We are soon to be hearing a great deal about the Marquis de Lafaytte. As a very young man, Lafayette joined General Washington’s staff and was instrumental in securing the French governement’s aid, the equivalent of millions of dollars in financial and military assistance. The presence of the French fleet preventing the withdrawal or supply of Cornwallis’s army at Yorktown was decisive politically if not militarily. His statue graces Lafaytte Square near the White House.
Lafayette’s story is a reminder of the decisive role France played in the victory of the American colonies in winning their independence from Great Britain. The first permanent capital of Georgia was on its western frontier which was at the time the new town of Louisville (named for the King of France) and situated on the Ogeechee River.
In the years after his return to France, a great revolution began there as well.When the National Assembly established the short-lived constitutional monarchy, Lafayette was named commander of the National Guard, and because of his role in the American Revolution was for a time a symbol of the new France. When the radical Jacobin Republicans gained control and began eliminating (beheading) their more moderate political rivals , Lafayette left France, ending up in an Austrian prison. He returned to France when the monarchy was reestablished in 1814, and as an old man decided to accept an invitation to visit the country he had helped to create. The U.S. was approaching the fiftieth anniversary of its independence. Many of the founding fathers had passed away. By the 1820’s many places in Ameica bore the name of Lafaytette (Lafayette, Kentucky and Fayette County, Georgia for example) or his king (Louisville, Kentucky and Louisville, Georgia for example), as well as that of his old landed estate, “LaGrange.” He was enormously popular in the United States.
There is already a movement to commemorate Lafayette’s 1824-1825 return, and perhaps some Georgians will be surprised that he visited our state.
Following triumphant stops along the coast, Lafayette, accompanied only by a manservant, arrived in Savannah. After a huge celebration in Savannah and his very impressive and intelligent comments inspired so many, , he was reluctantly allowed to leave. He sailed up the Savannah River on a steamboat (a frighteningly noisy and fiery journey) to Augusta where the state governement (notoriosly short of money) paid for another, smaller, reception and militia display. Then, he journied westward along the “Creek Road” or Federal Highway, stopping in the small towns along the way, where many settlers who had fought in the Revolution expanded their recollections to include having served alongside Lafayette. Some elderly men forced their expanded selves into uniforms they had worn as soldiers.
The first night after his stop in Augusta, Lafayette stayed in Warrenton, Georgia along the highway reaching westward along the “Fall Line,” separating the Piedmont from the lower Coastal Plan to the south.
Imagine my excitement when, on a trip from Americus (where I was a young history professor) to Augusta (my boyhood home where my parents still resided), I stopped to check out the amazing assortment of historic antebellum homes in Warrenton. I was excited to discover a Georgia Historical Commission bronze marker describing the house shown above as the place where a reception for Lafayette was held.
I knew that my family had settled in this area in the 1790’s. A journal kept by Lafayette’s servant and published in English decades later is available in paperback from Amazon Books. It confirms that Lafayette did indeed spend the night here-“here” as in this town. The description of the fete held in his honor must be a bit inflated. The house is a very modest one.
Several years later I again visited Warrenton and drove by to take a photo of the house that bore my family name. The historical marker was missing. My efforts to discover its exact text, or to find the research record that must have been filed to erect the plaque, have come to nought. Hopefully, someone will offer a suggestion or clue to help unravel this mystery.
This is a deep story. I leave you with a reminder: when the American army arrrived in France in 1917, General Pershing had his command march to the Lafayette statue in Paris and proclaimed “Lafayette, we are here.” It was a powerful and historic message. And the story also includes Lafayette’s disapproval of the slave system he encountered, his encounters with the southeastern Native Americans and descriptions of what he observed in the homes of his hosts and their neighbors.
More on Lafaytte in Georgia as the anniversary approaches.
It seems strange that there would be no record of the historical marker and its text, let alone some indication of the research behind it. The Georgia Historical Commission left no paper trail? If I’m not mistaken, the Georgia Historical Society supervises the state historical markers these days and has for a few years. Perhaps they might help.
George