The British Surrender Their Arms to General Washington After Their Defeat at Yorktown in Virgin ...

Marquis de Lafayette

French, 1757 - 1834

BiographyMarie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was born into a family of noble military lineage in Chavaniac, France. His father was killed in battle during the Seven Years War, and Lafayette inherited a vast fortune when his mother and grandfather both died in 1770. He joined the Royal Army the following year, and in 1773 married 14-year-old Marie Adrienne Françoise de Noailles, a member of another prominent French family with royal ties. Inspired by the colonists' struggles against British oppression, Lafayette sailed to the newly declared United States in 1777 to join the uprising. He offered to serve without pay, and soon became a major-general in the Continental Army. When he was shot in the leg during the Battle of Brandywine, George Washington requested his own surgeon treat Lafayette as if he were Washington’s own son. The two men forged a close relationship that lasted until Washington's death. Lafayette played a pivotal role in the Battle of Yorktown, and became a celebrated hero. After his return to France, Lafayette was appointed commander of the Paris militia, the Garde National, in 1789, but resigned in 1791. Declared a traitor in 1792, he was imprisoned along with his family and only released in 1797. Lafayette returned to the United States at President Monroe’s invitation in 1824 for a 13-month triumphal tour of 24 states, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the American Revolution. His itinerary included a stop at Mount Vernon where he visited Washington’s grave. Following the Trois Glorieuses revolution in July 1830, he was made commandant of all Garde National units in France, but his position was abolished by December of that year. He died in 1834 in Paris.

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