I hope everyone has an enjoyable and safe holiday….Happy Fourth of July!
Today we celebrate the document that proclaimed the colonies independence from mother England….but since this was the start of our Revolutionary War I want cover a hero that gets little recognition for his service…. Gilbert du Motier, better known as the Marquis de Lafayette.
When I was teaching a political history class at a local college my class of 12 had only one young lady that knew anything about the Marquis.,….I had one genus that thought he was a famous pirate.
The Marquis de La Fayette distinguished himself with his military deeds during the American War of Independence (1775-1783), earning the nickname “Hero of two worlds”. His experience in the United States stoked his love of liberty, and upon returning to France he took part in the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man. He was commander of the National Guard during the Revolution, when his sympathies were split between the monarchy and the revolutionaries. He was eventually forced to flee the country.
He explained his attraction to the American cause in a letter to his wife: “The welfare of America is intimately connected with the happiness of all mankind; she will become the respectable and safe asylum of virtue, integrity, tolerance, equality, and a peaceful liberty.”
Receiving his commission as major general in the Continental Army in 1777, Lafayette first saw action in September of that year at the Battle of Brandywine where he was shot in the leg and recovered from his wound at the Moravian settlement in Bethlehem, Pa. His heroism in the battle encouraged Washington to give the young Frenchman command of a division, and Lafayette stayed with his troops at Valley Forge. After a visit to France in 1779, he returned to America in 1780 with assurances of thousands of French troops who would join the war, and helped Franco-American forces win the surrender of a large British army at Yorktown, Va., in 1781, the last major battle of the war.
Lafayette was injured in the Battle of Brandywine, but his tactical cunning and fearlessness in battle helped to save the Revolution on many occasions. In 1779, Lafayette returned to France and helped to win formal French support for the American cause. Lafayette came to Williamsburg during preparations for the Virginia Campaign of 1781. At Yorktown, Lafayette helped corner Britain’s Lord Cornwallis, whose surrender after several days of siege was a fatal blow that ensured the American victory.
After the American Revolution, Lafayette returned to France, where his popularity soared as he navigated between angry subjects and the monarchy. Lafayette drafted France’s celebrated Declaration of the Rights of the Man and of the Citizen, and advocated for religious toleration and the end of slavery. When most of Europe declared war against France in 1792, Lafayette commanded a French army in the north. But he was taken prisoner by the Austrians and remained with them for nearly five years. Lafayette and his wife, Adrienne de Noailles, had four children, including a son named Georges Washington. The general died in 1834.
More on the life and times of the Marquis….https://theconversation.com/lafayette-helped-americans-turn-the-tide-in-their-fight-for-independence-and-50-years-later-he-helped-forge-the-growing-nations-sense-of-identity-249455
A hero in two worlds…the US and France. He deserves much more recognition than he gets in our history classes.
The world needs more people like the Marquis….if we had them this would be a better world.
“The highest reward that can be bestowed on a revolutionary veteran is to welcome him with a sight of the blessings which have issued from our struggle for independence, freedom and equal rights.”
Class dismissed
+++This will be my only offering for today….I will be grilling for family and a few friends, a tradition of mine on this day….the menu will consist of ribs and burgers, grilled corn and squash and ice cold watermelon to top off the meal.+++
If you are out and about celebrating the fourth then please take care and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”