Carol Mulvihill, age 14, of Vancouver, Wash., for her question:
HOW DID THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE HELP AMERICA?.
Marquis de Lafayette was a french soldier and statesman who fought for American independence and was a prominent leader in the French Revolution. George Washington made him a major general in the American Army and he later assisted in the negotiations that won American independence.
At the age of 13, Lafayette inherited a great fortune in France. At the age of 16 he married the daughter of one of the most influential families in the country and shortly afterward, he became a captain in the cavalry.
Lafayette disliked court life. He welcomed the American Revolution as an opportunity to win military glory by fighting against England for France. He purchased a ship and landed in America in 1777 with a troop of soldier adventurers. He was only 20 years old then, but he impressed the Continental Congress and George Washington.
Lafayette was wounded at the battle of Brandywine. He also fought at Gloucester and served with Washington at Valley Forge during the terrible winter of 1777 78. Later he led troops in the battles of Barren Hill and Monmouth, and in the campaign of Rhode Island.
In 1779, after France declared war on England, Lafayette returned home as a hero. He had hoped to join an invasion of England, but it never took place. Instead, he persuaded his government to send aid to the American colonists.
In April, 1780, Lafayette returned to his post in the American Army. Later that year he served in the court martial that condemned Major John Andre to be hanged as a spy for plotting with Benedict Arnold to surrender West Point.
Returning to France in 1782 at the age of 24, Lafayette was a hero to two worlds. At home in France, he cooperated closely with Benjamin Franklin, and later with Thomas Jefferson, in behalf of American interests.
Lafayette revisited America in 1784 and stayed at Mount Vernon with Washington. He made still another visit in 1824. On both visits, a grateful nation received him with enthusiasm.
In 1803, as a show of American appreciation, Lafayette was given a huge land grant in Louisiana. And during his last visit, Congress voted that $200,000 and a township in Florida be given to him.
In 1830, home in France, Lafayette became the leader of a revolution that dethroned the Bourbons. Again in command of the National Guard, he refused a popular demand that he become president of the new republic.
Instead, Lafayette used his influence to make Louis Philippe the constitutional monarch of France. But before his death at the age of 77, in 1834, he came to regret this decision and began to hope for a pure republic.
Lafayette’s grave in Picpus Cemetery in Paris was covered with earth from Bunker Hill. In the United States he received the same military honors that had been given earlier to George Washington.