^^0^ :-.%. J'\^:i^^^^^ .y\:k*i:.V J'.^J^^f^^ -»'* -^^ '<*'S^ -1 o » K> * ^o aP-Tt,. A ^ M LAFAYELTTE, IN AMERICA. ♦ "^^ '^ By »|f "k ?J? the Honorable JbhiyD.Lony Ex-Secretaxy of the Navy The YOUTH'S Companion, Boston, Mass. Lafayette in America. From The Youth's Companion, July 3, 1902. The American Revolution is the romance of our national youth, always fresh with the charm of poetry and story, and woven into the traditions of the people. Its battles were insignificant in the numbers engaged and the blood spilled ; its victories were pitifully few ; its blunders and jealousies and failures were innumerable. But in its entirety it was the glorious, patriotic outburst of the spirit of national inde- pendence in an intelligent and self-respecting people. In its persistence, its territorial range, the odds it overcame and the results it achieved, it was the best and most prolific effort of the century — the birth of a new nation, springing quickly toward first rank, and inspiring the liberalizing revolution of European states and the larger political enfranchisement of mankind. I never tire of the story. The farmers who, with equal vigor, argued all day in town meeting for a new hinge for the meeting-house door, or shouldered their muskets and risked their lives and fortunes to maintain the birthright of freedom ; the minutemen who rose in the early morning of April 19th to "do chores," but before daybreak were gathering on Lexington Common, proclaiming that the whole British Empire was only a feather's weight against the cause of one Middlesex 3^eoman, taxed without his consent ; the Maryland regiments and the Delaware line that came to such splendid discipline and valor in battle ; and those devoted Southern soldiers under Pickens and Marion and Sumter, who, while their part of the country suffered more than any other from the ravages of the war, fought the British legions until they drove them to the sea — of these men and their comrades I never weary of hearing. Especially is it interesting to remember 4 LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. that what we are apt to regard as the patriarchal character of the heroes of the Revolution was really the ardor, the fire, the 'dash of young men, brave, gallant and enthusiastic. Washington, towering like a mountain crest in the sunrise, and most familiar to our eyes in the venerable picture by Stuart, was but forty-three when made commander-in-chief, in the pith and vigor of his ripening manhood ; Greene, who redeemed the South and out of constant defeat plucked the glory of victory, was only thirty-three in 1775 ; Arnold, hero of Lake Champlain and Saratoga, and until his foul, unpar- donable treason our most efficient and enterprising brigadier, was thirty-four ; Wayne, the " Mad Anthony," always in the thickest of the fight, was thirty; Morgan, the unsurpassed fighter, was thirty-nine ; Knox, a Boston bookseller, who rose to the chieftainship of artillery, was barely twenty-five ; Sullivan was thirty-five; "Light-Horse Harry" Lee, the dashing cavalry leader, father of the great Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, was nineteen, just out of Princeton College ; John Jay was thirty ; Jefferson, thirty-two ; John Adams, the Colossus, forty ; Hamilton, the aide-de-camp and bosom friend of Washington, who, even before the war ended, conceived the scheme of our constitutional government and financial system, and afterward embodied them in our national fabric, was only eighteen. These men, and many more, gave their very youth, gave all. Many of them became bankrupt. Greene, second to Washington, died trying after the war to redeem his fortunes in the South, for which he had fought so well. There was little cause for encouragement at first. The battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill were fought with inde- cisive results. Arnold's expedition to Canada, more heroic and trying than Xenophon's march, suffered inexpressible hardships in the head waters of the Kennebec and Chaudiere. Made up of the best young men in Washington's army from Virginia, Pennsylvania and New England, star\'ed and frozen and reduced in numbers, it was mjserably defeated under the LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. walls of Quebec, although Arnold and Morgan and Aaron Burr and every man remaining fought with courage worthy of success. Boston was indeed vacated by the British as a measure of military discretion, but New York was impregnable in their hands. The ill-disciplined army of Washington was rapidly shattered and routed at Long Island. The provincial militia were disbanding and returning to their homes ; the royalists 6 LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. were exultant ; captivating offers of amnesty by I/Ord Howe were causing many Americans to waver. The darkest hour of the Revolution had come, when the youngest of all the heroes, a boy only seventeen when lycxington Common was dyed with patriot blood, landed in South Carolina, near Charleston, in June, 1777, to give his fortune and, if need be, his life to the cause of American freedom. This was Lafayette. An aristocrat of noble blood and great wealth, a favorite at court, a recent husband, and hold- ing command in the roj^al army, he risked all for what was almost a hopeless endeavor. Fitting out a vessel at his own cost, he embarked on her from a Spanish port. Against the advice of friends and the command of his sovereign, he sailed to our aid. It is doubtful whether our independence could have been achieved without the material and moral aid of European powers. They no doubt were actuated more or less by the selfish consideration of humbling a powerful rival. Indeed, the spirit of our Revolution was in direct opposition to the restraint and absolutism in which their own authority rested. France spent millions in men and fleets that saved us, but in so doing increased those exactions upon her own people and encouraged among them those notions of freedom and license which afterward culminated in her own bloody revo- lution and her ultimate republicanism. Our final success was due to many elements : to our terri- torial extent and the impossibility of the enemy's controlling or holding more than a narrow line of seaboard ; to our spirit of independence and unconquerable determination ; to the moral popular sentiment of Germany, Russia and Holland, which began to flow out to us after the first few years of the war ; to the abundant money, arms, men and ships of France ; and not least to the moral aid of ho.sts of Englishmen whose sympathies were with us, — Chatham, Camden, Fox, Burke, Conway, Barry and many others, — who spoke brave words for us in the British Parliament. LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. 7 We owe a debt to England herself for our independence from England. If the moral and physical force of Great Britain had been unanimously concentrated against us we could not have resisted it. LAF-A.YETTE AT THE TIHB OF HIS LAST VISIT In addition to all these forces we owe our independence also not a little to the personal aid of individual foreigners, some of them no doubt knights errant looking for glory and gain; but many — De Kalb, Steuben, Pulaski, Kosciusko, 8 LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. and especiall}' Lafayette — inspired by an ardent love of liberty for its own sake. It is not easy to estimate how much these examples, reviving the enthusiasm of the crusaders and the epochs of romance and chivalry, gave charm to our banner, and won for it the smiles of the world's favor. Lafayette was accompanied by De Kalb, who fell three years later on the bloody field of Camden. At midnight, under the summer stars, they landed on the beach in South Carolina. Lafayette was received with an enthusiastic welcome. The equality of the people, their simple habits and their inartifi- cial relations and modes of life delighted him. It was a long journe}' overland by carriage and then on horseback, by winding and picturesque roads, with stays and inns and country residences, to Philadelphia, where Congress was then in session. Here he had a disappointment. Silas Deane, an old-fashioned politician, our commissioner in Paris, had promised him, as he did everybody else, a major-generalship ; but Congress, now wearied with the importunities of adven- turers, was not inclined to recognize Lafayette's claims. True to his chivalrous quest he wrote at once : " After the sacrifices I have made, I have a right to exact two favors : one is to serve at m)^ own expense, the other is to serve as a volunteer." Congress gave him a major-general's commission, without, however, a command. It was then — in August, 1777 — that Lafayette first met Washington, and their loyal and enduring friendship began. Lafayette was made the aid of the American commander-in-chief and an inmate of his famih'. He soon had a fighting chance at the Battle of Brandy wine. It was a small affair but a brave fight. As was so often the case, numbers, discipline and, shall we say, generalship were on the side of the enemy. Lafayette left the staff and served with the ranks in the hottest of the battle even after struck by a musket-ball. Philadelphia was lost and Congress fled. Nothing was more significant of the determination of the patriots than the heroism with which they endured year after LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. 9 year this ignominy of defeat, this humiliation of long waiting and then disaster, these seemingly wasted campaigns. Lafayette, after remaining long enough with the Moravians at Bethlehem to recover from his wound, joined General Greene as a volunteer in an expedition to New Jersey, and Congress then gave him command of an active division of the army. The campaign of 1777 was at an end. The army retired to the sad and pitiful winter encampment at Valley Forge, historic with the blood-stained footprints of the soldiers and their want and hunger. Lafayette shared all privations. Here he daih' cemented his intimacy with Washington, and, amid the miserable intrigues to undermine that noble leader, was devoted to him. Here, too, he wrote to France, frequently and urgently recom- mending- the acknowledgment of American independence. The year 1778 opened not inauspiciously. More efficient discipline had been introduced into the army, which was thenceforward in its regular regiments an army of veterans with the steadiness of trained soldiers. In February France acknowledged our independence. In Ma}' Lafayette was in command of some two thousand men as an advanced guard half-way to Philadelphia. In the summer the British vacated that cit}', and Washington was immediately up and at them on their retreat. He made a fierce attack at the Battle of Monmouth, which, by one of those too frequent mishaps that so often plucked the flower of success from his outstretched hand, while it should have been a victory, resulted indecisively. It was on the eve of this battle that Gen. Charles Lee, the crookedest of sticks, gave up his command ; and then, when he saw it was given to Lafayette with orders to attack, begged to reassume it. Lafaj-ette gracefully yielded, and Lee, under strict command from Washington to fight and hold his ground, at early morning fell on the enemy, Washington pushing forward with the reserve. To us it is a dramatic scene — Washington, the noblest lO LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. rider in the army, in full glory of manhood and physical strength, ardently advancing with certain hope. To his utter consternation he overtakes not his battling soldiers, but is met by fugitives, who tell him that Lee, perhaps not unwill- ing to hinder success where in the obstinacy of opinion he had predicted defeat, had ordered a retreat. Washington, in towering but pardonable passion, demanded the reason for such a shameful turn. Boldly mounted, and with drawn sword flashing the way, like Sheridan at Win- chester, he turned the tide of battle; his troops followed their leader. Forward went Lee, stung with shame ; for- ward went Sterling and Wayne and Knox and Lafayette ; and in spite of the morning disaster, they sustained the conflict in the terrific heat of that summer day and the unequal balance of the fight, until night ended the battle and the combatants rested. Washington and Lafayette lay upon the field under the same cloak. One loves to fancy their conversation over the day's events, their plans for the renewed attack at dawn, the confidence of the chieftain, the responsive sympathy of the enthusiastic Frenchman, the sleep of tired heroes. When morning came the enemy had abandoned the field and fled. In July the French fleet under D'Estaing arrived, and the expedition against the British forces at Newport, Rhode Island, was planned, D'Estaing attacking by sea and Sullivan by land. Lafayette was ordered to a command under the latter, but storms scattered the fleet, and Sullivan was com- pelled to retire, Lafayette finding no other occupation than that of reconciling the dissensions which began to arise between the French and the Americans. To his effort is due something of the harmony which afterward existed between the two cooperating armies, and which insured their final SAipcess. "Kin January, 1779, Lafayette sailed from Boston to France. The slight coolness with which, for his disobedience two years before, he was received at court quickly melted in the LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. I I sunshine of royal favor. His fame spread and he was a hero. He solicited vessels, men and money for America, and wrote generous words of cheer to his comrades there. It was said that he would have sold the furniture of the royal palace to aid them. Count de Rochambeau was ordered to America with ships of the line, six or seven thousand men, artillery and clothing and other supplies, and the troops were ordered to serve as auxiliaries under Washington. Lafayette, preceding them, returned hither with the welcome news of their coming. Arriving in Boston April 27, 1780, Governor Hancock received him and the people welcomed him. He reported quickly to Washington, and Congress reinstated him in his command. It was a corps of light infantry of two thousand men, fine fellows, but destitute of clothing, which he at his own expense supplied. He was one of the board before whom Andr^ was tried and convicted as a spy. He was one of the commissioners who treated with and pacified the Pennsylvania line when, worn with privations, starving, unclothed, unpaid and unable longer to endure the neglect of Congress, they mutinied. In camp and council, in embassy and correspondence, in march and in battle, in going from one colony to another to raise supplies and money, and by his example and enthusiasm, he did constant service. His most brilliant military exploit was in 1781, when in Virginia and in independent command he attempted, in con- junction with the French fleet, to surprise the traitor Arnold, who with a division of British troops was ravaging that State. The French fleet, however, was not on time, and the enter- prise was fruitless. He was then ordered to join General Greene in the Caro- linas. His troops, veterans of Northern fields, at first refused to expose themselves to the Southern climate ; desertions began, but such was his appeal to them that they rallied about him and followed him. At Baltimore he loaned his own 12 LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. personal credit for ten thousand dollars, to furnish them with hats, shoes, shirts and overalls, in making which the women of Baltimore gave their needles. Cornwallis, entering Virginia from the south, pressed Lafay- ette with twice his force, exclaiming, "The boy cannot escape me! " But the "boy" eluded his pursuer, and his versatility and prudence in this campaign won him great reputation. Yorktown is the crowning glorj- of Washington's military career. For j^ears he had patiently held his post in the high- lands of New York and in the Jerseys, waiting to attack Sir Henry Clinton in New York and retake that city. Clinton had ordered Cornwallis in the South to detach a part of his force to protect New York. Washington saw the golden opportunity. He had just been reenforced by all the French soldiers from Newport. France had agreed to furnish one loan, and another was negotiating with Holland. A French fleet was on its way to Chesapeake Bay. Cooperating with it, Washington began his joyous march, the French and American soldiers side by side, concealing as much as pos- sible his ultimate design, which was to surround and capture Cornwallis, with his still powerful force, in Virginia. The latter had entrenched himself heavily at Yorktown. Lafayette in the South, familiar with Washington's plans, cut off Cornwallis from the Carolinas. Uniting with Wash- ington, their soldiers surrounded the British by land, while the French fleet shut them in from the sea. The game was in the net. On October 6, 1781, Washington opened his trenches within six hundred yards of the British line, the Americans on the right, the French on the left. It was like the climax of the last act of a great drama. Two redoubts of the enemy were ordered by Washington to be carried by the baj'onet, the Americans attacking one, the French the other, — the former under Lafayette, Alexander Hamilton leading the van, — all emulous with the generous enthusiasm of national LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. 13 pride, carrying the redoubts like a whirlwind. On the 19th came the surrender, the end of the war and the consummation of independence. Lafayette, his name unspotted, his fame fair, warm in the hearts of the people, set sail for France on December 22d. Peace came in January, 1783. In response to the warmest invitations, Lafayette returned in July, 1784, landing in New York, and going thence to Philadelphia and Baltimore, everywhere meeting old comrades, his whole pathway filled with applause. At Mount Vernon Washington, retired to private life, renewed with him for many days the associations of the past. It is not the least evidence of the greatness of Washington that this favorite pupil in all his after career was inspired by his great example. Lafayette's journey now turned northward to Boston, which received him with its proverbial hospitality. With General Knox at the head of the table, he sat with many of the officers of the army at a banquet, where no doubt these veterans fought their battles over again. After an extended trip along the coast, revisiting Yorktown and again lingering at Mount Vernon to part forever from Washington, he received the final adieu and thanks of Con- gress at Trenton, and left our shores December 25, 1784. It is not the purpose of this article to dwell upon Lafayette's career in France. On his return thither, full of the spirit of freedom, he was active in efforts for the emancipation of slaves, liberating his own, corresponding with Washington. For a time he was perhaps the most notable figure in the dramatic events which culminated in the French Revolution. He was a member of the National Assembly of 1789, in which he brought forward a declaration of rights. He was com- mander-in-chief of the National Guards. He favored the abolition of titles of nobilit3^ and aided in the adoption of a wise and liberal constitution. The storm, however, was not to be laid b}' a written 14 LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. parchment. The Red Terror was master. Lafayette, in command of the military forces in the north of France, saved his head from the guillotine by flight to the Netherlands. Then came the saddest reverse of fickle fortune. Captured by the Austrians, imprisoned at Olmiitz, he suffered the indignities of a dungeon. Washington personally addressed the Emperor of Austria in his behalf. In the British Par- liament even his old adversaries in the American campaigns lifted their voices for him. Romance intervened. A young American, son of that Colonel Huger at whose house Lafay- ette spent his first night after landing in South Carolina, and a young German doctor planned and half-accomplished his escape. But he was recaptured and subjected to even greater sever- ities in his imprisonment. It was reserved for a mightier power, the boy Bonaparte, scattering the hosts of Austria and snatching her Italian provinces like playthings, to restore Lafayette to liberty after more than five years' imprisonment. Lafayette retired to his family estate, and for nearly twenty years, until 1814, lived there quietly. His son, named George Washington, had recently returned from living in Washington's famil3^ Lafayette declined a peerage or any position under Napoleon. In 1824 he carried out his long-cherished purpose of revisiting America. He sailed from Havre July 13th, accom- panied by his son, George Washington, to spend a year in the republic he had helped to found. His eyes fell on teem- ing States where he had left a narrow seaboard line of strug- gling colonies. New York welcomed him with the wildest acclamations. During the year he went all over the country, through the West and South, greeted with affection ; gazing on new commonwealths sprung out of the wilderness ; witnessing the exciting presidential contest between Adams, Jackson, Clay and Crawford ; admiring the order of our political system that rocked in the storm of an election, but rode all taut and LAFAYETTE IN AMERICA. I5 strong ; and, fresh from the failure of the French Republic, admiring the success of our constitutional system. Congress welcomed him in the stirring words of Clay, who pictured him as a sainted patriot visiting the scene of his earthly labors and witnessing the fruits of his sacrifices in the felicity and increase of the land. President John Quincy Adams addressed him in the words of the florid eloquence of that day, saying that "If in future days a Frenchman shall be called on to indicate the character of his nation by that of one individual, the blood of lofty patriotism shall mantle in his cheek, the fire of conscious virtue shall sparkle in his eye, and he shall pronounce the name of Lafayette. " He visited the tomb of Washington and, descending into the vault alone, lingered in silent communion with the dead. On June 17, 1825, he laid the corner-stone of the monument at Bunker Hill, tlie only present surviving staff-ofiicer of the army of the Revolution. He, the founder of the nation, heard the famous address of Daniel Webster, its matchless consti- tutional defender. In September, 1825, he left our shores. In 1830 he was again called to the head of the National Guard of France, and in the public clamor for the republic might possibly have been made its president. On May 20, 1834, at seventy-seven years of age, full of honor, " the man of two worlds," he died. His name will always be associated with the romance of the American Revolution and the birth of our nation. His name has always a charm for the American ear. We erect his statue ; we have named our cities and our children for him ; we associate him with Washington. He is our historic ideal of modern chivalrousness. In the choir of the morning stars of the republic he is one of the brightest. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 3?^ ^^^^•^^•^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ :^^l LAFAYELTTE. IN AMERICA. •?? <^Sf # ^ -i* -If ?«? ^e Honorable SohiyD.Loru^ Ex-Secretary o^ theNa;^ I j« fli j« ;^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1^^ 28 ^ ►■* V"^*/ V^\y v^*/ ^ (O A- '^^i^i^*