Description:

Lafayette Marquis

1pp ALS inscribed overall and signed by American Revolutionary War hero Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) as "Lafayette" at bottom center. In very good to near fine condition. Unmarked cream paper sheet previously hinged at left. Expected paper folds, with isolated minor discoloration especially along left edge. Sheet measures 6.75" x 8.75".

 

The Marquis de Lafayette returned to the United States for its 50th anniversary in 1824 at the request of 5th U.S. President James Monroe (1758-1831) and Congress. During Lafayette's 16-month visit, he toured all 24 states, and was the object of innumerable celebrations, dedications, and even a burgeoning commemorative souvenir market.

 

In March 1825, Lafayette was making his way south and west from North Carolina; he would tour South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama by month's end. Lafayette and his party arrived at Warrenton, Georgia on March 25, 1825, the very day he wrote this letter. Lafayette likely wrote "Paris" at the top of the letter by habit.

 

Lafayette wrote the following to an unknown correspondent and fellow military commander who he calls "My dear general".

 

"My dear general, I wasn't at home when Mr. Bertrand Geslin Jr. left your letter there, and it would have been very agreeable to have had the occasion to hear your news from him. I already have had the pleasure to know him, very fortunately, not only as a patriot and a learned man, but because he came to see us at The Grange last summer with his friend Mr. Duffen. I hope that he will be here Tuesday evenings when Mr. Duffen, and another of his friends, M. de Humboldt, ordinarily come to our house. He knows that we will be very eager to receive him, and I am going to look for ways to get to know him more.

 

I thank you very much for the details that you gave me regarding your establishment with your worthy companion at arms. I would view it as a very happy day when I could demand your good hospitality. The newspapers tell you about our affairs on the inside and outside. We know very well that it will be necessary to tell you, from one to another, what we are thinking. My family will stay here until the beginning of May. I have several things going on at The Grange where I am very impatient to establish a home for myself.

 

Receive, my dear general, the expression of friendship that I vow to you with all my heart, Lafayette.

 

I saw the other day General Becker, one of the most agreeable memories of my relationship with him and our meeting at Mons."

 

Lafayette, then an idealistic, independently wealthy French teenager, had aided the Patriots during the American Revolution. He later distinguished himself at the Battle of Rhode Island and in the Yorktown campaign, and was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine. During his time in the thirteen colonies, Lafayette befriended George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Alexander Hamilton. Lafayette used his aristocratic French connections to advocate for the American cause back in France. After his return to France in the 1780s, Lafayette championed republicanism and helped draft the foundational Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Thus, when Lafayette returned to the United States in 1824, it was not only as a Revolutionary War hero and veteran, but as a living republican ideologue.

 

The "M. de Humboldt" mentioned in Lafayette's letter refers to Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the Prussian scientist, geographer, world explorer, and philosopher. "M. Bertrand Geslin fils" refers to Jean-Baptiste Bertrand-Geslin (1770-1843), a fellow French revolutionary. Bertrand-Geslin attained the rank of battalion chief, and eventually served as a city mayor and regional deputy. "General Becker" refers to Nicolas Leonard Becker (1770-1840), a general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. "The Grange" likely refers to Chateau de Grange-Bleneau, Lafayette's home in northern central France. This was Lafayette's primary residence between 1802 and his death in 1834. He had inherited the fourteenth-century castle through his late wife, Adrienne de Lafayette (1759-1807).

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