Retro Reads: Lafayette: an 'illustrious presence' in Fredericksburg
By now, most locals are likely aware of the events that will take place later in November to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Marquis de Lafayette's visit to Fredericksburg. It seems fitting to take a look back through the archives and re-experience the event in 1824, and also to see how it was remembered in 1924.
Lafayette's visit to Fredericksburg was part of a 13-month-long "Farewell Tour." Gilbert du Motier (his real name, and there's actually more to it), now aged 67, arrived in the United States in August 1824. He came at the invitation of President James Monroe, the last Founding Father president, as a lead-up to the nation's 50th anniversary. Because the generation that had fought the Revolutionary War was dying off, Monroe wanted to instill in Americans some of the "Spirit of '76." And who would accomplish that better than the last living general of that war, the man who was like a son to George Washington and who had done so much to secure French money, troops and ships to help the cause?
Lafayette visited all 24 states during his tour, and he arrived in Fredericksburg on Nov. 20. The townspeople in one location would accompany him out of town a certain distance, where he would be passed along, much like a baton in a relay race, to the citizens from his next destination. And so, as the Virginia Herald reported, a delegation from the Committee of Arrangements and 40 uniformed officers from Fredericksburg met him at the Wilderness Tavern on the border of Orange and Spotsylvania counties, and escorted him in a carriage pulled by four white horses to Fredericksburg.
As the entourage approached the city, artillery was fired to let the townspeople know that the honored guest was nearly there. Military lined one side of the road, young uniformed boys named the La Fayette Cadets lined the other, and citizens on horseback fell in behind the procession. The parade made its way to Town Hall, where Mayor Robert Lewis greeted Lafayette with an eloquent speech, the words of which give some indication about how Americans felt about him: "We cannot vie with our sister cities in erection of triumphal arches ... but ... we have rejoiced to see that the national feeling has so cordially responded ... to honor your illustrious presence, it has been strikingly evinced that the nation considers itself as owing you a debt which can never be repaid."
Lafayette replied, "I cordially rejoice, sir, in the happy opportunity to revisit this district, where the united citizens of Fredericksburg and Falmouth, in addition to the obligations they had formerly conferred upon me, are pleased to welcome my arrival with new and highly valued testimonies of their friendship. At this place, Sir, which recalls to our recollection several among the most honorable names of the revolutionary war, I did many years ago salute the first residence of our paternal chief, received the blessing of his venerated mother, and of his dear sister, your own respected parent ...
Lafayette was honored with "a splendid ball, which wanted nothing that expense could procure, or taste could embellish, to make complete" at the Farmer's Hotel on the corner of Caroline and Hanover Streets. He stayed at the home of James Ross, who had vacated the premises for the weekend. The next day, he visited Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4, where George Washington had become a Freemason (Lafayette was himself a Freemason, and was made an honorary member of No. 4). Throughout his travels that day, people eager to get a close look at him thronged the streets, and to their delight, he often walked rather than riding in his carriage. He dined that day with Robert Lewis and other members of the Washington family. On Monday, he greeted townspeople at a reception at Town Hall, followed by a mid-afternoon dinner at Mr. Gray's Tavern. The Marine Band accompanied each of 13 toasts with a different song, and at about 5:00, a surely very relaxed Lafayette was taken his carriage north to be conveyed to the people of Stafford. As on his arrival, crowded thronged the roads for a mile or two outside of town, and a chorus of "Farewell, La Fayette" rippled along the line.
In 1924, the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Lafayette's tour was commemorated in a special ceremony at the Masonic Lodge, described in The Daily Star. The Elks Band played stirring marches, the high school French classes sang the Marseillaise, and French General Georges A.L. Dumont, military attaché to the United States, gave a lengthy speech on the life of Lafayette and on his 1824 tour.
Though the 1924 celebration was smaller in scope than the one planned for 2024, Lafayette's visit took on new meaning only six years after the conclusion of World War I. As an American general (not Pershing) said when American soldiers first arrived in France in 1917, "Lafayette, we are here!" In his speech at the Masonic Lodge, Gen. Dumont said, "None of the men who were here in Fredericksburg a hundred years ago greeting Lafayette could have foreseen the events of a few years ago ... Nowadays, if France is justly proud for having contributed to found this great sister Republic, America is entitled to be proud of having contributed to save not France only but the Allied nations of Europe and civilization at large." He then went on to add that he personally felt that his affections were inseparably linked to America, because two American doughboys had rescued his son from the battlefield in October 1918.
James Monroe had to have been pleased by the results of the tour, which was well-timed, as the nation had begun the serious splintering that would eventually lead to the Civil War. But for one year, Americans joined together to be reminded of their ideals. Perhaps we can do so again this month.
Wendy Migdal is a freelance writer in Fredericksburg.
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