Marquis de Lafayette Commissioned
as a Major General in the Continental Army,
July 31, 1777

n a blisteringly hot day in Philadelphia, after weeks of pleading and making himself a useful nuisance to the American Congress, nineteen-year-old French native, Gilbert, the Marquis de Lafayette, was commissioned as a Major General in the Continental Army. The contract stipulated his commission as one without pay—an enigma amongst the throng of foreign-born opportunists flocking to the colonial conflict in pursuit of easy glory and gold.

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) in the uniform of a Major General in the Continental Army

A few months before, in April of 1777, the young French nobleman had left his native country in disguise, having purchased a ship, supplies and the companionship of a few fellows equally rash enough to dare provoking the King’s displeasure by such an adventure, for France was determinedly neutral at this time, despite enjoying any chance the American rebellion might afford for weakening their old enemy, Great Britain. The loss of the Marquis de Lafayette—one of France’s esteemed officers and the second richest man in the country—to a forbidden cause was nothing short of treasonous. And so, upon hearing of his leaving, the King of France summarily outlawed him. This created a precarious situation for the Continental Congress when the young Marquis arrived in Philadelphia with little spoken English, some gold and a surplus of ardor, only to be informed there was no vacancy for foreign officers, and that the King and his irate father-in-law had demanded his recall.

Château de Chavaniac in Haute-Loire, Auvergne province, France, birthplace of Lafayette

Lafayette spent the next few months in a diplomatic limbo, finding the rustic streets of Philadelphia charming and his host—the President of Congress, John Hancock‐sympathetic but implacable. His determination to be allowed to lend his life for the cause of liberty remained equally so, and he wrote as much to his young wife Adrienne, showcasing a far broader vision for what appeared to many to be nothing more than a colonial dispute:

The happiness of America is intimately connected with the happiness of all mankind; she is destined to become the safe and venerable asylum of virtue, of honesty, of tolerance, and quality and of peaceful liberty.

If the fortunes of war had not been so cruel to General Washington’s army as to push him to retreat all the way to Philadelphia, the young Marquis would likely have been sent back home, and the fate of the thirteen colonies changed forever. As it was, the two men met, a commission as Major General was obtained for “the boy”, and America would gain a lifelong ally whose happy shadow still stretches over our nation.

A Currier & Ives engraving portraying the first meeting of Lafayette and Washington

Washington himself would gain an adopted son in Lafayette, a friend so precious to himself he would credit him as God’s instrument in keeping alive the hope in himself and in America. It was an odd paradox, that a foreigner should embody the most distilled ambitions for this new America, and it was consequential that Washington would teach the enlightened Frenchman the inherent ties between just liberty and Christianity, a connection lost in the following French Revolution to devastating results.

Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge

According to the historians A. Forbes and P.F. Cadman:

We are told of a conversation that took place later in the camp between the two generals soon after Lafayette’s arrival, which met with great satisfaction among our soldiers. ‘It is somewhat embarrassing to us to show ourselves to an officer who has just come from the army of France,’ to which the Frenchman replied, ‘I am here to learn, and not to teach.’ This was his attitude throughout the war.

Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon in 1784

In his first taste of combat at Brandywine, Lafayette was shot in the leg, much to his delight; it proved his sincerity, and it earned the respect of a demoralized colonial army. Four years later Lafayette would return to France for more funds—all in one visit he was pardoned for his “treason” by King Louis, granted a request for an additional army and navy to be sent to America’s aid, a further loan to be granted for the same, and made and named his firstborn son, Georges Washington de Lafayette.

Lafayette wounded at the Battle of Brandywine

More foreign officers would join the ranks of America’s freedom fighters over the course of the war—remarkable men like De Kalb, Polaski, Von Steuben and Kościuszko—but none have had quite the enduring and symbolic status of “hero of two worlds” like Lafayette. Even in death he retains it, laid to rest in Paris, under a cartful of American soil.

Grave of Lafayette and his wife Adrienne in the cemetery of Picpus, Paris, France—he is buried beneath soil he brought home to France from Bunker Hill, and an American flag is kept flying over his grave, courtesy of the local chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution

Image Credits: 1 Lafayette (wikipedia.org) 2 Château de Chavaniac (wikipedia.org) 3 Adrienne Lafayette (wikipedia.org) 4 Meeting of Lafayette and Washington (wikipedia.org) 5 Valley Forge (wikipedia.org) 6 Mount Vernon (wikipedia.org) 7 Battle of Brandywine (wikipedia.org) 8 Grave (wikipedia.org)