This July 4th Remember Lafayette

Newsmax ^ | 7-4-15 | Christopher Ruddy

[afraidfortherepublic]

It is doubtful the American Republic would have been born were it not for the courage and generosity of our greatest French friend, Marquis de Lafayette, who joined the Continental Army at the age of 19 with the rank of lieutenant general.

He helped provision George Washington's army, led troops in several battles ,and played a key role at Yorktown.

He persuaded France to join the war on our side.

He was Washington's surrogate son and a beloved American.

When he died in 1830 he was eulogized by former President John Quincy Adams for three hours, and Congress and the nation mourned his death for 30 days.

All Americans today still owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Gen. Lafayette!

[afraidfortherepublic]

Thank you for that enlightening glimpse of history. I know people from York, have visited there, and own furniture made there, so I appreciate knowing this part of York’s history.

[silverleaf]

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[the OlLine Rebel]

I’m afraid you have it a bit jumbled.

LaFayette came to Philly and was handed a commission c. Summer ‘77.

Basically, Brandywine and Germantown led to Congress leaving Philly and heading for York (Sept/Oct ‘77). (LaFayette was first in combat at Brandywine.)

During the Philly campaign, the Saratoga campaign was also playing out, headed by Horatio Gates.

After the Saratoga campaign and surrender (Oct ‘77), AND partly due to the news of the good fights put up during the Philly campaign (is was NOT all due to Saratoga), France agreed to help.

After that as well (Fall/Winter ‘77 on), Gates as well as others were involved in the Conway Cabal, hoping to place Gates in command over Washington.

[Tucker39]

I said nothing about where or when Lafayette received his commission; nor were my remarks presented as a chronological history of the Revolution.

Lafayette came to York, PA, the first Capitol of the United States, and his toast to Gen. Washington let the air out of the cabal. Period. And thank you.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks afraidfortherepublic. The naval help from France was just exactly what was needed, just exactly when we needed it. Meanwhile Lafayette put his young ass on the line. From the wiki-wackypedia -- hope I edit this okay, my screen is clouding up.

In August 1792, the radical factions ordered his arrest. Fleeing through Belgium, he was captured by Austrian troops and spent more than five years in prison. Lafayette returned to France after Napoleon Bonaparte secured his release in 1797, though he refused to participate in Napoleon's government. After the Bourbon Restoration of 1814, he became a liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies, a position he held for most of the remainder of his life. In 1824, President James Monroe invited Lafayette to the United States as the nation's guest; during the trip, he visited all twenty-four states in the union at the time, meeting a rapturous reception... Lafayette died on 20 May 1834, and is buried in Picpus Cemetery in Paris, under soil from Bunker Hill.

"Nous voila, Lafayette (Lafayette, we are here!)" -- Charles Stanton, July 4, 1917, at the grave of Lafayette

[the OlLine Rebel]

OK, now that I re-read your post, I get it more. I apologize for reading things into it that aren’t there.

However, the Saratoga campaign and surrender (Gates - commander) was still BEFORE any real hint of the Conway Cabal (Gates -hoping to succeed Washington). It was the Saratoga surrender to Gates gave more impetus to any doubts about Washington as it appeared Gates had to be better. Thus did the Cabal really begin with Conway, Gates and Mifflin after Saratoga. And it didn’t really end until into 1778 while still at Valley Forge.

So chronology is still important. ;-)

[DeaconBenjamin]

Lafayette Gains His Freedom from the Prison of Olmutz

"We left for Hamburg on September 19th, 1797. It was five years and one month since my father's arrest and twenty-three months since we joined him. The prisoners were accompanied by an Austrian major till they arrived at Hamburg, who usually drove in a carriage ahead. Our road, particularly at Dresden, Leipzig, Halle, and Hamburg, was one continual triumph. Throngs gathered to see my father and his companions. The prisoners, who at first could not bear [being] outdoors, grew stronger every day, but my mother's health prevented any real joy. The fatigue of the journey was too great in her state of exhaustion and illness; nevertheless, she made efforts to take part in the general joy and to respond to the numerous marks of respect shown to her."

So wrote one of Lafayette's daughters of the events which followed the release of the famous "Prisoners of Olmutz." Lafayette's incarceration as a political prisoner had become the cause célèbre of Europe and America, but the heavy hand of British Prime Minister William Pitt kept the hero of the American Revolution and his two companions incarcerated in Austrian dungeons for as long as could possibly be managed. British vengeance against Lafayette had begun to bear fruit in August of 1792, when the British-sponsored Jacobin faction in France succeeded in charging Lafayette with rebellion and treason, and put a price on his head, dead or alive. Lafayette and a group of his officers who supported the ideals of the American Revolution fled north toward Holland, hoping to sail to America.

But they were captured by the Austrians, and Lafayette was shifted from prison to prison, so that his friends and supporters would not know where to find him. When it was finally learned that he and two fellow officers were held at Olmutz, an unsuccessful rescue attempt was made. After that, Lafayette's conditions of imprisonment became even more stringent and unbearable. The two would-be rescuers, American medical student Francis Huger and German doctor Erich Bollmann, after themselves suffering eight months' captivity at Olmutz, sailed to America and briefed George Washington on the terrible conditions at the prison.

Lafayette's wife, Adrienne, who remained in Paris, was targetted by the Terror. She sent their son, George Washington Lafayette, to America to be protected by President George Washington, who sent the boy to live with Alexander Hamilton in New York. After retiring from the Presidency, Washington brought his namesake to live at Mount Vernon, and tried to help Adrienne by sending money to her via Holland, but it never reached her.

Adrienne managed to send her two daughters to safety with relatives before she was arrested and imprisoned by the Terror in November of 1793. Her mother, grandmother, and sister were sent to the guillotine, but even then, the name Lafayette gave her captors pause. The American Minister to France, the future President James Monroe, worked unceasingly to have her released. He and his wife Elizabeth, whom Paris had dubbed "La Belle Americaine," designed an operation to gain the good will of the fickle Parisians in Adrienne's favor. They had a coach painted with bright colors, and Elizabeth dressed in her most stylish clothes. She set out for Adrienne's prison, but took a long, slow route to attract attention. When she arrived, followed by a curious crowd, she asked for Adrienne to be brought out to see her, and when the two greeted each other, the onlookers applauded and wept at the sight.

Sentiment in Paris gradually turned in favor of Lafayette, and Adrienne was released in January 1795 after more than a year in prison. The Monroes took her into their home and nursed her back to health. Once recovered, Adrienne's goal was to reach Olmutz and share her husband's captivity in order to protect him against possible assassination. Accordingly, she and her two daughters boarded a ship, ostensibly for America, but the ship turned north according to plan and landed them in Hamburg.

No French citizen was allowed to enter Austria, because a state of war existed with France. But the American Consul in Hamburg, John Parish, issued a U.S. passport to Adrienne in the name of Madame Motier, a resident of Hartford, Conn. During the Revolution, Lafayette had been granted citizenship by a grateful City of Hartford, and Motier was one of his family names. Travelling under this passport, Adrienne and her daughters reached Vienna and remained incognito until Adrienne could obtain an audience with the Emperor Francis II. This was possible because Adrienne's family, the de Noailles, had served as French Ambassadors to the Austrian Court.

When she asked the Emperor if she could share her husband's captivity, he replied that she could, but "as to his liberty, that I can not give, my hands are tied." He was referring to pressure from the British Empire not to release such an ardent republican and international figure as Lafayette had become. On Sept. 29, Lafayette's family left Vienna for Olmutz.

http://schillerinstitute.org/educ/hist/eiw_this_week/v4n37_sep9_1797.html

[Grimmy]

Every time I see this kind of thing I think “oh crap. France is planning on getting its arse kicked again and needs to guilt us into fixing it, again.”

[Rebelbase]

“So basically France had an alterior motive in helping American independence. “

Isn’t that true for any military allied alliance?

[SkyDancer]

Right - look at the alliance between the USSR and the Allies during WW2. Shaky at best but at the time it was to mutually destroy Germany and end the war.

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, they never *plan* to, they just don’t fight as well as they did under the ancien regime, or Napoleon for that matter.

[Tucker39]

One last word in regard to our recent enjoyable discussion of the influence of Lafayette in the collapse of the Conway Cabal. Not to put too fine a point on it; but I feel I need to stand up for York, PA’s 15 minutes of fame; although York does have some other claims to fame: York air conditioners, York Peppermint Patties, Harley Davidson motorcycles among them.

In this case, I want to share the York Historical Blog and its account of Lafayette’s visit, and his toast to Washington, at a dinner in Gates’ own residence, that was greatly instrumental in deflating the cabal.

http://www.yorkblog.com/yorkspast/2015/06/14/yorks-life-size-statue-general-marquis-de-lafayette/

When the page opens, scroll down to the photo and the account of Lafayette’s toast.

Thanks for the enjoyment. (Until you mentioned it by name to me, I had forgotten Conway’s name being the name of the cabal). Thank you, and Happy Trails.

[Nucluside]

French dragoons took 86 percent casualties at Yorktown. I am generally no fan of the French, but they had a foreign policy to manage; they had to make sure that our revolution was not a flash in the pan. A posting to honor Lafayette is probably not the appropriate venue to denigrate the French. There are many others where it would be appropriate.

[SkyDancer]

Well the French had ulterior motives, thrashing the English at sea was one. So with England involved in the war the French were basically free to run the English ragged at sea.

[Nucluside]

Of course.