In my last “View,” I considered General Lafayette’s life and crucial role in America’s War of Independence and reviewed his first visit to Old Lyme in 1778 (also see below.)
My inspiration for this topic was the installation of Lafayette Trail markers commemorating stops he made in what is now known as his “Farewell Tour” in Old Lyme and my hometown, Fredonia, N.Y. in Aug.,1824 and June,1825, respectively.
I review that incredible farewell tour in this essay. This essay completes the saga about the almost mythical “hero of two worlds,” Lafayette.
Further, it is the bicentennial of the Tour and there are rumblings of a sweeping tribute; and perhaps even some local acknowledgement.
In 1824, at the invitation of President James Monroe and Congress to “visit the “adopted country of your early youth, which has always preserved the most grateful recollection of your important services;” Lafayette began a tour of the then 24 states of the Union on its 50th anniversary.
President Monroe, the last Founder-President, felt that “it was important for the younger generation to recognize that freedom and democracy had come at a great cost.” Voters should remember those words when you vote on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024 — the apparent GOP nominee seeks, in his own words, to “terminate elements of the U.S. Constitution.
The invitation could not have come at any better time for Lafayette.
His life became fraught after returning to France in 1781. He viewed himself as a “missionary of liberty,” having drafted one of the basic charters of human liberties, the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,” with Thomas Jefferson; which he presented to France’s National Assembly on July 11th, 1789, a few days before the storming of the Bastille, which marked the onset of the French Revolution. The Declaration, which contained the principles that inspired the French Revolution, was discussed, and edited by the Assembly and became the preamble to the new French Constitution of 1791.
Imprisonment:
The French Revolution devolved into the Reign of Terror, which included the guillotining of thousands — and Lafayette, a moderate who supported a constitutional monarchy, began to openly criticize the powerful political group behind the violence, Robespierre and the Jacobins.
His situation turned dire and he fled the country, denounced as a traitor. He was captured and imprisoned by the Austrian government for five years as a dangerous radical and enemy of monarchy, who might lead an Austrian revolution. He was not released until Napoleon Bonaparte and his armies conquered Austria in 1797; and after two years of exile in Holland, Lafayette returned to France in 1799, whereupon he declined to participate in Napoleon’s government.
Rather, as a fervent opponent of slavery, he resumed his correspondence with British abolitionists and American statesmen on the emancipation of slaves and began again to follow the developments of the anti-slavery movements in England, France, and the United States.
The Farewell Tour:
Lafayette traveled more than 6,000 miles from August 1824 through September 1825, making stops in each of 24 states; with more than 170 stops in New England alone. The Tour relied on steamboats, stagecoach, canal barge and occasionally, horseback; and according to the American Battlefield Trust, was characterized by a fast pace, often at night, with frequent unscheduled stops to meet “off-schedule” with the public.
Note that he also made repeated stops in New York City, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., which I have not reflected. My account of his travelogue is assembled from several sources and I have tried to present the breadth and scope of his tour and what I consider the historic highlights. Further, this is not meant to be a precise day-by-day chronological record of the tour.
He left Le Havre, France on July 13, 1824 aboard the American merchant vessel, Cadmus, accompanied by his son, Georges Washington de Lafayette; and was greeted on August 15th when he landed at Staten Island with a 13-gun artillery salute from the batteries of Fort Diamond, accompanied by cannon volleys from U.S. Navy and merchant ships in the harbor. He traveled to Manhattan the following day and was welcomed by the “first triumphal parade in NYC history.” A few days later, he headed north; and was escorted along Connecticut’s coastal towns and cities by companies of cavalry. He encountered the “eagerness of the citizens to see and be introduced” to him, while “thronged with multitudes.”
He made 19 stops between Westport and New London; stopping in New Haven on August 21st to tour Yale. He visited Mrs. Faith Trumbull, widow of Jonathan Trumbull, who was Connecticut’s Governor during the Revolution.
He crossed the Connecticut River by ferry from Old Saybrook to Old Lyme to have breakfast on Aug. 22nd with Richard McCurdy, the youngest son of John McCurdy, with whom he had stayed whilst his troops were quartered on Old Lyme’s South Green on July 27, 1778. Note that he eventually made 28 stops in Connecticut; including the 19 on the coast.
He continued north from New London through Providence and Stoughton, Mass.; and arrived in Cambridge, on August 25, settling in the Boston area until the end of August. He visited former President John Adams at his home, “Peacefield,” in Quincy, and attended Harvard’s Commencement.
In September he visited Portsmouth, N.H., and its Naval Shipyard; and then headed south again to Boston and the Old North Church, stopping in Lexington, Concord, Salem, Marblehead, and Newburyport.
Next on his itinerary were Worcester, Tolland, Conn.; and then, Hartford’s Old State House, which was completed in 1796, and Middletown, Conn.
The Grand Tour:
He began the “grand tour” or “great circle route” in October and visited Philadelphia, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. He stopped at Fort McHenry, where he was greeted by veterans of the War of 1812, some of whom still bore their wounds. Displayed in the center of the fort, was the tent that General Washington had used in 1776 at the Battle of Dorchester Heights, which ended with the withdrawal of British troops from Boston.
He arrived in Washington on November 23rd, where he was the guest of President Monroe; and addressed Congress on December 10.
In Virginia, he paid his respects at Washington’s tomb at Mount Vernon, visited Jefferson at Monticello, James Madison at his home, “Montpelier,” and the Yorktown Battlefield.
In early March,1825, Lafayette and his entourage set out from Washington and headed south to the Carolinas and Georgia; and then west to the new states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana; — all the way to New Orleans.
In May, he went up the Mississippi by riverboat to the new states (i.e., since the original 13) of Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. He sailed the Ohio River to Pittsburgh.
La petite finale:
From Pittsburgh, he traveled through Pennsylvania and reached New York state via Meadville, and Erie. He stopped in Fredonia on June 4,1825, and from there, proceeded to Buffalo via steamboat from Dunkirk on Lake Erie. He visited Niagara Falls and went to Albany by way of the nearly-completed Erie Canal. From Albany he traveled directly to Boston, where he began his second New England tour by laying the cornerstone of the Bunker Hill Monument on June 17, 1825.
On June 23, he continued his Tour, through Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, with two final stops in June at Montpelier, and then Burlington, ending the Tour at Lake Champlain.
He returned to Washington and on September 6, 1825, his 68th birthday, a banquet was held at the White House by President John Quincy Adams. The following day, after delivering a farewell speech at the front entrance to the White House, Lafayette departed for France aboard a newly built frigate of the U.S. Navy, the Brandywine, named to honor his first major battle of the War of Independence. where he was wounded on September 11, 1777, He arrived safely back in France in early October.
Samuel F.B. Morse (you also know him for his code) completed his full-length portrait of Lafayette in 1826, and it is displayed in the City Hall portrait collection in New York City Hall.
The William G. Pomeroy Foundation:
Established in 2005 to increase awareness, diversify, and expand the national bone marrow registry; they have expanded their focus to include community history and have provided grants for roadside markers and plaques; and since their founding in 2005, have funded more than 2,000 signs across the United States in six marker grant programs.
To Old Lyme’s benefit, these programs have included Lafayette’s farewell tour; via their agent, The Lafayette Trail Inc., whose mission is to document, map, and mark Lafayette during the Tour and to “educate the public and to promote a broader understanding of Lafayette’s numerous contributions to American independence and national coherence in preparation for the 2024-25 tour bicentennial celebrations.”
An Interesting Note:
While at Bunker Hill, his son arranged for trunks filled with the local soil to be transported with him back to Paris; and when his father died on May 20, 1834, he was laid to rest next to his wife at the city’s Picpus Cemetery; and his son covered his coffin with the soil they had taken from Bunker Hill. The American flag has flown over his grave continuously since the end of WWI.
In closing, “May God bless America and may God protect our troops.”
Author’s Thoughts: Even today, this would be a whirlwind tour. I wonder who arranged the trip and how was it done in such detail. Lafayette was “rockstar,” in The Sixties’ sense, which is high praise, indeed. I have also given this designation in an earlier “View” to Israel Putnam, of Brooklyn, CT, who fought with distinction at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
About the Author: Tom Gotowka is a resident of Old Lyme, whose entire adult career has been in healthcare. He will sit on the Navy side at the Army/Navy football game. He always sit on the crimson side at any Harvard/Yale contest. He enjoys reading historic speeches and considers himself a scholar of the period from FDR through JFK. A child of AM Radio, he probably knows the lyrics of every rock and roll or folk song published since 1960. He hopes these experiences give readers a sense of what he believes “qualify” him to write this column.
Sources: Lafayette’s Farewell Tour
Auricchio, L. “Vita: Lafayette; Brief life of an American champion: 1757-1834.” Harvard Magazine. March-April,2015.
Baker, J.W. “The Imprisonment of Lafayette”. American Heritage. 06/1977.
Duncan, M. (2021) “Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution.” New York: Public Affairs Books.
Feinman, P. “The Lafayette 1824-1825 Bicentennial: Are You Ready? The Institute of History, Archaeology, and Education (IHARE). 11/29/2021.
Feinman, P. “Lafayette in New York: The Third of Four Trips.” IHARE. 12/27/2021.
Fowler, A. “Welcome Lafayette: The Revolutionary War Hero’s 1824 Tour in Connecticut.” Yankee Institute. 08/21/2023.
Gotowka T. “A Special ‘View from My Porch’ in Recognition of Independence Day: CT’s General Israel Putnam was a ‘Man of Legendary Courage’, a Brooklyn ‘Rock Star’.” LymeLine. 07/04/2022.
Icher, J. P. “The Lafayette Trail: Mapping General Lafayette’s Farewell Tour in the United States (1824-1825)”. The American Battlefield Trust. 08/23/2022.
Jones, W. “Rekindling the Spark of Liberty: Lafayette’s Visit to the United States, 1824-1825.” The Schiller Institute. 11/2007.
Fascinating!! And a touching tribute to someone so instrumental in forming the principles of our democracy.
This is an excellent overview, Tom. Happy to see this in Lymeline as we approach the 200th anniversary of the tour that came through our town. You ask about logistics in your note and it is an interesting question. We know the preparations were made well in advance. In our “Revolution in the Lymes” book Michaelle Pearson and I reproduce Robert McCurdy’s letter to his sister Sarah detailing the preparations for Lafayette’s visit to their family home. The letter was written June 4, 1824, a full two months before Lafayette’s ship arrived at New York harbor. So we know arrangements were in made well in advance while Lafayette was in France. I would suspect the Masonic lodges had a great hand in these preparations. Moses Warren, past master of Old Lyme’s Pythagoras Lodge, greeted fellow Mason Lafayette, escorting him up the Lyme-New London turnpike (today’s Route 1) through Lyme before delivering him to the care of the New London Masons. This was a typical pattern on his tour. Thanks for stirring up interest in our hero!
Very nicely done!
I just love Tom Gotowka…..he is wonderful