This week promises to be a banner one for Alexandria.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the city will play host to the crew of L’Hermione, a reproduction of the 1779 Hermione, a 26-gun frigate that aided the 13 North American colonies during the American Revolutionary War. The ship and crew’s main mission is to commemorate the memory of Marquis de Lafayette and serve as a reminder of the ties and friendship between France and the United States.
The City has worked hard to prepare for a series of events. They include tours of the ship, a heritage village on the marina, lectures, balls, a film screening, and a “Lafayette in Alexandria” Exhibit at Alexandria Archaeology Museum .
L’Hermione will make a dozen stops, stretching from Yorktown to Nova Scotia. None will be as poignant as when the ship slips into Alexandria’s waters on early Wednesday morning. The French general served with General George Washington in the Revolutionary War battles against the British forces. Lafayette became a lifelong friend of both Washington and the United States.
Across the span of his noble and courageous life, the General visited Alexandria a half dozen times. His 1824 visit was the most remarkable. Let’s take a look at his two-day stay, which took place October 16-17, 1824.
In the early part of 1824, President James Monroe invited Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) to tour the United States. Congress had passed a resolution expressing their desire to host the General, who they considered a fellow patriot. As a Major General, Lafayette fought with distinction in a number of battles throughout the Revolutionary War, and was at Washington’s side at Yorktown for the defeat of Cornwallis. By some estimates, Lafayette donated $200,000 to equip the colonies.
Lafayette’s landmark visit would help the nation celebrate its 50th anniversary and promote the ideals of the young Republic. Historians have called it the grandest celebration the young nation had ever seen.
Reflecting back, a reporter for The Washington Post (1898) recalled his visit.
“It is worthy to note that the last visit of the illustrious French soldier to this country was marked by a more universal and phenomemal demonstration of joy that had ever been known in the United States and probably ever shall be witnessed again.”
Lafayette’s tour reached over 60 cities and towns, a lovefest that spanned over 6,000 miles. 77 years old, the Soldier-Statesman born into aristocracy was still going strong. Harlow Giles Unger, one of his biographers, called him, “the New World’s first – and the Old World’s last – great and gallant knight of old.”
Why was Lafayette so beloved by Americans?
Biographer Laura Auricchio writes:
“The phenomenon reflected a genuine outpouring of affection and appreciation for a man who had come to our nation’s aid at a moment of need and whose dramatic life story had unfolded in the pages of American newspapers, books, magazines and prints for the better part of fifty years.”
She also notes that his tour came when “Americans were beginning to think about the nation’s fiftieth anniversary… In many ways, Lafayette’s triumphal tour kicked off the celebration.”
Many of the patriots who had fought beside Lafayette had passed on. He was the last surviving general of the Revolutionary War.
After visiting New York, Boston, and other parts of the northeast and mid-Atlantic, Lafayette arrived in Alexandria on October 16th, 1824. Coverage of the “Nation’s Guest” was splashed across page two of the Alexandria Gazette & Advertiser, the city’s paper of record edited by Samuel Snowden.
“Saturday was a beautiful day. At an early hour the streets assumed the appearance of activity – The gathering of the troops – the sound of martial music – the delighted children – all gave an appearance of preparation highly pleasing, for it was that of joy and gratitude.”
Having stayed the night in the nation’s capital, Lafayette entered the city shortly after the church bell had chimed twelve times. High-ranking officers greeted and escorted him into town on a spit-polished carriage, drawn by four of the finest horses ever seen in the city. Military units, numbering in an estimated 1,500, including the “Alexandria Battalion,” snapped to attention. Smoke bellowed as the rifles of artillery units rang out their salutes.
The procession marched along North Columbus street, followed by King, Fayette, Prince, Fairfax, Cameron, Washington. Ladies dressed in their Sunday best waved with their handkerchiefs. At the end of the march, a Grand Arch and a salute of 24 guns greeted the guest of honor. The arch, beautifully decorated by the citizens of Alexandria, reached 40 feet in the air and extended across Washington Street near King Street.
Adults and children participated in the parade. Two hundred boys and girls tossed flowers in his path. Miss Rosalia Taylor, daughter of R.I. Taylor, read a poem to Lafayette. In response, he “took her in her arms and gave her a most affectionate kiss.”
The Mayor and the members of the City Council met the General and read to him a prepared text. Lafayette must have been touched when he heard:
“During your long absence, we have sympathized with you in the various trials and sufferings you have endured in the same glorious cause which led you to our shores in your youthful days.”
Lafayette was then escorted to 301 S. St. Asaph, his quarters for the night. Built just five years earlier, this three-story brick beauty with Flemish bond brick and an arched stone doorway, is one of the city’s most treasured historic homes.
A bronze historical marker on the side of the house marks his historic stay. The house, privately owned, is known as the Lafayette House. (Note: Local lore has it that Lafayette addressed a gathering of well-wishers across the street at 601 Duke Street. It was the home of Benjamin Dulany and had a front porch much higher than across the street from where he stayed the night. Evidently, no primary source has been found to substantiate this story).
After resting up, Lafayette attended a dinner in his honor at Clagett’s Tavern on the corner of N. Royal and Cameron. We know this establishment today as Gadsby’s Tavern.
Guests included Secretary of State and future President of the United States, John Quincy Adams, Commodore John Rodgers, Commodore David Porter, and General Alexander Macomb. The gathered assembly touched their glasses together with toasts to Washington, who had passed away in 1799 at his home at Mount Vernon; Lafayette; the City of Alexandri; the memory of George Mason and Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams; and Lafayette’s native land of France.
Lafayette expressed his love of the city with the following toast:
“The City of Alexandria -- May her prosperity and happiness more and more realize the fondest wishes of our venerated Washington.”
At 11 am the next morning, a Sunday, the Mayor and several uniformed members of a local military guard escorted the General to Mount Vernon. A group of well-wishers waved goodbye as the ship sailed southward for the seven mile cruise down the Potomac River. When they passed Fort Washington, a salute was fired.
At Washington’s tomb, George Washington Parke Custis, step-grandson of Washington, presented Lafayette with a ring containing some of Washington’s hair. He also received a Sash and Medal, which Washington had owned.
After walking the grounds of Mount Vernon, Lafayette stepped on board the vessel and sailed away for Yorktown. Before his departure, he asked the Mayor to thank the ladies of Alexandria, as well as its soldiers and citizens.
Lafayette was just getting started. After York, where he had helped the American side win the war-ending battle, the general made 40 more stops, including much of the South.
After returning to France, Lafayette retired from his formal duties. He continued, however, to lend his pulpit and power to the revolutionary forces in his native country. In 1830, he helped force the abdication of King Charles X.
In his final two years, he continued to speak out against monarchical rule. Then, on May 20, 1834, at the age of 76, Lafayette died in Paris.
They buried the old soldier beside his wife. The U.S. Capitol wore black for 30 days of mourning. Old patriots in Alexandria wept. George Washington would have too.
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