Lafayette’s 1824 Visit to the United States as The Nation’s Guest

On January 12, 1824, a joint session of Congress made a resolution to extend an official invitation to the Marquis de Lafayette to visit the United States as “The Nation’s Guest”. President James Monroe was authorized to communicate to the Marquis that his visit would be paid for by the American Government and a “National Ship” would convey him to this country. Although fifty years had passed since the close of the Revolutionary War, Lafayette was the last living major general of the Continental Army and was still much loved by Americans. He was remembered for his military service, especially for his part in securing financing, troops, and ships from the French, in addition to his vital role in the American victory at Yorktown.  His close relationship with George Washington further endeared him to the American people as he was widely regarded as Washington’s “adopted son.” Lafayette’s anniversary tour came at an important time as the country reconfirmed its allegiance to the ideas of the Founding Fathers and the memory of the war which gave the nation its liberty and independence. 

“Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be requested to communicate to the Marquis De Lafayette the expression of those sentiments of profound respect, gratitude and affectionate attachment, which and cherished towards him by the government and people of this country; and to assure him that the execution of his wish and intention to visit this country, will be hailed by the People and Government with patriotic pride and joy.”

January 12, 1824

By 1824, the political liberals in France were out of favor and as Lafayette had not been re-elected to his position in the Chamber of Deputies, it was a perfect time to leave France for a while; besides, it had been a long time since he had seen his American friends. Instead of sailing on an American naval ship as offered by Congress, Lafayette opted to cross the Atlantic on a small merchant packet, the Cadmus, which sailed between New York and Le Havre, France. Captain Francis Allyn of New London, Connecticut was captain of the Cadmus and during the four weeks at sea en route to New York, Lafayette had opportunities to form a relationship with Captain Allyn. Allyn and his family remained friends with the Marquis and his family, corresponding through subsequent years and at one point Mrs. Allyn spent several months with the Lafayette family at La Grange. Lafayette also became friendly with the first mate on the Cadmus, twenty-nine-year-old Daniel Chadwick of Lyme, Connecticut. On arrival in New York, Lafayette gifted Chadwick with a set of silver compasses in an enamel cloisonne case inscribed from General La Fayette to Mr. Chadwick and dated 15 Aug 1824.

The Cadmus left Le Havre on July 13, 1824 and arrived in New York August 15, 1824. Traveling with Lafayette was his valet, Sebastien Wagner, who would see to all his personal needs during the trip. Also, along for the journey was Lafayette’s forty-five-year-old son, Georges Washington de La Fayette, who left his wife and children to accompany his father. George looked forward to returning to the United States where he had been sent for safety during the French Revolution. While in America George lived with George and Martha Washington at both the Presidential Mansion in Philadelphia and at Mount Vernon and had also spent time in Boston when attending Harvard. 

Another member of the party was Lafayette’s personal secretary, Auguste Levasseur, a liberal who shared Lafayette’s opinions on both human rights and French politics. On the United States tour, it would be Levasseur’s responsibility to record the journey and send dispatches to French newspapers and journals with the purpose of reviving the liberal spirit in France. Levasseur’s reports demonstrated how a republican government had successfully worked for America and could also work for France. Several years after returning to France, Levasseur published his notes and memoirs of the American tour. In 2006 the work was translated into English by American scholar Alan R. Hoffman. 

Later in the tour Lafayette was joined by a young friend, social reformer Frances “Fanny Wright” and her sister, Camilla. Although the Wright sisters wanted to travel on the Cadmus and arrive in New York with Lafayette, they were discouraged by Lafayette’s family because it was unseemly for two young women to travel unescorted with the hero, so Fanny and Camilla traveled to America separately and arrived in New York in October 1824.  

The Cadmus arrived in New York Harbor on August 15, 1824, and since it was a Sunday, Lafayette postponed his entry into the city until the following day. After a night at the Staten Island home of the son of the vice president of the United States, Daniel D. Thompkins, Lafayette and his entourage were escorted on the steamship The Chancellor Livingston into New York City where Lafayette was greeted by over 80,000 people (about 65 percent of New York City’s population at that time.) The harbor was covered with boats filled with adoring fans hoping for a glimpse of the great man. The scene was captured by engraver Samuel Maverick and soon reproduced by English potters, James and Ralph Clews on their line of dark blue transferware, a popular souvenir sold in America.    

When Lafayette returned to America in 1824, he was no longer the dashing young hero of fifty years earlier. He was sixty-seven years old and had been a widower for the past seventeen years. He walked with a cane as the result of a fall on an icy Paris street (– although the rumor in America was that his limp was caused by a bullet at Brandywine during the Revolutionary War.) Although not heavy, he was no longer the slender youth of nineteen and he wore a brown wig to cover his baldness. Frederick J. Fenn of Washington, Connecticut who had the opportunity of meeting Lafayette in Hartford, Connecticut, described Lafayette as looking as though he was fifty-five years old, that he was of medium height, large boned, muscular, and had large hazel eyes. Fenn added, “he was the picture of universal benevolence.”  

Over the next thirteen months, Lafayette journeyed over six thousand miles to twenty-four states, traveling by coach, horse, canal barge, and steamboat.  Everywhere he went he received a rock star’s welcome with balls, dinners, banquets, parades, speeches, and firework displays given in his honor.  Not a day passed over the 387-day journey without some sort of celebration to salute the great man. A special effort was made in each town to bring forth the living veterans of the Revolutionary War to greet the General. 

During his tour of the United States, Lafayette stopped to visit many old friends including former President John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, and the new U.S. President John Quincy Adams. He also had the opportunity to see William Stephen Hamilton, son of Alexander Hamilton. Along the way, he stopped at Mount Vernon to pay his respects at George Washington’s tomb. On June 17, 1825, Lafayette used a trowel to dig a bit of earth for the laying of the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument. 

On September 7, 1825, Lafayette boarded a United States frigate, which had been re-named Brandywine in honor of the battle where Lafayette was wounded. The previous evening, a state dinner was held to celebrate the general’s sixty-eighth birthday and show a final respect for the departing hero. Three weeks later, the Brandywine arrived in Le Havre having safely delivered Lafayette back to the country of his birth.