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The Marquis de Lafayette may not have been a Colonist, but it didn’t take him long to become something of a celebrity in the Colonies. His arrival in South Carolina was a story of heroism, daring escape, and swashbuckling action on the high seas.
His youth, good looks, royal upbringing, wealth, and penchant for finery warmed him to the people in short order. But most of all, his love of freedom, a willingness to share his military knowledge with a fledgling Colonial army, and his desire to fight the British made him most welcome in this time of Revolution.
His stay in South Carolina last only a couple weeks before he began his month-long journey north to Philadelphia, where he met his first roadblock, the Second Continental Congress. For them, LaFayette was yet another French “glory seeker” foisted on them by Silas Deane (an envoy to France). Thomas Jefferson thought the French lad possessed “…a canine appetite for popularity and fame“, a charge that may have been true to a degree.
But when the Marquis offered to fight without pay, well, the men who wrote the checks (but had no money to do so) suddenly saw him as a valuable asset (of course, it didn’t hurt to have the unfailing support of Benjamin Franklin, either).
On July 31, 1777, the Marquis de LaFayette was commissioned into the Continental Army as an honorary Major General. General Washington was encouraged, by Franklin, to befriend his new subordinate, but that was unnecessary advice, as the two found an instant connection. The man who would become the nation’s first President was something of a father-figure to LaFayette throughout the War.
He also became a close compatriot with Alexander Hamilton, then a young 20-something Lt. Colonel serving on Washington’s staff who could communicate with the Army import in fluent French. The two, along with Hamilton’s close companion John Laurens, were something of a Revolutionary “Three Musketeers”.
In his impressive work on Alexander Hamilton, Ron Chernow writes that the Marquis was a bit temperamental and was given to some of the foibles stereotypical of French aristocracy of the day. But Chernow is quick to add that LaFayette “proved to be a valiant officer of surprisingly mature judgement and more than rewarded the faith of his admirers.”
We’ll see some examples of that in the future.
And a Happy Birthday to my older brother!!
Recommended Reading: Alexander Hamilton
