In recalling early American history, we are accustomed to remembering the founding fathers, battles of the Revolutionary War, Native American removal or the beginning of the fight for women’s suffrage.
Are you aware, however, of an early bond between the United States and the country of France, by way of Marquis de Lafayette, otherwise named Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier de La Fayette? This French courtier sought glory as a soldier, was a friend to the first U.S. President and inspired support for our new country.
Marquis de Lafayette display on the second floor of the Indiana State Library.
After losing his father in the French and Indian War, Lafayette was very young, 13, when he decided to join the King’s Musketeers (Mousquetaires due roi) in his home country. The group is described as “an elite troop at the heart of power” in a 2023 thesis, “Les Mousquetaires due Roi,” by Julien Wilmart. Lafayette was officially accepted in 1771 and attended military training at Versailles, just one year after he inherited an immense fortune due to the death of his relatives.
These circumstances set into motion a tremendous push by one man to brave against the British on the side of the United States. The American Friends of Lafayette have created a timeline here about key events in his life.
I’d like to share the Government Information resources you can view online or in various institutions across the United States and France about Lafayette. These resources hold details of his relationship with the United States, his dedication to the cause of the American Revolution and the parallel history we share with the French Revolution.
The Palace at Versailles presents a brief biography online about him here.
The Library of Congress has several items showing his history, starting with A complete history of the Marquis de Lafayette published in 1826. It also holds a collection of Marquis de Lafayette papers, 1757-1990 in its Manuscript Division.
The National Archives makes available transcripts of original letters from John Adams to Lafayette, 3 February 1778, to Benjamin Franklin in 1779, from Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 16 June 1792, and many letters from George Washington from various collections. The Archives even capture statistics of the wounded and killed at Yorktown sent to Lafayette by Alexander Hamilton in 1781. The National Park Service details his experience at Yorktown here.
The Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia entry on Marquis de Lafayette explains in detail Lafayette’s impact on both the U.S. and French Revolutions.
A key player in the French Revolution, Lafayette was imprisoned by the Austrian and Prussian governments, and wrote letters while in exile. These are available at the National Library of France (BnF) here: Lettres de prison et d’exil .
Not only did Lafayette establish himself as a friend of the Revolution and fight for the United States; he was invited by President James Monroe to return for a Farewell Tour in 1824-1825, where he made one stop in Indiana – at Jeffersonville, on May 12, 1825. The American Friends of Lafayette sponsored a bicentennial commemoration of Lafayette’s Farewell Tour in 2024-2025, featuring stops in the 24 states he visited then. View a map of his stops here.
Lafayette’s original accounts of the tour are available at the National Library of France (BnF) here Voyage du général aux Etats-Unis d’Amérique, 1824-1825.
A beautiful display on Marquis de Lafayette is now viewable on the second floor of the Indiana State Library, installed by Roxanna O’Bryant. Please come for a visit! For more details about the bicentennial commemoration of Lafayette’s Farewell tour of the United States, stay tuned for our Dec. 11 blog post.
This blog post was written by Katie Springer, reference librarian and director of the Indiana State Data Center. For more information, contact the Reference and Government Services Division at 317-232-3678, or submit an Ask-A-Librarian request.