPZy2fA
Images
1. Lafayette's August 16, 1824 landing at New York City's Castle Garden.
2. Marquis de Lafayette visit to Philadelphia in 1824
3. [Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de] Lafayette's baptism of fire Edward Percy Moran, ca. 1909
4. Lafayette in Boston, laying the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill monument.
5. Marquis de Lafayette meets the National Guard in New York in 1825.
Biographies
1. ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/lafayette3.html
2. 64parishes.org/entry/gilbert-du-motier-marquis-de-lafayette]
1. Background from {[https://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/lafayette3.html]}
The Marquis de Lafayette
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette was born in 1757. Before his second birthday, his father, Michel de Lafayette, was killed at the battle of Minden during the Seven Year's War. At the age of twelve, his mother and grandfather died, leaving him a young, wealthy orphan. On April 9, 1771, at the age of fourteen, Lafayette entered the Royal Army. When he was sixteen, Lafayette married Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles — allying himself with one of the wealthiest families in France.
At a dinner on August 8, 1775, Lafayette heard the Duke of Gloucester speak with sympathy of the ongoing struggle in the colonies. He made clandestine arrangements with Silas Deane, a liaison between France and the colonies, to travel to America and join the revolutionary cause.
He landed near Charleston, South Carolina, June 13, 1777, then travelled to Philadelphia, where he was commissioned a Major General on July 31. This reflected his wealth and noble social station, rather than years of battlefield experience — he was only 19 years old. The newly commissioned young general was soon introduced to his commander-in-chief, General George Washington, who would become a lifelong friend.
Lafayette was wounded during the September 11, 1777 Battle of the Brandywine. In December, 1777, he camped with Washington and the army at Valley Forge. As the Conway Cabal unfolded, Lafayette sided with Washington. He wrote a long letter to Washington in which he pledged his loyalty. Washington replied, conveying his sincere appreciation for the Frenchman's support.
General Horatio Gates had convinced Congress to appoint a Board of War, over which he would have complete control. Knowing how loyal Lafayette was to Washington, Gates urged that Lafayette should command the expedition. Congress agreed to the campaign and gave Gates authority to work out the details.
Gates wrote a letter to Washington, informing him that Congress had approved the invasion of Canada and also that he had appointed Lafayette to command the expedition. Lafayette did not want to accept the appointment, but Washington overruled his objections and Lafayette reluctantly accepted. Lafayette travelled to York, Pennsylvania, which served as the capital from September 1777 to June of 1778, and began to carry out plans for the proposed expedition. On February 17, 1778, Lafayette rode to Albany New York, the staging point for the Canadian invasian.
The proposed Canadian expedition began to fall apart. It was clear to Lafayette that the troops and supplies at his disposal were inadequate. Other generals, including Schuyler, Lincoln and Arnold agreed. Compounding matters, Lafayette discovered that many of the troops he was to command were owed back pay totalling over eight hundred thousand dollars.
In a letter to Washington dated February 23, 1778 Lafayette describes the grim situation:
I have written lately to you my distressing, ridiculous, foolish, and indeed nameless situation—I am sent with a great noise at the head of an army for doing great things, the whole continent, france and europe herself by in by, and what is the worse, the british army are in expectations-how far they will be deceived, how far we schall be ridiculized, you may judge very well by the candid account you have got of the State of our affairs.
Lafayette then reveals his suspicions that the entire Canadian campaign and his appointment to lead it was nothing but a ruse to remove him from the area, the better to conspire against Washington:
I fancy (between us) that the actual scheme is to have me out of this part of the continent, and general Conway in chief under the immediate direction of General Gates — how they will bring it up I do not know — but be certain some thing of that kind will appear
The Canadian invasion never materialized. As Lafayette speculated, the entire proposal was primarily a distraction with the objective of removing those loyal to Washington. In March 1778, Congress passed the following resolution on behalf of Lafayette's service:
"That Congress entertain a high sense of his prudence, activity, and zeal and that they are fully persuaded nothing has or would have been wanting on his part, or on the part of the officers who accompanied him, to give the expedition the utmost possible effect.
Lafayette returned to Valley Forge early in April 1778. The conspiracy to displace Washington had failed. Lafayette remained at Valley Forge, improving his knowledge of military tactics, until Washington marched out of Valley Forge to meet the enemy in New Jersey.
The British evacuated Philadelphia on June 19, 1778. Washington pursued the fleeing enemy across across New Jersey. Washington called a council of war at Hopewell, New Jersey to discuss strategy with his generals.
Charles Lee favored a policy of small targetted attacks and harassment. Anthony Wayne, Nathanael Greene and Lafayette proposed a more aggressive campaign, beginning with a major offensive on the rear of the enemy. Washington accepted this plan, offering the command to General Lee but Lee was certain the plan would result in disaster. Lafayette requested command of the advanced position, and Lee was happy to oblige, as he was convinced that defeat was inevitable.
But Lee changed his mind, deciding that he wanted to command the perhaps not-so-hopeless expedition after all. He wrote to Washington on June 25, 1778:
When I first assented to the Marquis of Fayette's taking the command of the present detachment, I confess I viewd it in a very different light than I do at present. I considerd it as a more proper business of a Young Volunteering General than of the Second in command in the Army-but I find that it is considerd in a different manner . . . I must intreat therefore, (after making a thoushand apologies for the trouble my rash assent has occasion'd to you) that if this detachment does march that I may have the command of it.
Washington acquiesced to the mercurial General's change of heart, writing to Lafayette the following day:
General Lee's uneasiness on account of yesterday's transaction rather increasing than abating, and your politeness in wishing to ease him of it, has induced me to detach him from this Army, with a part of it, to reinforce, or at least cover, the several detachments under your command, at present. At the same time that I felt for General Lee's distress of mind, I have had an eye to your wishes, and the delicacy of your situation; and have, therefore, obtained a promise from him, that when he gives you notice of his approach and command, he will request you to prosecute any plan you may have already concerted for the purpose of attacking or otherwise annoying the Enemy. This is the only expedient I could think of to answer both your views. General Lee seems satisfied with the measure, and I wish it may prove agreable to you
The Battle of Monmouth: June 28, 1778
On June 28, the American and British forces clashed at Monmouth Courthouse, in central New Jersey. Lafayette perfomed ably. Lee, in command, did not. His troops were in disarray and in retreat. Washington managed to rally the American troops, relieving Lee of his command and placing many of his former troops under Lafayette's command. The Americans salvaged a partial victory from near defeat. The British managed to escape to New York, but lost their foothold in New Jersey and suffered heavier casualties than the Americans. Many on both sides died of heat-stroke during the blisteringly hot battle. Lee was later court-martialed and found guilty on three charges for his dismal performance.
On July 8, the French fleet arrived under command of Admiral d'Estaing. Washington planned to use the French naval forces as part of a coordinated attack by land and sea on British-held Newport, Rhode Island, sending Greene and Lafayette with 3,000 troops to serve under command of General John Sullivan. On August 10, the French and British naval forces clashed, but a severe storm damaged both fleets. The Americans on the ground could not launch an attack without the French naval support, the absence of which prompted many of the Americans to desert. D'Estaing brought his damaged fleet to Boston for repairs. Lafayette rode to Boston to plead with his countryman to bring the fleet back to the siege of Newport, but d'Estaing remained unpersuaded
By the time Lafayette returned to Rhode Island, the siege had ended and the British had attacked the withdrawing American forces. Lafayette was instrumental in commanding troops during the strategic withdrawal. On September 9, 1778, Congress officially commended Lafayette, resolving:
That the President be requested to inform the Marquis de Lafayette, that Congress have a due sense of the sacrifice he made of his personal feelings in taking a journey to Boston with a view of promoting the interest of these states, at a time when an occasion was daily expected of his acquiring glory in the field, and that his gallantry in going on Rhode Island, when the greatest part of the army had retreated, and his good conduct in bringing off the pickets and out- sentries, deserve their particular approbation.
Lafayette requested and was granted permission to return to France, arriving in February 1779, whereupon he was immediately arrested for having disobeyed the king, though he was hardly severely punished, serving only eight days under house arrest in a hotel. King Louis XVI soon forgave the Marquis for his transgression, and shortly after his arrival, Benjamin Franklin's grandson presented him with a gold encrusted sword — a show of appreciation from a grateful Continental Congress
On June 12, 1779, Lafayette wrote a long letter to Washington, expressing his desire to help the American revolutionary cause:
France has incurred great expenses lately. The Spaniards will not easily give their dollars. However, Dr. Franklin has got some money to pay the bills of Congress, and I hope I shall determine the government to greater sacrifices. Serving American is to my heart an inexpressible happiness.
So insistent was Lafayette for aid to the Americans that one day Count de Maurepas said in the royal council: "It is fortunate for the King, that Lafayette does not take it into his head to strip Versailles of its furniture, to send to his dear Americans; as his Majesty would be unable to refuse it." In addition to procuring support from the French government, Lafayette personally purchased a large amount of supplies for the troops he would command on his return to America.
France continued to send both officers and troops to aid the American cause. In 1780, Count de Rochambeau was appointed commander of 7,000 French troops who were dispatched to America. Lafayette again offered his services, sailing on the French frigate Hermione on March 19, 1780. Rochambeau and his expedition arrived in Newport on July 10.
In the early fall of 1781 Cornwallis and his troops were driven into Yorktown, Virginia. Surrounded by French and American forces on the ground, and with a powerful French navy cutting off escape by sea, Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781. While the war would not officially end for well over a year, the crushing defeat of the British at Yorktown was celebrated by the French and Americans as an all-but-final victory.
Lafayette again requested permission to return to France. Congress granted the request, giving him a letter of appreciation for his invaluable services. Before he sailed for home Washington wrote him a personal letter in which he said:
I owe it to your friendship and to my affectionate regard for you, my dear Marquis, not to let you leave this country without carrying with you fresh marks of my attachment to you, and new expressions of the high sense I entertain of your military conduct and other important services in the course of the last campaign, although the latter are too well known to need the testimony of my approbation.
On December 23, 1781, Lafayette sailed home from Boston on the frigate Alliance, bidding farewell to his beloved Commander in a letter:
Adieu, my dear General; I know your heart so well that I am sure that no distance can alter your attachment to me. With the same candour I assure that my love, respect, my gratitude for you, are above expression; that, at the moment of leaving you, I felt more than ever the strength of those friendly ties that forever bind me to you."
In 1784 he visited America on Washington's invitation, and was enormously popular as he travelled through each of the United States, returning again to France in 1785. In 1789 he was a representative for the nobility in the Estates General. By 1789, revolutionary fever was spreading throughout France. Lafayette was named the commander of the National Guard. On October 5, a hungry Parisian mob descended on the Palace of Versailles, demanding bread. Lafayette's charisma and his well-established sympathy with the common people helped to calm the crowd and allay their anger for the royal family. As the crowd shouted angrily at the unpopular queen, Marie Antoinette, Lafayette kissed her hand on a balcony. Lafayette's charm may well have saved the king and queen on that day, though they would not, of course, survive the revolution.
As a nobleman who supported democratic ideals, he walked a thin line between two increasingly hostile camps. He had himself written the celebrated Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen, but he did not support the complete overthrow of the established order, including the removal (and eventual execution) of the king.
In 1792, when war was declared with Austria, he took command of one of the three French Armies. He was captured and held prisoner until 1797. Lafayette reached out to his friends in the United States, including Washington and Jefferson. While the U.S. owed the Frenchman a great debt, they were unable to secure his release, though they did send money to make his incarceration more tolerable.
Lafayette returned home in 1797, his release negotiated by Napoleon Bonaparte, at the time a powerful general, but soon, dictator of France. When the news of Washington's death reached France early in 1800, Napoleon held a memorial service for Washington at Invalides, but Lafayette was not invited and Napoleon ordered the orator not to refer to Lafayette in his oration.
To the end of his life Lafayette held firm for representative government in his country. The great general died in 1834. His tireless work for American independence will never be forgotten and his name will always shine out on the pages of our history.
2. Background from {https://64parishes.org/entry/gilbert-du-motier-marquis-de-lafayette]}
"he visit of General Lafayette to the United States in 1824–25 was the occasion for a yearlong celebration unmatched in American history. The former Marquis de Lafayette (he had relinquished the title) was then the only living Revolutionary War general. When he extended his triumphal tour to the state of Louisiana, he conferred a symbolic unity on a region still seen as suspiciously foreign by Anglo-Americans.
Ever since he fought in the Revolution, Lafayette had devoted himself to the American nation, supporting its cause militarily, financially, and diplomatically. Among his devoted American friends were John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and George Washington’s family. In February 1824 President James Monroe invited Lafayette to return to the United States as “the guest of the nation” with all expenses paid.
Lafayette arrived in New York harbor August 14, 1824, to a tumultuous welcome. The actual man was almost lost in the patriotic frenzy of public receptions, parades, and military reviews. Mountains of souvenirs were produced: Lafayette’s image appeared on sashes, badges, gloves, jewelry, programs, paper items, vases, pitchers, banners, buttons, transparencies, and bowls.
It wasn’t just the public hoopla in the cities on his itinerary that mushroomed, but the itinerary itself. All twenty-four states of that time insisted on the honor of a visit. Louisiana felt particularly entitled to see Lafayette because he was French. Without the ubiquity of steamboats on southern and western rivers, traveling such a great distance in a few months would have been impossible. It would be an amazing feat—no one had ever traveled so far and so fast in the United States. The elderly and lame Lafayette set off by steamboat on February 23, 1825, on a trip planned like a military operation.
While he traveled southward, New Orleans prepared its welcome. He would be lodged at the Cabildo. The wealthy of the city lent furniture, carpets, window hangings, chandeliers, linens, china, and silver. In the Place d’Armes, the square facing the Cabildo, a triumphal arch was built of wood covered with canvas, towering sixty feet high. Designed by Joseph Pilié and painted by Antonio Fogliardi, it resembled Italian marble, decorated with banners bearing patriotic slogans.
Lafayette and his party came up the Mississippi River from Mobile aboard the steamboat Natchez in the pouring rain; on April 11, the governor and other dignitaries officially welcomed Lafayette to Louisiana at the Chalmette battlefield. Many Americans had opposed Louisiana’s statehood because of its French background. In his opening speech, Lafayette asserted, “In this state, daily evidence is given of the fitness of a French population for a wise use of free institutions and for self-government.”
The rain continued as he was welcomed in New Orleans. He was honored with banquets, balls, theatrical performances (including plays and music written in his honor), concerts, Masonic ceremonies, and military reviews. The general’s appearance anywhere, especially at the theater, brought everything to a halt as the audience and cast cheered and sang the “Marseillaise.”
When it finally stopped raining on April 13, the city created a night of illuminations. Private homes and public buildings were bedecked with lights and transparencies. At the Place d’Armes, colored lanterns filled the trees, pyramids of fire adorned its four corners, and the railing and gates were traced in light. The triumphal arch in the center was resplendent.
As in Lafayette’s visits to other cities, the greater part of each day was taken up with paying and receiving ceremonial calls. In New Orleans, old friends, Revolutionary companions, politicians, military officers, Masons, prominent local citizens, and all their families came to call. Among the delegations meeting with Lafayette on April 14 was a contingent of free men of color, militia veterans who had fought at the Battle of New Orleans, warmly welcomed and praised by Lafayette.
While he was in New Orleans, Lafayette had hoped to gain clear title to a large tract of land granted him by Congress. Land speculation was one of the favored money-making devices of the early republic, and he expected to make a profit when he sold the land. Nothing was concluded, however, and the claim was passed on to his heirs.
Relics of Lafayette’s visit were treasured by many New Orleanians. Subsequently, a street, a handsome square, and a large upriver suburb, a portion of which became today’s Garden District, were named in his honor. One of the greatest marks of esteem Lafayette bestowed on New Orleans was the length of his stay. Five days marked a major visit; most cities were granted at most a day, perhaps only a few hours.
Beginning at dawn on April 15, the day of Lafayette’s departure, some 10,000 people assembled at the riverfront to bid him farewell. His boat stopped at Baton Rouge for a reception and banquet, but steamed away before nightfall, keeping to a tight schedule. Lafayette had promised to help celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Bunker Hill before he left the United States forever on September 10, 1825.
Lafayette’s visit to Louisiana carried enormous symbolic freight for its French Creole inhabitants. Brought willy-nilly under American sovereignty by the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, they had been portrayed by New England politicians as hopelessly foreign and un-American when they applied for statehood. But in the twenty-two years since Louisiana’s acquisition, the state had boomed and proven its loyalty. Its capital had been the site of an overwhelming victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans and was fast becoming one of the nation’s major ports. Ultimately, Lafayette’s visit to Louisiana underscored the obvious: The state was no longer foreign territory but had become truly part of the United States.
Author Patricia Brady"
FYI LTC John Shaw LTC (Join to see) LTC (Join to see) MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D.~419721:Maj William W. 'Bill' Price] COL Mikel J. Burroughs Maj Marty Hogan LTC Wayne Brandon MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi GySgt Thomas Vick LTC Bill Koski SGT Denny Espinosa SPC Nancy Greene SPC Margaret HigginsPO2 (Join to see)Cpl (Join to see)TSgt David L.PO1 Robert GeorgeSGT Robert Pryor
Rest in peace Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette
Marquis de Lafayette - Commemorating the Hero of Two Worlds at the Rider Tavern
The American Friends of Lafayette & The Charlton Historical Society
A film by Interlock Media, Inc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8eFtPZy2fA
Images
1. Lafayette's August 16, 1824 landing at New York City's Castle Garden.
2. Marquis de Lafayette visit to Philadelphia in 1824
3. [Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de] Lafayette's baptism of fire Edward Percy Moran, ca. 1909
4. Lafayette in Boston, laying the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill monument.
5. Marquis de Lafayette meets the National Guard in New York in 1825.
Biographies
1. ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/lafayette3.html
2. 64parishes.org/entry/gilbert-du-motier-marquis-de-lafayette]
1. Background from {[https://www.ushistory.org/valleyforge/served/lafayette3.html]}
The Marquis de Lafayette
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette was born in 1757. Before his second birthday, his father, Michel de Lafayette, was killed at the battle of Minden during the Seven Year's War. At the age of twelve, his mother and grandfather died, leaving him a young, wealthy orphan. On April 9, 1771, at the age of fourteen, Lafayette entered the Royal Army. When he was sixteen, Lafayette married Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles — allying himself with one of the wealthiest families in France.
At a dinner on August 8, 1775, Lafayette heard the Duke of Gloucester speak with sympathy of the ongoing struggle in the colonies. He made clandestine arrangements with Silas Deane, a liaison between France and the colonies, to travel to America and join the revolutionary cause.
He landed near Charleston, South Carolina, June 13, 1777, then travelled to Philadelphia, where he was commissioned a Major General on July 31. This reflected his wealth and noble social station, rather than years of battlefield experience — he was only 19 years old. The newly commissioned young general was soon introduced to his commander-in-chief, General George Washington, who would become a lifelong friend.
Lafayette was wounded during the September 11, 1777 Battle of the Brandywine. In December, 1777, he camped with Washington and the army at Valley Forge. As the Conway Cabal unfolded, Lafayette sided with Washington. He wrote a long letter to Washington in which he pledged his loyalty. Washington replied, conveying his sincere appreciation for the Frenchman's support.
General Horatio Gates had convinced Congress to appoint a Board of War, over which he would have complete control. Knowing how loyal Lafayette was to Washington, Gates urged that Lafayette should command the expedition. Congress agreed to the campaign and gave Gates authority to work out the details.
Gates wrote a letter to Washington, informing him that Congress had approved the invasion of Canada and also that he had appointed Lafayette to command the expedition. Lafayette did not want to accept the appointment, but Washington overruled his objections and Lafayette reluctantly accepted. Lafayette travelled to York, Pennsylvania, which served as the capital from September 1777 to June of 1778, and began to carry out plans for the proposed expedition. On February 17, 1778, Lafayette rode to Albany New York, the staging point for the Canadian invasian.
The proposed Canadian expedition began to fall apart. It was clear to Lafayette that the troops and supplies at his disposal were inadequate. Other generals, including Schuyler, Lincoln and Arnold agreed. Compounding matters, Lafayette discovered that many of the troops he was to command were owed back pay totalling over eight hundred thousand dollars.
In a letter to Washington dated February 23, 1778 Lafayette describes the grim situation:
I have written lately to you my distressing, ridiculous, foolish, and indeed nameless situation—I am sent with a great noise at the head of an army for doing great things, the whole continent, france and europe herself by in by, and what is the worse, the british army are in expectations-how far they will be deceived, how far we schall be ridiculized, you may judge very well by the candid account you have got of the State of our affairs.
Lafayette then reveals his suspicions that the entire Canadian campaign and his appointment to lead it was nothing but a ruse to remove him from the area, the better to conspire against Washington:
I fancy (between us) that the actual scheme is to have me out of this part of the continent, and general Conway in chief under the immediate direction of General Gates — how they will bring it up I do not know — but be certain some thing of that kind will appear
The Canadian invasion never materialized. As Lafayette speculated, the entire proposal was primarily a distraction with the objective of removing those loyal to Washington. In March 1778, Congress passed the following resolution on behalf of Lafayette's service:
"That Congress entertain a high sense of his prudence, activity, and zeal and that they are fully persuaded nothing has or would have been wanting on his part, or on the part of the officers who accompanied him, to give the expedition the utmost possible effect.
Lafayette returned to Valley Forge early in April 1778. The conspiracy to displace Washington had failed. Lafayette remained at Valley Forge, improving his knowledge of military tactics, until Washington marched out of Valley Forge to meet the enemy in New Jersey.
The British evacuated Philadelphia on June 19, 1778. Washington pursued the fleeing enemy across across New Jersey. Washington called a council of war at Hopewell, New Jersey to discuss strategy with his generals.
Charles Lee favored a policy of small targetted attacks and harassment. Anthony Wayne, Nathanael Greene and Lafayette proposed a more aggressive campaign, beginning with a major offensive on the rear of the enemy. Washington accepted this plan, offering the command to General Lee but Lee was certain the plan would result in disaster. Lafayette requested command of the advanced position, and Lee was happy to oblige, as he was convinced that defeat was inevitable.
But Lee changed his mind, deciding that he wanted to command the perhaps not-so-hopeless expedition after all. He wrote to Washington on June 25, 1778:
When I first assented to the Marquis of Fayette's taking the command of the present detachment, I confess I viewd it in a very different light than I do at present. I considerd it as a more proper business of a Young Volunteering General than of the Second in command in the Army-but I find that it is considerd in a different manner . . . I must intreat therefore, (after making a thoushand apologies for the trouble my rash assent has occasion'd to you) that if this detachment does march that I may have the command of it.
Washington acquiesced to the mercurial General's change of heart, writing to Lafayette the following day:
General Lee's uneasiness on account of yesterday's transaction rather increasing than abating, and your politeness in wishing to ease him of it, has induced me to detach him from this Army, with a part of it, to reinforce, or at least cover, the several detachments under your command, at present. At the same time that I felt for General Lee's distress of mind, I have had an eye to your wishes, and the delicacy of your situation; and have, therefore, obtained a promise from him, that when he gives you notice of his approach and command, he will request you to prosecute any plan you may have already concerted for the purpose of attacking or otherwise annoying the Enemy. This is the only expedient I could think of to answer both your views. General Lee seems satisfied with the measure, and I wish it may prove agreable to you
The Battle of Monmouth: June 28, 1778
On June 28, the American and British forces clashed at Monmouth Courthouse, in central New Jersey. Lafayette perfomed ably. Lee, in command, did not. His troops were in disarray and in retreat. Washington managed to rally the American troops, relieving Lee of his command and placing many of his former troops under Lafayette's command. The Americans salvaged a partial victory from near defeat. The British managed to escape to New York, but lost their foothold in New Jersey and suffered heavier casualties than the Americans. Many on both sides died of heat-stroke during the blisteringly hot battle. Lee was later court-martialed and found guilty on three charges for his dismal performance.
On July 8, the French fleet arrived under command of Admiral d'Estaing. Washington planned to use the French naval forces as part of a coordinated attack by land and sea on British-held Newport, Rhode Island, sending Greene and Lafayette with 3,000 troops to serve under command of General John Sullivan. On August 10, the French and British naval forces clashed, but a severe storm damaged both fleets. The Americans on the ground could not launch an attack without the French naval support, the absence of which prompted many of the Americans to desert. D'Estaing brought his damaged fleet to Boston for repairs. Lafayette rode to Boston to plead with his countryman to bring the fleet back to the siege of Newport, but d'Estaing remained unpersuaded
By the time Lafayette returned to Rhode Island, the siege had ended and the British had attacked the withdrawing American forces. Lafayette was instrumental in commanding troops during the strategic withdrawal. On September 9, 1778, Congress officially commended Lafayette, resolving:
That the President be requested to inform the Marquis de Lafayette, that Congress have a due sense of the sacrifice he made of his personal feelings in taking a journey to Boston with a view of promoting the interest of these states, at a time when an occasion was daily expected of his acquiring glory in the field, and that his gallantry in going on Rhode Island, when the greatest part of the army had retreated, and his good conduct in bringing off the pickets and out- sentries, deserve their particular approbation.
Lafayette requested and was granted permission to return to France, arriving in February 1779, whereupon he was immediately arrested for having disobeyed the king, though he was hardly severely punished, serving only eight days under house arrest in a hotel. King Louis XVI soon forgave the Marquis for his transgression, and shortly after his arrival, Benjamin Franklin's grandson presented him with a gold encrusted sword — a show of appreciation from a grateful Continental Congress
On June 12, 1779, Lafayette wrote a long letter to Washington, expressing his desire to help the American revolutionary cause:
France has incurred great expenses lately. The Spaniards will not easily give their dollars. However, Dr. Franklin has got some money to pay the bills of Congress, and I hope I shall determine the government to greater sacrifices. Serving American is to my heart an inexpressible happiness.
So insistent was Lafayette for aid to the Americans that one day Count de Maurepas said in the royal council: "It is fortunate for the King, that Lafayette does not take it into his head to strip Versailles of its furniture, to send to his dear Americans; as his Majesty would be unable to refuse it." In addition to procuring support from the French government, Lafayette personally purchased a large amount of supplies for the troops he would command on his return to America.
France continued to send both officers and troops to aid the American cause. In 1780, Count de Rochambeau was appointed commander of 7,000 French troops who were dispatched to America. Lafayette again offered his services, sailing on the French frigate Hermione on March 19, 1780. Rochambeau and his expedition arrived in Newport on July 10.
In the early fall of 1781 Cornwallis and his troops were driven into Yorktown, Virginia. Surrounded by French and American forces on the ground, and with a powerful French navy cutting off escape by sea, Cornwallis surrendered on October 19, 1781. While the war would not officially end for well over a year, the crushing defeat of the British at Yorktown was celebrated by the French and Americans as an all-but-final victory.
Lafayette again requested permission to return to France. Congress granted the request, giving him a letter of appreciation for his invaluable services. Before he sailed for home Washington wrote him a personal letter in which he said:
I owe it to your friendship and to my affectionate regard for you, my dear Marquis, not to let you leave this country without carrying with you fresh marks of my attachment to you, and new expressions of the high sense I entertain of your military conduct and other important services in the course of the last campaign, although the latter are too well known to need the testimony of my approbation.
On December 23, 1781, Lafayette sailed home from Boston on the frigate Alliance, bidding farewell to his beloved Commander in a letter:
Adieu, my dear General; I know your heart so well that I am sure that no distance can alter your attachment to me. With the same candour I assure that my love, respect, my gratitude for you, are above expression; that, at the moment of leaving you, I felt more than ever the strength of those friendly ties that forever bind me to you."
In 1784 he visited America on Washington's invitation, and was enormously popular as he travelled through each of the United States, returning again to France in 1785. In 1789 he was a representative for the nobility in the Estates General. By 1789, revolutionary fever was spreading throughout France. Lafayette was named the commander of the National Guard. On October 5, a hungry Parisian mob descended on the Palace of Versailles, demanding bread. Lafayette's charisma and his well-established sympathy with the common people helped to calm the crowd and allay their anger for the royal family. As the crowd shouted angrily at the unpopular queen, Marie Antoinette, Lafayette kissed her hand on a balcony. Lafayette's charm may well have saved the king and queen on that day, though they would not, of course, survive the revolution.
As a nobleman who supported democratic ideals, he walked a thin line between two increasingly hostile camps. He had himself written the celebrated Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen, but he did not support the complete overthrow of the established order, including the removal (and eventual execution) of the king.
In 1792, when war was declared with Austria, he took command of one of the three French Armies. He was captured and held prisoner until 1797. Lafayette reached out to his friends in the United States, including Washington and Jefferson. While the U.S. owed the Frenchman a great debt, they were unable to secure his release, though they did send money to make his incarceration more tolerable.
Lafayette returned home in 1797, his release negotiated by Napoleon Bonaparte, at the time a powerful general, but soon, dictator of France. When the news of Washington's death reached France early in 1800, Napoleon held a memorial service for Washington at Invalides, but Lafayette was not invited and Napoleon ordered the orator not to refer to Lafayette in his oration.
To the end of his life Lafayette held firm for representative government in his country. The great general died in 1834. His tireless work for American independence will never be forgotten and his name will always shine out on the pages of our history.
2. Background from {https://64parishes.org/entry/gilbert-du-motier-marquis-de-lafayette]}
"he visit of General Lafayette to the United States in 1824–25 was the occasion for a yearlong celebration unmatched in American history. The former Marquis de Lafayette (he had relinquished the title) was then the only living Revolutionary War general. When he extended his triumphal tour to the state of Louisiana, he conferred a symbolic unity on a region still seen as suspiciously foreign by Anglo-Americans.
Ever since he fought in the Revolution, Lafayette had devoted himself to the American nation, supporting its cause militarily, financially, and diplomatically. Among his devoted American friends were John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, and George Washington’s family. In February 1824 President James Monroe invited Lafayette to return to the United States as “the guest of the nation” with all expenses paid.
Lafayette arrived in New York harbor August 14, 1824, to a tumultuous welcome. The actual man was almost lost in the patriotic frenzy of public receptions, parades, and military reviews. Mountains of souvenirs were produced: Lafayette’s image appeared on sashes, badges, gloves, jewelry, programs, paper items, vases, pitchers, banners, buttons, transparencies, and bowls.
It wasn’t just the public hoopla in the cities on his itinerary that mushroomed, but the itinerary itself. All twenty-four states of that time insisted on the honor of a visit. Louisiana felt particularly entitled to see Lafayette because he was French. Without the ubiquity of steamboats on southern and western rivers, traveling such a great distance in a few months would have been impossible. It would be an amazing feat—no one had ever traveled so far and so fast in the United States. The elderly and lame Lafayette set off by steamboat on February 23, 1825, on a trip planned like a military operation.
While he traveled southward, New Orleans prepared its welcome. He would be lodged at the Cabildo. The wealthy of the city lent furniture, carpets, window hangings, chandeliers, linens, china, and silver. In the Place d’Armes, the square facing the Cabildo, a triumphal arch was built of wood covered with canvas, towering sixty feet high. Designed by Joseph Pilié and painted by Antonio Fogliardi, it resembled Italian marble, decorated with banners bearing patriotic slogans.
Lafayette and his party came up the Mississippi River from Mobile aboard the steamboat Natchez in the pouring rain; on April 11, the governor and other dignitaries officially welcomed Lafayette to Louisiana at the Chalmette battlefield. Many Americans had opposed Louisiana’s statehood because of its French background. In his opening speech, Lafayette asserted, “In this state, daily evidence is given of the fitness of a French population for a wise use of free institutions and for self-government.”
The rain continued as he was welcomed in New Orleans. He was honored with banquets, balls, theatrical performances (including plays and music written in his honor), concerts, Masonic ceremonies, and military reviews. The general’s appearance anywhere, especially at the theater, brought everything to a halt as the audience and cast cheered and sang the “Marseillaise.”
When it finally stopped raining on April 13, the city created a night of illuminations. Private homes and public buildings were bedecked with lights and transparencies. At the Place d’Armes, colored lanterns filled the trees, pyramids of fire adorned its four corners, and the railing and gates were traced in light. The triumphal arch in the center was resplendent.
As in Lafayette’s visits to other cities, the greater part of each day was taken up with paying and receiving ceremonial calls. In New Orleans, old friends, Revolutionary companions, politicians, military officers, Masons, prominent local citizens, and all their families came to call. Among the delegations meeting with Lafayette on April 14 was a contingent of free men of color, militia veterans who had fought at the Battle of New Orleans, warmly welcomed and praised by Lafayette.
While he was in New Orleans, Lafayette had hoped to gain clear title to a large tract of land granted him by Congress. Land speculation was one of the favored money-making devices of the early republic, and he expected to make a profit when he sold the land. Nothing was concluded, however, and the claim was passed on to his heirs.
Relics of Lafayette’s visit were treasured by many New Orleanians. Subsequently, a street, a handsome square, and a large upriver suburb, a portion of which became today’s Garden District, were named in his honor. One of the greatest marks of esteem Lafayette bestowed on New Orleans was the length of his stay. Five days marked a major visit; most cities were granted at most a day, perhaps only a few hours.
Beginning at dawn on April 15, the day of Lafayette’s departure, some 10,000 people assembled at the riverfront to bid him farewell. His boat stopped at Baton Rouge for a reception and banquet, but steamed away before nightfall, keeping to a tight schedule. Lafayette had promised to help celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Bunker Hill before he left the United States forever on September 10, 1825.
Lafayette’s visit to Louisiana carried enormous symbolic freight for its French Creole inhabitants. Brought willy-nilly under American sovereignty by the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, they had been portrayed by New England politicians as hopelessly foreign and un-American when they applied for statehood. But in the twenty-two years since Louisiana’s acquisition, the state had boomed and proven its loyalty. Its capital had been the site of an overwhelming victory over the British at the Battle of New Orleans and was fast becoming one of the nation’s major ports. Ultimately, Lafayette’s visit to Louisiana underscored the obvious: The state was no longer foreign territory but had become truly part of the United States.
Author Patricia Brady"
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LTC Stephen F.
Washington's Generals Marquis de Lafayette
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN1jrr_CMzM
Images:
1. Marquis de Lafayette meets the National Guard in New York in 1825.
2. Marquis de Lafayette, 1825. National Portrait Gallery
3. Portrait of Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles, wife of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette 18th century, artist unknown
4. 1952 Scott # 1010 3¢ 'Arrival of Lafayette in America - 1777'
Background from {[https://about.lafayette.edu/mission-and-history/the-marquis-de-lafayette/]}
The Marquis de Lafayette
Soldier. Scholar. Revolutionary.
Hero of Two Worlds.
If there was a rock star of the American Revolution, it was a man who went by an impressively lengthy name: Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. Born in 1757, Lafayette was a young, handsome, rich and brave French aristocrat who defied his own king to enter the Revolutionary War in America to support the cause of freedom in the New World. After his success as a military leader, he became a renowned statesman whose support for individual rights made him a beloved and respected figure on two continents.
Born into a family with illustrious ancestors on both sides, Lafayette at first appeared destined for a conventional aristocratic, military career. But he had other ideas. He adopted the motto “Cur Non” (“Why Not?”) for his coat of arms and joined the Freemasons in 1775. Two years later, at the age of 20, and lured by the idea of a nation fighting for liberty, he bought a ship and sailed to America to volunteer in General George Washington’s army.
He explained his attraction to the revolutionary cause in a letter to his wife: “The welfare of America is intimately connected with the happiness of all mankind; she will become the respectable and safe asylum of virtue, integrity, tolerance, equality, and a peaceful liberty.”
He first saw action at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777 where he was shot in the leg and spent two months recovering from his wound at the Moravian Settlement in Bethlehem. His heroism in the battle encouraged George Washington to give the young Frenchman command of a division and Lafayette stayed with his troops at Valley Forge. After a brief visit to France in 1779, he returned to the Revolution in 1781 and helped contain British troops at Yorktown in the last major battle of the war.
As principal author of the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,” written in 1789 in conjunction with Thomas Jefferson, he also helped propel the French Revolution. As an ardent supporter of emancipation and a member of anti-slavery societies in France and America, Lafayette lobbied for the restoration of civil rights to French Protestants and he was instrumental in ensuring that religious freedom be granted to Protestants, Jews, and other non-Catholics.
He was known as a friend to Native Americans and he endorsed the views of leading women writers and reformers of his day.
His triumphal Farewell Tour of America in 1824, conducted during the new nation’s years-long 50th anniversary celebrations, proved the Marquis had lost none of his rock-star status. His arrival in New York prompted four days and nights of continuous celebration – a response replicated during his visits to each of the other 23 states then in the Union. When Lafayette visited Congress, Speaker of the House Henry Clay delivered an address citing the deep respect and admiration held for him due to his “consistency of character . . . ever true to your old principles, firm and erect, cheering and animating, with your well-known voice, the votaries of liberty, its faithful and fearless champion, ready to shed the last drop of blood, which here, you so freely and nobly spilt in the same holy cause.”
Easton lawyer James Madison Porter was so impressed upon meeting the Marquis in Philadelphia that year that he proposed naming the town’s new college after Lafayette as “a testimony of respect for his talents, virtues, and signal services . . . in the great cause of freedom.”
On June 30, 1832, a month after the first students matriculated at Lafayette College, five of them—members of the Franklin Literary Society—wrote to Lafayette that they had made him an honorary member to pay “a feeble though sincere tribute of regard to a man who has proved his own and our country’s benefactor, and whose enlarged philanthropy as with a mantle of blessedness would cover the whole family of man.”
On August 7, 2002, 178 years later, Congress made him an honorary citizen of the United States. In May 2010, Lafayette College, the only college in America to bear his name, awarded the Marquis the honorary degree of Doctor of Public Service (posthumous) at its 175th Commencement.
FYI SSG Franklin BriantSSG Robert Mark OdomSgt Jim BelanusSSG Stephen RogersonLTC Stephan PorterPO3 Phyllis MaynardSFC (Join to see)CPT (Join to see)1stsgt Glenn Brackin1SG Steven ImermanSSG Samuel KermonSFC Richard Williamson CPL Dave Hoover TSgt George Rodriguez 1SG Walter Craig SPC Matthew Lamb SSG (Join to see) Capt Rich BuckleyCW4 G.L. SmithSPC Russ Bolton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN1jrr_CMzM
Images:
1. Marquis de Lafayette meets the National Guard in New York in 1825.
2. Marquis de Lafayette, 1825. National Portrait Gallery
3. Portrait of Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles, wife of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette 18th century, artist unknown
4. 1952 Scott # 1010 3¢ 'Arrival of Lafayette in America - 1777'
Background from {[https://about.lafayette.edu/mission-and-history/the-marquis-de-lafayette/]}
The Marquis de Lafayette
Soldier. Scholar. Revolutionary.
Hero of Two Worlds.
If there was a rock star of the American Revolution, it was a man who went by an impressively lengthy name: Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. Born in 1757, Lafayette was a young, handsome, rich and brave French aristocrat who defied his own king to enter the Revolutionary War in America to support the cause of freedom in the New World. After his success as a military leader, he became a renowned statesman whose support for individual rights made him a beloved and respected figure on two continents.
Born into a family with illustrious ancestors on both sides, Lafayette at first appeared destined for a conventional aristocratic, military career. But he had other ideas. He adopted the motto “Cur Non” (“Why Not?”) for his coat of arms and joined the Freemasons in 1775. Two years later, at the age of 20, and lured by the idea of a nation fighting for liberty, he bought a ship and sailed to America to volunteer in General George Washington’s army.
He explained his attraction to the revolutionary cause in a letter to his wife: “The welfare of America is intimately connected with the happiness of all mankind; she will become the respectable and safe asylum of virtue, integrity, tolerance, equality, and a peaceful liberty.”
He first saw action at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777 where he was shot in the leg and spent two months recovering from his wound at the Moravian Settlement in Bethlehem. His heroism in the battle encouraged George Washington to give the young Frenchman command of a division and Lafayette stayed with his troops at Valley Forge. After a brief visit to France in 1779, he returned to the Revolution in 1781 and helped contain British troops at Yorktown in the last major battle of the war.
As principal author of the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,” written in 1789 in conjunction with Thomas Jefferson, he also helped propel the French Revolution. As an ardent supporter of emancipation and a member of anti-slavery societies in France and America, Lafayette lobbied for the restoration of civil rights to French Protestants and he was instrumental in ensuring that religious freedom be granted to Protestants, Jews, and other non-Catholics.
He was known as a friend to Native Americans and he endorsed the views of leading women writers and reformers of his day.
His triumphal Farewell Tour of America in 1824, conducted during the new nation’s years-long 50th anniversary celebrations, proved the Marquis had lost none of his rock-star status. His arrival in New York prompted four days and nights of continuous celebration – a response replicated during his visits to each of the other 23 states then in the Union. When Lafayette visited Congress, Speaker of the House Henry Clay delivered an address citing the deep respect and admiration held for him due to his “consistency of character . . . ever true to your old principles, firm and erect, cheering and animating, with your well-known voice, the votaries of liberty, its faithful and fearless champion, ready to shed the last drop of blood, which here, you so freely and nobly spilt in the same holy cause.”
Easton lawyer James Madison Porter was so impressed upon meeting the Marquis in Philadelphia that year that he proposed naming the town’s new college after Lafayette as “a testimony of respect for his talents, virtues, and signal services . . . in the great cause of freedom.”
On June 30, 1832, a month after the first students matriculated at Lafayette College, five of them—members of the Franklin Literary Society—wrote to Lafayette that they had made him an honorary member to pay “a feeble though sincere tribute of regard to a man who has proved his own and our country’s benefactor, and whose enlarged philanthropy as with a mantle of blessedness would cover the whole family of man.”
On August 7, 2002, 178 years later, Congress made him an honorary citizen of the United States. In May 2010, Lafayette College, the only college in America to bear his name, awarded the Marquis the honorary degree of Doctor of Public Service (posthumous) at its 175th Commencement.
FYI SSG Franklin BriantSSG Robert Mark OdomSgt Jim BelanusSSG Stephen RogersonLTC Stephan PorterPO3 Phyllis MaynardSFC (Join to see)CPT (Join to see)1stsgt Glenn Brackin1SG Steven ImermanSSG Samuel KermonSFC Richard Williamson CPL Dave Hoover TSgt George Rodriguez 1SG Walter Craig SPC Matthew Lamb SSG (Join to see) Capt Rich BuckleyCW4 G.L. SmithSPC Russ Bolton
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Excellent history share brother David, have a great RED Friday brother
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