Following Lafayette's footsteps

Marquis de Lafayette was a French aristocrat and military officer who served in the United States during the American Revolution. Born on September 6th, 1757 to a wealthy family, he grew up in France and joined the Mousquetaires du Roi, (Musketeers of the Guard), commissioning as an officer in 1771 at the age of 14. Lafayette eventually demanded to be sent to the English colonies to take part in the fight, but was refused. 

Lafayette was undeterred. He bought a sailing vessel, the Victoire, and set sail in April 1777 for America, arriving in South Carolina in June. There, he met with the Continental Congress and offered to serve without pay, and on July 31st, 1777, was commissioned as a Major General. In that role, he impressed General George Washington, and served on his staff, and fought at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11th, 1777, where he was shot in the leg. After recovering, he returned to the front lines and fought at the Battle of Gloucester on November 24th, 1777. 

From there, he stayed with Washington at Valley Forge, and was then asked to help mount an invasion of Canada in the spring of 1778. Over the course of that summer, he fought in three battles: at Barren Hill in Pennsylvania on May 18th, Monmouth in New Jersey on June 28th, and Rhode Island in Newport on August 29th, 1778.

When he returned to France in 1779 he was promptly arrested and placed on house arrest for disobeying King Louis. His arrest was for show: he was immensely popular in the country. While at home, he worked with Benjamin Franklin to secure more soldiers to help the American cause and returned to America in 1780, where he was given command of a division and fought in Virginia and at the Battle of Yorktown. 

Following the American Revolution, Lafayette was granted American citizenship and returned home a hero and would play a role during the French Revolution in 1789. His fortunes eventually declined as political turmoil upended his home country, and it wasn’t until 1824 that he was invited back into the United States for the new nation's fiftieth celebration. He arrived in August in New York City and embarked on a national tour, visiting the various states, including Vermont. 

The Lafayette Trail

The Lafayette Trail is an organization (Sponsored by the The William G. Pomeroy Foundation) that commemorates Lafayette's grand tour. 2024 marked the 200th anniversary of his visit, and over the course of his return, he stopped by a number of locations in Vermont. The organization marked each location with a red, white, and blue sign featuring a silhouette of Lafayette's profile. 

Starting in June 1825, Lafayette visited New York, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire, before arriving in Claremont, New Hampshire on June 27th. 

• Cornish, NH: This marker was installed on October 30th, 2020, near the bridge that Lafayette used to cross into Vermont on June 28th.
• Windsor, VT: A Lafayette Trail marker was dedicated on September 7th, 2022, in front of the Windsor House, where he was escorted to Pette’s Hotel where he was welcomed to the state by Vermont Governor Cornelius Van Ness on June 28th.
• Woodstock, VT: A Lafayette Trail marker was dedicated on the Woodstock Green on September 7, 2022. This is where Lafayette was received by Revolutionary War veterans and partook in refreshments at the Barkers Hotel on June 28th
• Royalton, VT: This marker was installed in Royalton at the corner of Bridge St and VT Route 14 on October 27th, 2020. This is where he was received at Smith’s hotel on June 28th by a town committee.
• Montpelier, VT: A Lafayette Trail marker was installed in front of the Vermont Supreme Court in Montpelier, VT, where Lafayette was led to the Vermont State House (the first VT state house, then located where the SCB is now), where he met with state representatives and reviewed soldiers on the green on June 28th. He’d spend the night at the Pavilion hotel. (This sign is located to the left of the Vermont Historical Society museum and Pavilion Building.)
• Burlington, VT: On June 29th, Lafayette met with several women’s groups in Montpelier, then departed for Burlington, where he arrived at 11:00 AM, helped lay the cornerstone of UVM’s South College (now the Old Mill Building), spent time at the Grasse Mount estate at UVM, and then departed for Whitehall, NY. (There isn’t a Lafayette Trail marker, but there is a statue of Lafayette on North end of the University Green along Pearl Street.)
• Whitehall, NY. Lafayette reached Whitehall, the southern tip of Lake Champlain on June 30, 1825 and got off the Phoenix II on the western bank of the Champlain Canal. He then crossed a footbridge filled with bystanders on his way to New York City.

In July 1825, Lafayette continued his journey, going through New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, and departed for France on September 7th. 

You might have learned about Lafayette from studying the American Revolution in school, but there's also a good chance that you might have come across him in another place: the Broadway play Hamilton, in which the character Lafayette played a key role. This summer, we'll get the opportunity to recreate the tour during its 200th anniversary, and in doing so, learn a bit more about founding of the country as we come closer to the United States Semiquincentennial (250th anniversary). Lafayette's story is a unique opportunity to learn a bit more about the larger story of the American Revolution, and the role that he played. 

To learn more about Lafayette's tour, you can watch an installment of our series This Place in History about his visit.