Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette

Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette
Buried	Picpus Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America France
Rank	File:Brigadier-general insignia.png Brigadier General Maréchal de camp
Battles/wars	American Revolutionary War Battle of Brandywine Battle of Gloucester Battle of Barren Hill Battle of Monmouth Battle of Rhode Island Siege of Yorktown
Relations	Uncle: Jacques-Roch
Other work	Politician Estates General (Auvergne) Member of the National Assembly

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, (formerly marquis de) Lafayette (or la Fayette) (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834) was a French military officer born in the Haute-Loire region of France. Lafayette was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a leader of the Garde Nationale during the French Revolution.

In the American Revolution, Lafayette served in the Continental Army under George Washington. While serving in the Revolutionary War, he was wounded and organized a successful retreat at the Battle of Brandywine. He served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island. In the middle of the war, he returned to France to negotiate an increased French commitment to the war. Upon his return, he blocked Cornwallis' troops at Yorktown, while the armies of Washington and Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau arrived.

In 1788, in France, Lafayette was called to the Assembly of Notables to respond to the nation's fiscal crisis. Lafayette proposed a meeting of the French Estates-General, where representatives from the three traditional classes of French society–the clergy, the nobility and the commoners–met. He served as Vice President of the resulting body. Lafayette advocated adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which he co-authored with Thomas Jefferson. Lafayette was appointed commander-in-chief of the French National Guarde in response to violence leading up to the French Revolution. During the Revolution, Lafayette attempted to maintain order, for which he ultimately was persecuted by the Jacobins. In 1791, he was captured by Austrians and served nearly five years in prison.

For his contributions in the American Revolution, cities and monuments throughout the United States bear his name. Lafayette was the first to be granted Honorary Citizenship to the United States.

Early life

Young Marquis de Lafayette

Ancestry

Lafayette was born in Chavagnac at the Château de Chavaniac, near Le Puy-en-Velay, Haute-Loire. His full name is rarely used. Instead, he is referred to as the marquis de la Fayette or, in the United States, as General Lafayette. In 1790, Lafayette renounced his claim to the nobility title.

Lafayette's ancestor, Marshal of France Gilbert de La Fayette III, had been a companion-at-arms who led Joan of Arc's army in Orleans. According to legend, another ancestor acquired the Crown of Thorns during the 6th Crusade. Lafayette's uncle, Jacques-Roch, a soldier, died fighting the Austrians, thus leaving the marquis title to Lafayette's father.

Lafayette's father died on 1 August 1759 during the Seven Years War at the Battle of Minden in Germany, where he was shot by a British cannonball. On 3 April 1770, Lafayette's mother died, and subsequently, on 24 April his grandfather died, bequeathing Lafayette with an income of 25,000 livres. Augmented upon the death of an uncle, the thirteen year old Lafayette was left with a yearly sum of 120,000 livres. Lafayette was raised by his paternal grandmother, Madame de Chavaniac, Madeleine de Motier and Charlotte Guérin. His grandmother told him stories of his father's death, advising him to dislike the English.

Education and marriage

He was educated by his aunt and two priests, including the Abbe Fayon, Curé de Saint-Roch de Chavaniac. His education focused on reading, mathematics and writing, with empathis on the Roman Republic, including the works of Livy, Tacitus and Plutarch. In 1768, Lafayette's grandfather desired the young man to travel to the Palais du Luxembourg in Paris in order that he be introduced to society. At age 11, he entered the Collège du Plessis, a school for nobleman's children which emphasized Latin and the Greek and Roman civilizations. His military education occured at the Versailles Academy, and on 9 April 1771, Lafayette was commissioned as a sous-lieutenant in the Mousquetaires. As a young, wealthy nobleman, the fifteen year-old Lafayette attracted numerous marriage proposals, however it was through an arranged marriage that he married Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles (2 November 1759 – 24 December 1807); she was the daughter of Jean-Paul-François, 5th duc de Noailles, from a prosperous families. The arrangement dictated that neither would be aware of the agreement until after the completion of their educations. Marie Adrienne's mother, the duchesse d'Ayen, organized for the two to meet "as if by accident". On 14 March 1774, the marriage contract was signed by Louis XV and the two married on 11 April, with Lafayette's father in law giving the youth command of a company in the Noailles Dragoons and the rank of captain.

Departure from France

Joining the American war

In 1775, Lafayette partook in his unit's annual training event in Metz, where he met Charles-François, comte de Broglie, the Army of the East's commander and a senior superior. De Broglie invited the young Lafayette to join the Freemasons, and the American Revolutionary War became an issue amongst the Lodge's members. When the Duke of Gloucester, King George III's brother and colonial policy critic, traveled through the region, he was invited to dinner with de Broglie and his men. Lafayette wrote, in his memoirs, that at this dinner he "...first learned of that quarrel, my heart was enlisted and I thought only of joining the colors." Lafayette returned to Paris in the fall and participated in sociétés de pensée (French: thinking groups), where the topic of French involvement in the American Revolution was frequent. A common speaker to these groups, Abbé Guillaume Raynal, criticized the nobility, clergy and slavery. Although the monarchy banned him from speaking, he was able to espouse his views secretly in the Masonic Lodges, of which Lafayette was a member. Through Raynal, Lafayette first heard of the "rights of man".

On 7 December 1776, Lafayette made an arrangement through Silas Deane, an American agent in Paris, to enter the American service as a major general. Lafayette's father-in-law did not support his traveling to America, so he had him appointed to a post in Britain. This was brief, as Lafayette refused to toast King George. In 1777, the French government granted the American military 1 million livres in supplies, a product of Minister Charles Gravier's avocation for French involvement. De Broglie met German Johann de Kalb, an American sympathizer, who explained the American situation. Following this meeting de Broglie approached Gravier, suggesting assistance to the American revolutionaries. De Broglie then presented Lafayette, who had been placed on the reserve list, to Johann Kalb.

Departure for America

Upon returning to Paris, Lafayette found that the Continental Congress did not have the money for his voyage, hence he himself paid for the cost the ship La Victoire. The King "officially" forbade his leaving after British spies discovered his plan, issuing an order for Lafayette to join his father-in-law's regiment in Marseilles. To not follow such orders was punishable by imprisonment. At the request of the British ambassador, orders were issued to seize the ship Lafayette was fitting out at Bordeaux and Lafayette was threatened with arrest. He eluded capture disguised as a courier and traveled to Spain. On 20 April 1777, he sailed for America with eleven companions, leaving his pregnant wife. The ship's captain intended to stop in the West Indies to sell cargo he had carried, however Lafayette, fearful of arrest, bought the cargo to avoid the islands. He landed on North Island near Georgetown, South Carolina, on 13 June 1777 after a voyage of nearly two months.

American Revolution

Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge

Upon arrival, Lafayette met with Major Benjamin Huger, with whom he stayed for two weeks before their departure to Philadelphia. Lafayette remarked in letters home of his experience, noting the "simplicity of manner ... love of country and liberty, the delightful equality that reigns everywhere." After a thirty-two day journey, Lafayette waited four days for the Continental Congress to declare, on 31 July 1777, "that his services be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connections, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States". He was not assigned a unit. Due to this, Lafayette nearly returned home. However, Benjamin Franklin penned a letter to George Washington requesting that he accept Lafayette as his aide-de-camp, in hopes that this action may influence France to commit more aid to the American war.

Washington accepted, and soon after, Lafayette met him at Moland Headquarters on 10 August 1777. When Washington stated that he was embarrassed to show a French officer the state of their camp and troops, Lafayette responded, "I am here to learn, not to teach." He became a member of Washington's staff, although confusion existed regarding his status. The Congress regarded his commission as honorary, while he considered himself a full-fledged commander who would be given control of a division when Washington deemed him prepared. To address this, Washington told Lafayette that a division would not be possible as he was of foreign birth, however Washington said that he would be happy to hold him in confidence as "friend and father". Both men regarded this as their "great conversation".

Brandywine and Albany

Lafayette wounded at the battle of Brandywine

Lafayette's first battle was the loss at Brandywine on 11 September 1777. After the British outflanked the Americans, Washington acquiesced to a request by Lafayette to join General John Sullivan. Upon his arrival, Lafayette went with the Third Pennsylvania Bridge, under Brigadier Thomas Conway and attempted to rally the unit to face the attack. In face of the British and Hessian numeric superiority, Lafayette was shot in the leg. During the American retreat, before being treated for his wound, Lafayette created a control point allowing a more orderly retreat. Following the battle, he was cited by George Washington for "bravery and military ardour" and was recommended for the command of a division in a letter to the congress on 1 November.

After two months of rest, Lafayette was well enough to return to the field and assisted General Nathanael Greene in reconnaissance of British positions in New Jersey. With 300 soldiers he defeated a numerically superior Hessian force in Gloucester on 24 November 1777. He returned to Valley Forge for the winter, where he was asked by the War Board, headed by General Horatio Gates, to travel to Albany, New York where he led troops preparing for an invasion of Canada. Gates was capitalizing on his success in the Battle of Saratoga, hoping to remove Washington from command, and this plan included separating him from Lafayette. Lafayette awaited the coming approval from Washington before departing for Albany, where he found the men insufficient to mount a Canadian invasion. Lafayette wrote Washington of the situation and made plans to return to Valley Forge. Before his departure, he was able to recruit the Oneida tribe, who referred to Lafayette as Kayewla, which means fearsome horsemen, to the American side.

Lafayette returned to Valley Forge and Gates' plan to assume control of the Army was halted. Meanwhile, in March 1778, treaties signed by America and France were made public and France formally recognized American independence.

Barren Hill, Monmouth and Rhode Island

In reply to the French entrance into the war, the British withdrew from Philadelphia and General Howe sent 5,000 soldiers to attack Lafayette, hoping to capture him for his political value. On 20 May 1778, Lafayette was warned of the impending attack, and, in an attempt to feign numerical superiority, he ordered that a few men appear from the woods, on an outcropping known as Battle of Barren Hill (present day Lafayette Hill) periodically to fire upon the British. Lafayette was then able to cross Matson's Ford with the remainder of his force. As the British evacuated their force north, the Continental Army attacked at the Monmouth Courthouse, with Lafayette present.

The French fleet arrived in America on 8 July 1778 under Admiral d'Estaing, with whom General Washington planned to attack Newport, Rhode Island. Lafayette and General Nathanael Greene were sent with a 3,000 man force to participate in the attack. Lafayette aimed to control a joint Franco-American force in the attack, but was rebuffed. On 9 August, the American force attacked the British without consulting D'Estaing. Afterwards when the Americans asked the Admiral to leave his fleet in Narragansett Bay, he demurred and attacked the British under Lord Howe. D'Estaing's successfully saw the removal of the British fleet, but at the expense of his ships weathering a battering storm.

D'Estaing moved his damaged ships north to Boston for repairs. As a result, Bostonians rioted against the French fleet, considering his departure from Newport a desertion. John Hancock and Lafayette were dispatched to calm the situation, which they did successfully. Lafayette then returned to Newport to prepare for retreat, which was needed due to D'Estaing's exit. For these events, Lafayette was cited by the Continental Congress for "gallantry, skill and prudence", however he realized that the Boston riot would reflect poorly on the Franco-American alliance in France. Therefore he asked and was given permission to return to France.

Return to France

In February 1779, Lafayette returned to Paris. He had acted against the King's wishes when leaving the country and was thus placed under house arrest for two weeks. Nevertheless, his return was triumphant. He was presented by Benjamin Franklin's grandson with a 4,800 livre gold-encrusted sword commissioned by the Continental Congress and the King requested to see him. The King reacted well to the returned soldier and placed him back in the dragoons after Lafayette proposed various schemes of attacking the British. Lafayette utilized his new position to lobby for added French aid to the America. While working in conjunction with Franklin, Lafayette was able to negotiate 6,000 soldiers who were to be commanded by General Jean Baptiste de Rochambeau.

On 24 December 1779, Lafayette received news that Adrienne had borne him a son, whom he would name George-Washington Lafayette. After his son's birth, the young general spent the remainder of his time pushing for additional commitments of support from France to the American Revolutionary War. He also ordered new uniforms for the soldiers and prepared arrangements for the fleet's departure. Before returning to America, Lafayette and the French force had their status objectified: they would be operating under American forces, which would allow Washington control over the military operation. In March 1780, Lafayette left a saddened Adrienne and departed for the Americas aboard the Hermione.

Virginia and Yorktown

A map of key sites in the Battle of Yorktown

Returning to the war zone, Lafayette defended Richmond, Virginia, from Benedict Arnold. After days of skirmishing, Arnold and Charles Cornwallis crossed paths and combined their units. In June, Cornwallis received orders from London to proceed to the Chesapeake Bay and oversee the construction of a port, leaving Lafayette and inland Virginia. As the British column traveled in July, Lafayette boldly followed behind him, a show of force that encouraged new recruits. By August, Cornwallis established the British at Yorktown, and Lafayette took up position on Malvern Hill, which trapped the British when the French Fleet arrived.

On 14 September 1781, Washington approached Lafayette's camp, and the two met one another. Lafayette had held the British at Yorktown as the supplies and troops arrived for the American and French forces. On the 28th, the men neared Yorktown and began preparations for the siege. With the French fleet blockading the British, the combined forces began to attack. Lafayette's detail was the right end of the American wing whose 400 men took redoubt 10, in hand to hand combat. After a failed British counterattack, Cornwallis surrendered on 19 October 1781 under a combined volley.

After the Revolution

Lafayette returned to France on 18 January 1781, where he was welcomed as a hero and witnessed the birth of his daughter whom he named Marie-Antoinette Virginie upon Thomas Jefferson's recommendation. He was promoted to maréchal de camp, skipping numerous ranks. Lafayette then helped prepare for a combined French and Spanish expedition against the British West India Islands, of which he was appointed chief-of-staff. The armistice signed between Great Britain and the United States on 20 January 1783 put a stop to the expedition.

Lafayette and Washington at Mt. Vernon, 1784

At Washington's invitation, in 1784, Lafayette went to Mount Vernon and visited with Washington multiple times. They both exchanged gifts before Lafayette sailed from New York back to France in December. It would be the final time they would see each other.

When Lafayette departed for his home country, he took with him views he formed in the United States, which he would work to further in France. Although Lafayette had initially viewed slaves as property and, following a meeting with American spy James Armistead, advocated for their use as soldiers, during the revolution, this view changed. When Lafayette returned to France, he was actively involved in the French abolitionist group, Society of the Friends of the Blacks. In 1786, started freeing his slaves who worked on his land in the French colony of Cayenne and he often vocalized to his American colleagues his objections to the practice.

French Revolution

Assembly of Notables and Estates-General

Main article: French Revolution

Declaration of the Rights of Man, written with the help of Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson

In France, Lafayette spent his initial days organizing trade agreements between the United States and France, with the assistance of Thomas Jefferson. These agreements included commitments on tobacco and whale oil, aimed at reducing the debt owed France by the nascent America. Lafayette would also return to the new nation and traveled to eleven states, to provide the Congress with news of trade negotiations. This trip included a visit to Washington's farm on Mount Vernon, where Martha Washington gave him smoked hams for his wife; an honorary degree from Harvard; a meeting with the Oneida Indians; a portrait of Washington from the city of Boston; and a bust from the state of Virginia.

In February 1788, the King called the Assembly of Notables for the first time since 1626. The purpose was to discuss France's fiscal crisis. During the meeting, Lafayette proposed an Assembly of the French Estates-General, which would be a representation of the three different classes in society: the Clergy, the Nobility and the Commons. In 1789, Lafayette was elected to the Estates-General. In preparation, Lafayette worked with Thomas Jefferson on a document called the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, which was similar to the Bill of Rights, noting the inalienable rights of "liberty, property, safety and resistance to oppression."

When the Estates General convened on 5 May 1789, Lafayette was a member of the Second Estate, that of the Nobles. When King Louis XVI was confronted with difficulties of the Estates General, he closed the meeting room of the Third Estate, which rather than forcing a halt to their assembly, led them to meet in the Tennis Court. This new group would call themselves the National Assembly and declared themselves the governing body in France. On 11 July 1789, he presented the document he had brought with him, his Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens. The next day, in response to the dismissal of Finance Minister Jacques Necker, Camille Desmoulins organized a mob to arms. In response, the Assembly authorized a National Guard, appointing Lafayette as commander and elected him vice-president of the Assembly. The following day, on 14 July 1789, the Bastille was stormed.

National Guard

Lafayette orders his soldiers to fire on members of the Cordeliers

After hearing the news about the Bastille, Lafayette raced into Paris as a mob attacked a priest. Lafayette walked onto the balcony of city hall, which overlooked the mob and held his son aloft saying, "I have the honor to introduce my son." The mob's attention diverted, the priest was brought to safety. Lafayette proposed plans to have a demanding schedule for the soldiers of the National Guard to police the Commune of Paris. During this meeting, he brought a red, white and blue cockade with him. These colors would become the basis for the French flag.

In the Constituent Assembly he pleaded for religious tolerance, popular representation, the establishment of trial by jury, the gradual emancipation of slaves, freedom of the press, the abolition of arbitrary imprisonment and of titles of nobility and the suppression of privileged orders. They also debated a veto measure, which would have allowed the King to bar any law passed by the Assembly. The agreement appeared reasonable until Louis XVI declined to ratify the Declaration of Rights. On 5 October Parisian crowds found bakeries empty throughout the city. In response to both events, a mob moved to Versailles to demand flour from the royal family and their relocation to Paris. Lafayette awoke the King and replaced most of the royal bodyguards with National Guardsmen. The remaining bodyguards were executed. In an effort to quiet the crowd, Lafayette took the queen onto the Palace's balcony, "kissed her hand", and made a plea for order. Lafayette then convinced the royal family to relocate to the Tuileries Palace in Paris.

Lafayette took a prominent part in the Fête de la Fédération of 14 July 1790, the first anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. After suppressing a riot in April 1791, he resigned his commission, but was compelled to retain it. On 20 June 1791, an unsuccessful plot enfolded nearly allowing the King to escape. Lafayette, the leader of the National Guard, was responsible for their custody. Although he made moves for their arrest he was blamed publicly by Danton for the mishap and called a "traitor" to the people by Maximilien Robespierre. This portrayed Lafayette as a royalist.

On 17 July, Lafayette was fired upon by the crowd after Danton read the proposed Constitution, at the Champ de Mars. The guardsmen retaliated by firing into the crowd. Martial law was ordered and policed by the National Guard, by Jean-Sylvain Bailly, the Mayor of Paris and the crowd was ordered to disperse. When they did not, Lafayette ordered the National Guard to open fire and arrest the assassins in the crowd. About 50 people were killed in what became known as the Massacre of the Champ de Mars, which decisively marked the end of the alliance between constitutional monarchists and radicals like Jean-Paul Marat and Georges Danton. The situation appeared to cool after the King signed the new Constitution on 13 September, and Lafayette was presented with a sword.

Conflict and imprisonment

Main article: Reign of Terror

In December 1791, Lafayette was placed in command of three armies formed on the eastern frontier to attack Austria. In his absence, Paris became chaotic as Jacobins engaged in riots, slaughtered the King's Swiss Guard and suspended the monarchy. Lafayette decreed that their behavior was "Unconstitutional", and the Jacobins replied that Lafayette was involved in an attempt to assist Prussia and Austria in a war against France. He returned to Paris and the Assembly on 28 June and asked for the Jacobins to be outlawed. This was not permitted, and Lafayette moved to the Tuileries palace in order to have the National Guard protect the royal family. The Queen refused his aid, and Lafayette returned to Metz. Meanwhile, the Jacobins and the Committee of Surveillance became more powerful, and constructed a guillotine at the Place du Carrousel. Throughout September the ruling council became more radical, and approximately 1,400 people were executed. After Lafayette refused the offered French Presidency in return for giving up the King and the Constitution, the Jacobins asked him to relinquish command and return to Paris. A reward was offered by the Jacobins for his capture or death. Lafayette knew this meant his beheading, so he sought asylum in the United States, via an escape to England through the Dutch Republic. He did not make it, and on 19 August, while with a group of faithful supporters en route to the Dutch Republic, he was arrested by the Austrians and imprisoned at Wesel, Prussia.

Portrait of General Lafayette (by Matthew Harris) in 1825

On 10 September 1792 soldiers led by Jacobins arrived at Lafayette's wife Adrienne's home, where she was arrested and later released. Their son Georges, who was hiding from fear of execution, was sent to the United States. Presently, many wives of Jacobin's enemies were divorcing their husbands in order to escape the Terror, Adrienne did not do this. Instead, she sold her property and appealed to the Americans for assistance. For political reasons, the young nation could not officially assist the family, although they retroactively paid Lafayette $24,424 for his military service and Washington personally sent financial aid. As chaos grew in France, Adrienne was again arrested by the Jacobins. The intention was for her to be tried and executed in Paris. However, James Monroe was sent to intervene, which he did successfully after repeated visits to the Directory. On 22 January 1795 Adrienne was released.

Adrienne then organized the family's finances and appealed to the United States for American passports. Their son Georges' request was granted and he traveled to America. James Monroe secured passports for Adrienne from Hartford, Connecticut, which had granted the entire Lafayette family citizenship. She continued to Vienna and at an audience with Emperor Francis II she was granted permission to live with Lafayette in captivity. Adrienne lived in his cell with him and finally, in September 1797, after five years imprisonment, Napoleon released the family. This was at the request of the Directory and as a result of the Treaty of Campo Formio drafted in 1797. He was not allowed to return to France until 1799, after Napoleon's coup when Adrienne achieved permission for his return. On return, Lafayette, averse to serving in Napoleon's army, resigned his commission.

Later life and death

A U.S. Postage Stamp commemorating Lafayette.

Later life

Lafayette felt that he would not be needed in Napoleon's government; thus he left Paris. In 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor after a plebiscite in which Lafayette did not participate. For the next several years, he remained relatively quiet, although he spoke publicly on Bastille Day events. After the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson asked if he would be interested in filling the governor's seat, which Lafayette declined for a number of reasons, including personal problems and the desire to work for liberty in France. During a trip to Auvergne, Adrienne became ill. Due to her malady, worsened by the scurvy she contracted in prison, she was unable to hide her anemia. By 1807, she was delirious, but by Christmas Eve this subsided and she was able to gather the family around her bed and proclaim to Lafayette: "Je suis toute a vous" ("I am all yours"). She died, apparently from lead poisoning complications, the next day, 25 December 1807.

President James Monroe invited Lafayette to visit the United States from August 1824 to September 1825, in part to celebrate the nation's semicentenary. During his visit, he would visit all of the American states and cover over 6,000 miles (9,656 km). Lafayette arrived from France at Staten Island, N.Y., on 15 August 1824, to an artillery salute, a parade from West Point and general adulation. The towns and cities he visited, including Fayetteville, North Carolina, the first city of many named in his honor, gave him enthusiastic welcomes. On 17 October 1824, Lafayette visited Mount Vernon and George Washington's tomb. In late August 1825, he returned to Mount Vernon.This unit decided to adopt the title National Guard, in honor of Lafayette's celebrated Garde Nationale de Paris. The Battalion, later the 7th Regiment, was prominent in the line of march on the occasion of Lafayette's final passage through New York en route before returning home to France on the frigate USS Brandywine. Later in the trip, he received an honorary United States citizenship while attending the inaugural banquet of the University of Virginia, at Jefferson's invitation. He was voted, by the U.S. Congress, the sum of $200,000 and a township of land.

As the restored monarchy of Charles X became more conservative, Lafayette reemerged as a prominent public figure. He had been a member of the Chamber of Deputies from Seine-et-Marne since 1815 and had pursued the abdication of Napoleon. Throughout his legislative career he continued to endorse causes such as freedom of the press, suffrage for all taxpayers, the worldwide abolition of slavery, and other personal freedoms. He was not as directly visible in public affairs as in previous years, however he became more vocal in the events leading up to the July Revolution of 1830. When the monarch proposed that theft from churches be a capital crime, agitation against the Crown increased. On 27 July 1830, Parisians began erecting barricades throughout the city and riots erupted. Lafayette established a committee as interim government. On 29 July 1830 Lafayette was asked to be dictator by the commission, however he demurred to offer the crown to Louis-Phillipe. Lafayette was reinstated as commander of the National Guard by the new monarch, who revoked the post after Lafayette once again called for the abolition of slavery.

Death

Monument to Lafayette in Paris

Lafayette spoke for the last time in the Chamber of Deputies on 3 January 1834. The winter was wet and cold, and the next month he would collapse at a funeral from pneumonia. Although he recovered, the following May was wet and, following a thunderstorm, he was bound to bed for the rest of his life. On 20 May 1834 Lafayette died. He was buried next to his wife at Cimetière de Picpus, under soil brought back from Bunker Hill, which his son George sprinkled upon him. King Louis-Phillipe ordered a military funeral, in order that the public not be allowed to attend. Crowds formed to protest their exclusion from Lafayette's funeral.

In the United States, President Andrew Jackson ordered that Lafayette be accorded the same funeral honors as John Adams and George Washington. Therefore, twenty-four gun salutes (one shot represented each of the then-American states) were fired from military posts and ships, flags flew at half mast for 35 days, and "military officers wore crape for six months". The United States Congress hung black in chambers and asked the entire country to dress in black for the next 30 days.

Legacy

Although he spent a total of less than five years in America (in 1777-79, 1780-81, 1784 and 1824-25), he received, perhaps, more commemoration and admiration there than any other foreign visitor in American history. Lafayette was commemorated with a monument in New York City (built in 1917) and by a reconstruction of the frigate Hermione, in which Lafayette returned to America on, located in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France. Portraits display Washington and Lafayette in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Order of Lafayette was established by U.S. Representative Hamilton Fish III, a World War I veteran, as an American hereditary order that promotes commemoration of Americans who fought in France and Franco-American friendship. He has twice been granted honorary citizenship by Congress. For his honor and Legacy many cities in the United states bear the name Lafayette or derivatives. In 1824, the United States government named in his honor Lafayette Park, immediately north of the White House in Washington, D.C. Two years later in 1826, Lafayette College was chartered in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Works cited

• Gilbert Du Motier Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch (1837). Memoirs, Correspondence and Manuscripts of General Lafayette. William Alexander Duer. Saunders and Otley. p. 551. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• William Howard Adams (1997). The Paris years of Thomas Jefferson. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300082616.
• David A Clary (2007). Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship that Saved the Revolution. New York, New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 978055338345. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help)
• Maurice de La Fuye (1956). The Apostle of Liberty: A Life of Lafayette. New York: Thomas Yoseloff, Inc. ISBN 9780801055553. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• James R. Gaines (2007). For Liberty and Glory: Washington, La Fayette, and Their Revolutions. W.W. Norton & Co. pp. p. 33. ISBN 9780393061383. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
• Noel B. Gerson (1976). Statue in Search of a Pedestal: a Biography of the Marquis de La Fayette. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company. ISBN 9780396073413.
• Joseph T. Glatthaar, James Kirby Martin (2007). Forgotten Allies, The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 9780809046003.
• Sabra Holbrook (1977). Lafayette, Man in the Middle. Atheneum. ISBN 0689305850.
• Henri La Fayette Villaume Ducoudray Holstein. Memoirs of Gilbert Motier La Fayette. Charles Wiley. pp. pp. 303. Retrieved 2008-08-11. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
• Sylvia Neely (2008). A Concise History of the French Revolution. Rowman & Littlefiel. ISBN 0742534111.
• Payan, Gregory (2002). Marquis de Lafayette:French Hero of the American Revolution. The Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 0823957330.
• A tribute to America to general de La Fayette, Pascal Payen-Appenzeller. Yvelinedition. 2009. ISBN 9782846681735.
• "In Love with a Word". Time Magazine. Time. August 6, 1956. Retrieved 2008-08-11. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameters: |1= and |coauthors= (help)

External links

• Works by Gilbert du Motier, (formerly)Marquis de Lafayette at Project Gutenberg
• French Founding Father at the New-York Historical Society
• The Cornell University Library Lafayette Collection