Gilbert du Motier, better known as Marquis de Lafayette, had the world at his feet. He was wealthy and had a deep family history in French nobility and military. He could have done just about anything with his life. Instead of resting on his laurels and enjoying the privileges his life had to offer, he was driven to live on the edge. From battlefields in a foreign country to inciting revolution to imprisonment to celebration, the Marquis inspired many and left a legacy of service and dedication to his beliefs that remain unmatched centuries later.
Ambitious in His Youth
Born September 6, 1757, Lafayette was not born a Marquis, his paternal family title, but was baptized Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier. As a young man, he went by Gilbert.
Gilbert was born at a castle called Chateau Chavaniac, the home of his family for hundreds of years before his birth. In south-central France, Chavaniac was a remote, hilly area mostly populated by peasant farmers. Among their poor neighbors, the Motier or Lafayette family was very wealthy. Both sides of Gilbert’s family were descended from long lines of French nobility, with a strong military heritage that went all the way back to the time of the Crusades.
His father, who was Marquis de Lafayette at the time of Gilbert’s birth, was a colonel in an elite branch of the army, the French Grenadiers, who served the king of France. As a baby, Gilbert did not spend much time with his father, who was often traveling as a result of his military duties.
When Gilbert was just two, his father was killed in the Battle of Minden, which was part of the Seven Years’ War. With the death of his father, Gilbert inherited his new title and became the Marquis de Lafayette.
Educated by a local priest, the young Marquis moved to Paris with his mother, referred to as Jolie or Julie, when he was ten. Their home was located at Luxembourg Palace, and Lafayette began his classical education. At first, he struggled, missing his friends. He’d never been exposed to nobility beyond his own family, and his rural accent made him stand out. However, his military ambitions, which he’d held since childhood, drove him to success in both his schooling and military training. Unfortunately, in his personal life, the young man suffered more tragedy when he was only twelve years old. His mother died suddenly, followed by his grandfather only two weeks later.
Lafayette found himself an orphan but also immensely wealthy, inheriting fortunes from both his maternal and paternal lineage at once. He joined the Royal Army just a year later, fulfilling his dream of serving his country. His commission was as a member of the King’s Musketeers, and he became skilled in drilling and horsemanship. In 1773, he wed Marie Adrienne Francoise de Noailles (Adrienne), the result of an arranged marriage made when the two were younger. Lafayette was sixteen, and his new wife was fourteen. However, they did seem to enjoy one another’s company and were great friends. Their first child, Henriette, was born a year after their wedding, and eventually, the couple would have four children together.
A Man of Ideals
As a young man, Lafayette became interested in principles such as liberty and equality and their relationship to human rights, values that he would espouse throughout his life. This resulted in an interest in the happenings in the British Colonies in North America. He thought Americans fighting for their rights was a noble cause, and followed the events of the early American Revolution closely. When American lawyer Silas Deane arrived in Paris, Lafayette approached him about a possible commission into the Continental Army. At age nineteen, Lafayette found himself commissioned as a major general in George Washington’s army on a boat crossing the Atlantic. He arrived in the future United States in direct defiance of the French king, who had decreed that French officers were not allowed to join the American cause to prevent potential problems with the British, regardless of his sympathies and secret financial support of the colonial cause.
Lafayette offered to serve without pay, endearing him to the Continental Congress. He served under General George Washington, the commander of the entire army. The two would become incredibly close during the war, with Washington serving as a mentor and father figure to the young Marquis. He showed courage under fire during his first battle at Brandywine on September 11, 1777. He was shot in the leg and was treated by Washington’s personal physician. The wound healed and bolstered Lafayette’s reputation in America and back home in France.
After several more battles, Lafayette settled down for the winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where he served as one of Washington’s aides-de-camp, along with Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens. Though his prestige and rank afforded him the opportunity for comfortable accommodations, Lafayette chose to suffer the harsh winter alongside his men, spending his own money to provide his men with much-needed weaponry, clothing, and provisions. His generosity during this winter earned him the nickname “The soldier’s friend.” He briefly left America to visit France in order to encourage the king to publicly support the American cause, returning with news that 6,000 French troops and six French Navy ships were on their way.
Lafayette also participated in espionage during the war. One of his enlisted troopers was a man named James Armistead, an enslaved man whose master supported the patriot cause and had granted him permission to serve in the army. Upon request from Lafayette, James posed as a runaway, becoming a servant for British General Cornwallis. James reported back to Lafayette and was responsible for obtaining a great deal of useful information that helped the American cause as the war reached its pinnacle. James would return to a life of slavery after the American Revolution. Upon learning of his former comrade’s status, Lafayette wrote a letter to Congress urging his friend’s manumission. James would finally be freed in 1787 and added “Lafayette” to his name as an homage to his supporter.
Hero of Two Worlds
After the American Revolution, Lafayette returned to France. In 1789, he wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Man, a document that inspired the French Constitution. It would also assist in the launch of the French Revolution, but in the meantime, Lafayette worked on a number of human rights-related causes. He was aghast that America did not end slavery at the conclusion of the Revolutionary War and created proposals for gradual manumission. He even tested his theory by purchasing a Caribbean plantation on which he employed 70 former slaves. He paid them wages for their work, prohibited physical punishment, provided education, and allowed for time off. He was of the firm belief that measures such as this would prepare former slaves for life outside the plantation and allow them to integrate into society.
Appointed head of the National Guard, Lafayette tried to keep a moderate and neutral approach as France entered the revolution. He supported the ideas of the rebels but felt obligated to protect the king and other members of the nobility, people he was closely associated with throughout his life. In fact, his wife was close friends with Marie Antoinette.
Deaths by guillotine began as the French Revolution escalated in 1792. Some revolutionaries saw Lafayette as a traitor and called for his arrest. He decided to leave France for his own safety. He planned to escape to America but traveled through Austrian territory to do so. As France and Austria were at war at the time, he was captured on his journey and imprisoned. During his imprisonment, his money and holdings were confiscated, his wife jailed, and his children put into hiding. He suffered many days in solitary confinement until he was released in 1797.
Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Austria and, as a condition of peace, freed the prisoners from Olmutz, where Lafayette was held. Eventually, Lafayette’s role in both revolutions led to his reputation as a “hero of two worlds.”
A Triumphant Return to America
In 1824, Lafayette made a return to America, touring every state over the course of the next year at the invitation of President James Monroe. America was delighted to see one of the last surviving important generals of the Revolutionary War, and his visit was celebrated with banquets, balls, and meetings with dignitaries. He spent time with many past and future presidents on the trip, including Thomas Jefferson. He became the first foreign dignitary to address a joint session of Congress before he returned home in 1825. After his tour, reported to be one of the happiest times of his life, Lafayette returned to his home in La Grange, France with his family.
Twilight Years
France experienced another revolution, the July Revolution, in 1830, when Charles X was overthrown. Lafayette was offered a leadership role at this point but turned it down, remaining as head of the National Guard. Continuing to support causes that promoted democratic ideals, Lafayette lived the remainder of his life in relative peacefulness. He passed away at home on May 20, 1834, at the age of 76. His death came after several months of battling pneumonia. Soil from Bunker Hill in America was spread over his grave at the request of his son, who was named after George Washington. An American flag has flown over the grave since his death.
