A Hero's Return

THE OVERLOOK

By Tom Clavin

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Yes, for the 250^th anniversary, let’s celebrate the American revolutionaries whose sacrifices and heroism led to the creation of an independent United States. But let us not forget, during this time of disruption with our European allies, the efforts of France to aid our cause. No one embodied that more than the Marquis de Lafayette. Thankfully, he was honored during his lifetime: It was 202 years ago this month that he made a triumphant return and tour of the country which had grown from 13 colonies to 24 states since the Frenchman first set foot on American soil.

He was, at 66, the last surviving major general of the Revolutionary War. At 19, he had presented himself to General George Washington as a fervent believer in American liberty. Lafayette would go on to fight in several crucial battles, including the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania (where he was wounded) and the Siege of Yorktown in Virginia. He had then returned to France and pursued a political career championing the ideals of liberty that the American republic represented.

Inspired by the Declaration of Independence and with Thomas Jefferson’s assistance, he helped to write the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (of France). He also advocated the end of slavery, in keeping with the philosophy of natural rights. After the storming of the Bastille in July 1789, Lafayette was appointed commander-in-chief of France’s National Guard and tried to steer a middle course through the years of the French Revolution.

In August 1792, radical factions of the revolution took control of the government and ordered Lafayette’s arrest, so he fled to the Austrian Netherlands. He was captured by Austrian troops and spent more than five years in prison. Lafayette returned to France after Napoleon Bonaparte secured his release in 1797, though he refused to participate in Napoleon’s government or his military conquests. After the Bourbon Restoration of 1814, Lafayette served in the French legislature until 1824, when President James Monroe invited him to tour the United States.

Lafayette visited all of the American states and traveled more than 6,000 miles, accompanied by his son Georges Washington de La Fayette and others. The main means of transportation were stagecoach, horseback, canal barge, and steamboat.

Different cities celebrated in different ways. Some held parades or conducted an artillery salute. In some places schoolchildren were brought to welcome the Marquis. Aged veterans of the American Revolution welcomed the Marquis, and some dined with him. While touring Yorktown, he recognized and embraced James Armistead Lafayette, a free man of color who adopted his last name to honor the Marquis. (More than a century later, various towns continued to honor their own “Lafayette Day.”)

The trip had begun when Lafayette left France on the American merchant vessel Cadmus on July 13, 1824, and on August 15 he arrived in New York. Weeks of touring and celebrating followed. A major and poignant highlight was on November 4 when Lafayette arrived at Monticello in a carriage with a military escort of 120 men. Thomas Jefferson waited outside on the front portico. Close to 200 friends and neighbors had also arrived for the event. Lafayette’s carriage pulled up to the front lawn where a bugle sounded the arrival of the procession with its revolutionary banners waving. Lafayette slowly stepped down from the carriage. Jefferson was 81 and in ill health, and he gingerly descended the front steps and began making his way towards his old friend.

His grandson Randolph was present and witnessed the historic reunion: “As they approached each other, their uncertain gait quickened itself into a shuffling run, and exclaiming, ‘Ah Jefferson!’ ‘Ah Lafayette!’ they burst into tears as they fell into each other’s arms.” Everyone in attendance stood in respectful silence, many of them stifling sobs of their own. Jefferson and Lafayette then retired to the privacy of the house and began reminiscing over the many events and encounters which they had shared years before.

The next morning, Jefferson, Lafayette, and former President James Madison were taken to the Central Hotel in Charlottesville. They were escorted by mounted troops and followed by the local townspeople and other friends. They were greeted and honored with speeches, then departed the hotel at noon and set out for a banquet at the University of Virginia which Jefferson was anxious for Lafayette to see. After a three-hour dinner, Jefferson had someone read a speech that he had prepared for Lafayette, as his voice was weak and could not carry very far. This proved to be Jefferson’s last public address. After an 11-day visit, Lafayette bid farewell to Jefferson, who would pass away the following July 4.

After much more touring which would last well into 1825, Lafayette was ready to return to France. President John Quincy Adams decided to have an American warship carry him back to Europe, and he chose a recently built 44-gun frigate named Susquehanna for this honor. It was renamed the USS Brandywine to commemorate the battle in which the Frenchman had shed his blood for American freedom and as a gesture of the nation’s affection for Lafayette.

He enjoyed a last state dinner to celebrate his 68th birthday on the evening of September 6, and two days later the frigate sailed out of Chesapeake Bay toward the open ocean. After a stormy three weeks at sea, the warship’s honored passenger was finally home.

Lafayette assumed the role of elder statesman. He spoke publicly for the last time in the Chamber of Deputies on January 3, 1834. The next month, he collapsed at a funeral from pneumonia. He recovered, but in May he became bedridden after being caught in a thunderstorm. The Marquis de Lafayette died at age 76 on May 20, 1834. He was buried next to his wife at the Picpus Cemetery under soil from Bunker Hill, which his son Georges Washington sprinkled upon him.

In the United States, President Andrew Jackson – the last president to fight in the American Revolution -- ordered that Lafayette receive the same memorial honors that had been bestowed on George Washington at his death in December 1799. Both Houses of Congress were draped in black bunting for 30 days and members wore mourning badges. Congress urged Americans to follow similar mourning practices.

Later that year, former President John Quincy Adams gave a eulogy of Lafayette that lasted three hours, calling him “high on the list of the pure and disinterested benefactors of mankind.”

Tom Clavin is the bestselling author/co-author of 25 books, the latest being Vengeance: The Last Stands of Custer, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull, published in May by St. Martin’s Press. Please go to your local bookstore or to Bookshop.org, Amazon.com, BN.com, or tomclavin.com to purchase a copy.