Georges Washington Motier de Lafayette was the Marquis de Lafayette's only son, and his only child to survive to adulthood. (The Marquis de Lafayette became a major-general in the Continental Army in 1777, and was a close friend of George Washington.) Named after Washington, Georges Washington Motier de Lafayette was born in 1779, when his father returned home for a year to France. When young Lafayette was thirteen, his father was declared a traitor during the so-called Reign of Terror and ultimately imprisoned along with his family. The young Lafayette escaped, disguised as a peasant, to the mountains. With the assistance of James Monroe, he was allowed to travel to America with his tutor, Felix Frestel, in 1795. In February of 1796, young Lafayette joined the Washington household, living in both Philadelphia and Mount Vernon until October 1797, when he learned of his father’s imminent release from prison. In late 1797, Lafayette sailed for France to rejoin his family. He eventually began his own military career, serving as a second lieutenant in the French Army under Napoleon. He married Emilie de Tracy, and the couple and their children lived at LaGrange, the family estate near Paris. Georges Washington Motier de Lafayette traveled to America with his father in 1824 when the Marquis returned at President Monroe’s invitation for a 13-month triumphal tour of 24 states, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the American Revolution.