By Nancy Spannaus
June 29, 2025—For almost 50 years, French General Gilbert Lafayette played a critical role in both winning the American Revolution, and seeking to preserve our republic. In celebration of his 1824-1825 tour of all 26 states, the American Friends of Lafayette (AFL) is now working to bring that history to the U.S. public, by sponsoring lectures and re-enacting the tour exactly as it occurred.
To accomplish this extraordinary task, which began on August 15, 2024 and will end on September 7 this year, the AFL has worked with local committees and numerous other organizations, such as the Daughters of the American Revolution. In Frederick, Maryland 10 local organizations collaborated with the AFL to hold a symposium and two days of celebrations over the New Year’s period, when Lafayette visited the city. In Loudoun County, Virginia commemorations are also being sponsored by the Loudoun250 Committee, the local group preparing for America’s birthday on July 4, 2026.
At present, Loudoun is preparing a gala celebration of Lafayette’s visit to the County, which occurred between August 8 and 10th in 1825. To build up interest, three lectures have been sponsored. The first, on April 30, was organized by the Cameron Parish chapter of the DAR, and featured a talk on Lafayette’s human right record by AFL Executive Director Chuck Schwam. The second, given by myself at the Lovettsville Historical Society lecture series on May 19, featured Lafayette’s influence on the 1824 election, which was going on during his visit. The Loudoun Museum of Leesburg sponsored the third event on June 18; it brought both Schwam and the vice-chair of the National Celebration, Dr. Patti Maclay, to speak on the relationship of George Washington and Lafayette.
The August events will feature symposia, family friendly activities at the Museum, and a re-enactment of Lafayette’s appearance at the Courthouse, including expert re-enactors of both the General and his friend President James Monroe. (For details, see Visit Loudoun ) Later in August, the Cameron Parish DAR Chapter will sponsor a grand ball at the Belmont Country Club, formerly the Belmont Plantation, and home of Ludwell Lee, one of Lafayette’s aide de camps. Lee sponsored just such a gala during Lafayette’s 1825 visit.
To give you a flavor of Lafayette’s activities and impact, I have two offerings for you.
First, I recommend my lecture on “The Overlooked Legacy of Lafayette’s 1824-1825 Tour,” which has now been posted on AmericanSystemNow’s You Tube channel. It can be accessed by clicking here. (If you prefer text, the lecture is posted here.)
Second, I describe below some highlights of the Schwam-Maclay presentations to a full house at the Loudoun Museum on July 18.
General George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette
Dr. Maclay gave the major presentation on the father-son relationship between Washington and Lafayette. Don’t believe the story that it was Alexander Hamilton who was the General’s adopted son, she said; it was Lafayette, and I’ll show it to you through the voices of the women in their lives, as well as Washington himself.
Having determined to fight for America’s freedom despite opposition from the French King, the 19-year-old Lafayette arrived in the United States in June of 1777, committed to helping the British-American colonies fulfill their role as the source of freedom for the world. Because of his connections to the French monarchy, he was accepted as a volunteer Major General in the U.S. Army.
But Lafayette became much more than that, Maclay stressed. After the very first meeting which the young, inexperienced French nobleman attended with General Washington’s military family, Washington immediately asked him to join his inner circle. The bond between the two men was visible, even down to a similarity of appearance (both were tall with red hair).
Maclay went on to describe numerous instances of the remarkable and unique closeness of Lafayette with the notoriously aloof General Washington. The two were seen together resting on Washington’s cloak at the ground at Valley Forge. Washington sent a note to his personal physician to care for Lafayette “like my son” after Lafayette’s injury at the battle of Brandywine. And Lafayette was actually able to greet Washington with kisses — an act no other “military family member” would dare venture.
Both Martha Washington and Cathy Greene (wife of General Nathanael Greene) commented on Washington’s affectionate relationship with Gilbert, even indicating that Lafayette may have fulfilled the role of the son the General never had.
Lafayette’s commitment to the General and the American cause were one and the same. While Ben Franklin deserves the credit for forging the French-American alliance, Lafayette was the one who convinced the King to send the French Navy and Army troops (the latter of which outnumbered the Americans at Yorktown) to bolster the American fighting force, Maclay said. The war would not have been won without that aid.
After the 1783 Peace of Paris, Lafayette came back to America in 1784 for a brief visit between August and December. He spent a good deal of time at Mount Vernon, and, according to Maclay, joined George Washington in promoting the creation of a unified government for the sates. He also toured some of the states, where he met with exuberant celebrations, including being conferred honorary citizenship of the state of Maryland. These honors extend to dozens of cities and counties bearing Lafayette’s name.
The AFL and Lafayette’s Impact
The second part of the program featured AFL Executive Chuck Schwam, who gave a broad picture of the impact of Lafayette’s 1824-1825 tour and the re-enactment today.
“Lafayette was America’s first rock star,” Schwam started out. He the showed a chart of how many people came out to greet Lafayette in New York City in 1824, versus how many came out to greet the Beatles on their first American tour, complete with the comparison with the population of the state at the time. While the Beatles were met by approximately 14,000 over two days in 1964, Lafayette was met by 90,000! Considering that the population of New York had also grown considerably, that’s quite a tribute.
Schwam then gave highlights of Lafayette’s tour, and the subsequent honoring of the General in the United States. At Lafayette’s death in 1834, President Andrew Jackson ordered the same military honors be provided to him as to General Washington: Black bunting in Congress for 30 days, flags at half-staff for 35 days, etc. Former President John Quincy Adams gave a 3-hour eulogy.
Although not widely known, the honors continue to this day. Every 4th of July, French and American military gather at the Picpus Cemetery in Paris for a ceremony honoring General Gilbert Lafayette (he dropped his title of nobility). That cemetery also contains the remains of Lafayette’s wife and her relatives, along with the bones of many unnamed victims of the French Terror, which had been found in a mass grave.
Equally striking is that there are only two portraits which grace the walls of the U.S. House of Representatives: General George Washington and General Gilbert Lafayette.
(For more on the work of the American Friends of Lafayette, click here.)
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Tags: American Friends of Lafayette, Chuck Schwam, Dr. Patti Maclay, General Lafayette, George Washington, Loudoun County, Nancy Spannaus
