From July 1824 to September 1825, the French Marquis de Lafayette (Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette), the last surviving major general of the American Revolutionary War, made a tour of the 24 states in the United States. He was received by the populace with a hero's welcome at many stops, and many honors and monuments were presented to commemorate and memorialize the visit.
Background
Lafayette led troops under the command of George Washington in the American Revolution nearly 50 years earlier, and he fought in several crucial battles, including the Battle of Brandywine in Pennsylvania 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.
He helped to write the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen with Thomas Jefferson's assistance, which was inspired by the United States Declaration of Independence. He also advocated the end of slavery, in keeping with the philosophy of natural rights. After the storming of the Bastille in July 1789, he 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, he became a liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies, a position which he held for most of the remainder of his life.
The Bourbon constitutional monarchy had been restored in France for at least ten years, but King Louis XVIII was reliant on a wheelchair in the spring of 1824 and suffering from severe health issues that proved fatal by late summer."1824." The People's Chronology. Ed. Jason M. Everett. Vol. 1. Gale Cengage, 2006. eNotes.com. December 12, 2012. Further, Lafayette was being monitored by the dying king. Lafayette left the French legislature in 1824, and President James Monroe invited him to tour the United States, partly to instill the "spirit of 1776" in the next generation of Americans and partly to celebrate the nation's 50th anniversary., p.3
Lafayette visited all of the American states and traveled more than ,, pp. 443–444, p. 3 accompanied by his son Georges Washington de La Fayette, named after George Washington, and others. He was also accompanied for part of the trip by social reformer Frances Wright. 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, school children were brought to welcome the Marquis. Veterans from the war, some of whom were in their sixties and seventies, 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 (he was the first US double agent spy); the story of the event was reported by the Richmond Enquirer. More than a century later, various towns continued to honor their own "Lafayette Day".
Timeline Lafayette left France on the American merchant vessel , on July 13, 1824, and his tour began on August 15, 1824, when he arrived at Staten Island, New York. He toured the northern and eastern United States in the fall of 1824, including stops at Monticello to visit Thomas Jefferson and Washington, D.C., where he was received at the White House by President James Monroe. He began his tour of the southern United States in March 1825, arriving at the Fort Mitchell, Alabama crossing of the Chattahoochee River on March 31.
1824 July 13 – Lafayette leaves France on the Cadmus August 15 – Arrives at Staten Island, New York August 16 – Arrives in New York City, landing at Castle Garden (see Lafayette Welcoming Parade of 1824) August 20 – Leaves New York CityLevasseur, Auguste. Alan R. Hoffman (trans.) Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825. Lafayette Press, Manchester, NH (2006). and travels to Bridgeport, Connecticut, stopping along the way in Harlem and New Rochelle, New York, Byram Bridge and Putnam Hill in Greenwich, Connecticut, Stamford, Norwalk, Saugatuck (Westport), and Fairfield, Connecticut, staying at the Washington Hotel in BridgeportAn Officer in the Late Army A Complete History of Marquis de Lafayette Major-General in the American Army in the War of the Revolution. Columbus: J. & H. Miller, Publishers, 1858. August 21–24 – Makes stops in New Haven and Old Saybrook, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, Stoughton, Massachusetts, and Boston August 25 – Arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, visits former President John Adams at his estate of Peacefield in Quincy, Massachusetts August 31 – Leaves Boston, making stops at Lexington, Concord, Chelsea, Salem, Marblehead, and Newburyport, Massachusetts
September 1 – Visits Portsmouth, New Hampshire September 2 – Visits Boston and Lexington, Massachusetts September 3 – Visits Lancaster, Massachusetts, Worcester, Massachusetts and Tolland, Connecticut September 4 – Visits Hartford and Middletown, Connecticut September 5 – Arrives in New York City September 8 – Inspects the fortifications at the Narrows and dined at Fort Lafayette September 10 – Visits African Free School No. 2 on Mulberry Street; celebrated with a short speech by 11-year old pupil James McCune Smith, later a prominent anti-slavery scholar, writer, and physician. September 11 – Celebrates the 47th anniversary of the Battle of Brandywine with French residents of New York; Is conferred with the Royal Arch degree and various Knights Templar degrees by Freemasons September 13 – Visits Newburgh, New YorkNutt, John J., Newburgh, her Institutions, Industries, and Leading citizens (Newburgh: Ritchie & Hull, 1891), 55–56. on the beginning of a week long trip up Hudson River September 15 – Arrives at West Point via the steamboat James Kent and has dinner with cadets September 16 – Visits Poughkeepsie, New York September 17 – Visits Catskill, New York and stops in Hudson September 18 – Visits Troy, New York and stops to meet with Emma Willard and see her school September 19 – Stops in Red Hook, New York and visits Janet Montgomery at her home Montgomery Place. Also stops in Fishkill Landing on the return to New York City. At Fishkill Landing he is welcomed at the home of Caroline De Windt, granddaughter of former U.S. President John Adams September 20 – A dinner is held in his honor at Washington Hall by the Grand Lodge of New York of Freemasons. September 23 – Visits Bergen Hotel in Bergen (now Jersey City) and presented with a cane made from the wood of a local apple tree at the Van Wagenen House where he met with George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. September 24 – Visits the Peace Tavern at Rahway, New Jersey September 28 – Visit to Philadelphia with a parade followed by speeches at the State House (Independence Hall) under Philadelphia architect William Strickland's Triumphal Arches
October 6 – Escorted to Wilmington, Delaware, by the Grand Lodge of Delaware Masons October 8 to October 11 – Toured Baltimore and met with surviving officers and soldiers of the Revolution October 12 – Arrives in Washington, D.C., paraded into town, welcomed by the mayor in the U.S. Capitol rotunda, and celebrated with illuminations throughout the city and with a rocket show. October 15 – Spends the entire evening at Arlington House, although he returns to his hotel in Washington, D.C., at night October 17 – Visits Mount Vernon and George Washington's tomb in Virginia October 18–19 – Arrives by steamer in Petersburg, Virginia, for visit to Yorktown and festivities marking the 43rd anniversary of the battle; spent eight days in the Tidewater of Virginia (Norfolk and Portsmouth) area. This was one of his longest stays of the grand tour because it was the site of the American and French victory over the British at Yorktown. He arrived in Yorktown on October 18 on a ship where a water-borne honor guard escorted him to a specially constructed Yorktown wharf, where he was greeted by a crowd of 15,000 people. Gov. James Pleasants and Virginia militia general Robert Barraud Taylor (of the 1813 Battle of Craney Island) gave speeches in his honor. During the visit, the party visited temporary monuments, including a 45-foot tall arch at the site of his courageous assault at Redoubt #10 and a 76-foot tall obelisk at the site of the British surrender. A mass assembly greeted him at Surrender Field. He visited Williamsburg, Virginia and the College of William & Mary from October 19–22 and stayed in the Peyton Randolph House in Williamsburg. He attended an honorary banquet at Raleigh Tavern with Chief Justice John Marshall and Secretary of War John Calhoun. His party rode to Jamestown, Virginia and traveled to Portsmouth to see Norfolk Naval Shipyard. While in Hampton Roads, he visited the unfinished Fort Monroe, and then Colonel Abraham Eustis escorted him to inspect the Old Point Comfort stronghold, which had been designed by French-born engineer Simon Bernard. October 22 – Arrives in Norfolk, Virginia via steamer from Petersburg. Celebrations involve a ball in the (now demolished) custom house. Spends four days there, and in Portsmouth October 25 – Arrives in Richmond, Virginia, on a steamer from Norfolk. Lafayette briefly reunites with James Armistead Lafayette when he spots him amongst the crowd of people. On November 2 – Left Richmond for Monticello to visit JeffersonAgee, Helene. Facets of Goochland County's History, Richmond, VA: Dietz Press, 1962 November 8 – Attends a public banquet at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville November 20, 21, 22 – visits Fredericksburg, Virginia with several parties in his honor, including two in City Hall, now the Fredericksburg Area Museum. The following week he expected to spend time at Woodlawn near Mount Vernon, and at Mount Vernon. He expected to be in Annapolis on December 15.information in a letter in the Fredericksburg Museum, cited 2019/5/1. Letter is in Lafayette's handwriting. Early December – Stays in Washington, D.C., visiting the White House, meeting several times with President Monroe and George Washington's relatives; visits the Washington Navy Yard December 8 and 9 – Makes official visits to the Senate and addresses Congress at the House of Representatives December 15 – Feted at the first commencement ceremony of the Columbian College in the District of Columbia (now the George Washington University) December 17 – Arrives at Annapolis, Maryland, at 3 pm, is received in the Senate chamber and visits Fort Severn December 20 – Received at the Maryland State HouseNiles' Register December 25, 1824, 27:259. December 29 – Arrives at the Jug Bridge crossing the Monocacy River on the National Road east of Frederick, Maryland. Stayed in Frederick through the morning of December 31.
1825 January 1 – Attends a banquet hosted by Congress January 19 – Visits Baltimore and leaves January 20 on a steamboat bound for Norfolk, on his way to visit the legislature of Virginia at RichmondNiles' Register January 22, 1825, 27:386. January 31 – Visits Perseverance Lodge #21 Harrisburg, PennsylvaniaHistory of Perseverance Lodge : No. 21, F. & A. M., Penn'a., at Harrisburg January 31, 1825 February 23, 1825 – Sets off on the southern leg of his tour Because the route from Richmond to Raleigh was by carriage over poor roads, the traveling party was obliged to take the sandy "Lower Road" by Suffolk and Halifax.