Lafayette

On American Independence Day, 1917 a US battalion marched to the Picpus Cemetery in Paris. The destination point was the tomb of a great French hero, a man of the Enlightenment, a prominent figure in two revolutions. General Pershing, present on that summer’s day in 1917 attributes the telling phrase to his compatriot, Colonel Charles E Staton: “Lafayette, nous voila!” – Lafayette, here we are! The Americans’ intervention was to be decisive in the great European war, during the American war for liberation some 140 years earlier Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayatte had played an important role. For he had stood shoulder to shoulder with George Washington, had fought with great distinction and became an American hero. Staton’s statement was a recognition of a debt due, a soldier’s salute to a comrade in arms. The colonel’s declaration serves as illustration of a nation’s grateful thanks to a man of courage and commitment in the cause of American freedom.

The Marquis de Lafayette enjoyed a place of distinction within the ancient regime, yet the young aristocrat had turned to America. He, and many in his circle, were excited by the call of liberty but unlike the other young noblemen Lafayette determined to fight for the cause: to seek adventure and to serve with distinction. At the prompting of Benjamin Franklin the nineteen year old marquis chartered, at his own expense, a ship, La Victoire, in which he and a number of fellow officers commissioned from the French army crossed the Atlantic.

A famous Currier & Ives print commemorates the first meeting between Washington and Lafayette at the City Tavern, Philadelphia on 31st July 1777. The lithograph presents a rather courtly scene, but in reality the circumstances surrounding this first introduction were very different. The Frenchman had arrived in America with the promise of high military rank and the expectation of a warm welcome, but instead he found himself kept at arms length by the military and civil authorities. A lesser man, with the resources financial and otherwise, might have returned home but Lafayette persisted. He wrote to Congress and made just two demands: “One is to serve at my own expense; the other is to begin my service as a volunteer.” In truth George Washington greeted a painfully young man with precious little military experience, a limited grasp of the English language and high expectations. Washington, by contrast, carried the burdens of military command. The Continental army, poorly resourced and riven by local loyalties, was fairing badly, during the preceding months the general had succeeded only in evading and retreating. The commander, despite his personal authority and fame, was under considerable pressure.

On the day of the meeting Lafayette had received the sash of a major-general and with it his commission:

“Whereas the Marquis de Lafayette, out of his great zeal to the cause of liberty, in which the United States are engaged, has left his family and his connexions, and, at his own expense, comes over to offer his service to the United States, without pension or particular allowance, and is anxious to risk his life in our cause. [It is here resolved] that his service be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connections, he have the rank and commission of major-general in the army of the United States.”

This commission was issued in no small part as a political expediency, the marquis was, after all, the first ‘old world’ nobleman to truly take up the patriots’ cause but the rank was intended to be honorary, yet Lafayette did indeed risk his life for the cause and gave much more besides.

On his first day of battle, at Brandywine Creek in September 1777 the marquis was shot in the leg as the patriots sought to hold ground. These were desperate days for the American cause but throughout Lafayette remained convinced of the ultimate victory of the patriots. Throughout the long winter that followed the marquis proved, despite his tender years, to be an exemplary commander. Despite his ‘ardor for glory’ he was prudent and circumspect (characteristics which were later to be demonstrated at Barren Hill), and was mindful of the wellbeing of his men, he fed and clothed them as best he could, and used his own private credit to settle their pressing debts. Furthermore he proved himself a staunch supporter of his commander George Washington and an able advocate for the patriots.

Lafayette’s abilities were recognized when during that same winter he was appointed to a delegation to the gathering of the Six Tribes. In the north the British had bought the support of the Iroquois, encouraging the tribe to attack those who had ‘taken their lands’. Congress sought to reassure the Six Nations and the young Frenchman, still only twenty, accompanied General Schuyler. Armed only with trinkets, including French louis pieces made into medallions the patriots parleyed with the Indian tribes and a treaty was concluded. Lafayette’s generosity greatly impressed the tribes and they adopted him as a ‘father’ giving him the name Kayewla.

When France allied themselves to the American cause in 1778 the marquis filled the role of field liaison officer for the Franco-American alliance, while at the same time holding his own command. He also returned to France as an emissary for the patriot cause. By 1781 Lafayette had returned to America and was in the vanguard at Yorktown in October of that year. This proved to be the decisive victory of the war and the marquis was lauded for his part in it. Lafayette believed that the British would make one further effort to win back America and made it known that he wished to be used again as a soldier-diplomat. Congress granted his wish. He was once again, granted a congressional letter of recommendation to Louis XVI and appointed adviser to the Americans’ representatives in Europe.

General Lafayette had proved himself to be a fine commander, a man of great personal courage and came to be seen as the personification of the union of two nations that had overcome the British. He returned to his native land as a hero.

In 1784 Lafayette once more travelled to America. He visited his old friend George Washington at Mount Vernon. In Virginia he addressed the House of Delegates, prayed for the “liberty of all mankind” and urged emancipation. In Pennsylvania he urged the legislature for a federal union. He visited the Mohawk Valley in New York and intervened for peace with the Iroquois . Lafayette received an honorary degree from Harvard, a portrait of Washington from the city of Boston and a bust from the state of Virginia. Maryland, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Virginia granted him honorary citizenship.

During the tumultuous years of the French revolution Lafayette took the side of freedom. In 1789 he presented a draft of the declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. He sat in the National assembly as a constitutional royalist, and found himself persecuted by the Jacobins, spending six wretched years in an Austrian prison before being released on the orders of Napoleon. He was elected to the Chamber of Deputies under the Charter of 1815 and became a liberal member of the Chamber following the Bourbon Restoration.

In 1824 President James Monroe invited General Lafayette to visit the United States as part of the nation’s 50th anniversary celebrations. From the moment of his arrival it was evident that the American people welcomed the old hero with ebullient praise and great generosity of spirit. Lafayatte’s secretary, Auguste Levasseur, recorded the events of the 16th August 1824:

“As we advanced, the forts which protected the [New York city harbour] and afterwards the houses bordering on the water became more distinctly visible: soon after we could distinguish the crowd which everywhere covered the shore, perceived its agitation, and hear the shouts of joy. At two o’clock, the general landed at the battery amid the acclamation of two hundred thousand voices, which hailed him with sounds of blessing and welcome. The Lafayette Guards dressed in an elegant and neat uniform, bearing on their breast the portrait of the general, escorted him in front of the long line of militia drawn up to receive him. The general, attended by a numerous and brilliant staff, marched along the front as he advanced, each corps presented arms and saluted him with its colours; all were decorated with a ribband bearing his portrait, and the legend ‘Welcome Lafayatte’ – words which were everywhere written and repeated by every tongue. During the review, the cannon thundered on the shore, in the forts and from all the vessels of war.”

During a stay of thirteen months Lafayatte was to visit all 24 of the American states and the enthusiasm of the American people was to be repeated in each and every town and city. He was everywhere commended and lauded as a hero of the revolution and as the last surviving great man of the war for liberty. In the words of James R Gaines Lafayette was “the embodiment of all that America had been through and accomplished and would become.”

Lafayatte visited the battlegrounds of Germantown, Barren Hill and Brandywine, gathering a crowd of Revolutionary War veterans. When they sought to praise him he told them to remember Washington: always remember Washington. For Lafayette Washington was his American ‘father’ – his friend, his model, the one who had shaped the young Frenchmen so many years before. During this last American sojourn Lafayette twice visited the Washington tomb at Mount Vernon and on the second occasion did so privately, so that he might say his last goodbyes quietly and with solemnity.

Wherever he went Lafayatte was the guest of the nation. Thomas Jefferson wrote to the general hoping that the American people “would not kill him with their kindness”. Such was the generosity of the the Americans that the old hero was showered with gifts; from a $200,000 indemnity from Congress to sack-fulls of soil from the battlegrounds of Bunker Hill and Brandywine (in which the old general said he wished to be buried). It has been noted that two centuries on there are more than four hundred Fayettes, Fayettevilles and Lafayattes on the map of the United States.

Amongst the gifts bestowed was a set of buttons, made from Carolina gold and bearing the likeness of his old friend, George Washington. The buttons were manufactured at the mill by the river in the town of Waterbury, Connecticut.

The firm of Leavenworth, Haydon & Scovill manufactured, appropriately, military and dress buttons. The design was conceived with a Washington portrait medallion to the front and with an inscription to Lafayette on the reverse. In addition to the set presented to the Frenchman in New York, around the time of the 4th July celebrations  in 1825, some three months before his departure home, three further buttons were made, one each for the firm’s partners. It is likely that these three were the examples displayed at a Wall Street store and recorded by the New York Gazette as “examples of the skill of American artists.” The set of buttons presented to the general were to be applied to a suit of blue woolen cloth which had been made and gifted to Lafayette in Carolina.

A pamphlet produced for the Mattatuck Historical Society in 1951 pieces together the history of the three American buttons. By the last years of the century only one button remained. It seems likely that this provided the pattern for the ‘copy’ buttons manufactured in 1876 and again in 1916, but beyond this the pamphlet’s author could offer little detail and expressed doubts that the original buttons were still in existence. At that juncture, to the author’s knowledge, the Lafayette presentation buttons was lost to the world.

Some years later ten buttons came to light, discovered amongst artifacts long concealed at the general’s home, Chateau La Grange, near Paris. These buttons now feature at the Lafayette Museum. The button here offered is also from the presentation set and the story of this single button casts light on an earlier discovery, and recovery, of the set.

Towards the end of the 19th century Margaret Thornton, lady’s maid to Mme de Lasteyrie at La Grange was asked to clear old clothing from the attics. Amongst these effects was an old blue woolen coat, with gilt buttons. Margaret didn’t discard the coat but brought it to the attention of Mme de Lasteyrie. The buttons were found to be gold and Margaret, a loyal employee, was given one of the buttons by way of a thank you. Evidently the attics at La Grange were later sealed, perhaps as a precaution as the skies darkened over France in the early years of the last century, to be reopened during the 1950′s. The attic archive was to provide material for the Lafayette Museum but the preservation of these most rare buttons is due to the diligence of the English-born lady’s maid.

Margaret married Francois Lacroix, the butler at La Grange, in 1890 and left the employ of the de Lasteyries two years later. The button, a cherished memento passed to her children and grand children who made enquires about the button and this lead to the publication of an article in the Waterbury Sunday Republican in 1967. Another generation on and the family have decided to offer ‘Nanny’ Thornton’s Lafayette button for sale.

The appearance of the Washington – Lafayette gold button on the open market is a unique event. An artifact that takes us back to the American War for freedom and to the foundation of the nation, This small item links two great and remarkable men who made liberty their watchword.