Revolutionary Reader: Reminiscences and Indian Legends

by Sophie Lee Foster

[THE EFFORTS OF LAFAYETTE FOR THE CAUSE OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.]

By Bessie Carolyn McClain.

Gloversville High School, Gloversville, N. Y.

Probably no other foreigner accomplished so much or sympathized so deeply with the cause of American Independence as did the Marquis de Lafayette. A French nobleman by birth, an heir to an immense estate at thirteen, married to one of the most beautiful ladies of the French Court, he chose a life of privation and hardship, to one of luxury and idleness. The love of liberty, inherent in his soul, made him a champion of the cause which seemed the last chance for liberty to obtain a foothold upon the earth. From the time the situation of the English American colonies was made known in France, in 1776, until they became a free and independent nation, he gave himself, heart and soul, to their cause. He served them both by his personal qualities and by his active efforts, as a French nobleman, and as an American soldier and general.

The qualities by which Lafayette most aided this country in its great conflict, were his love of liberty, enthusiasm, generosity and loyalty. His love of liberty first made him interested in the struggle of the American Colonies with their Mother Country, and this same love of liberty kept him enthused in the cause, and gave him the strength and courage to depart from his home, his friends and his country. Indeed it was the root of the other qualities by which he did us service.

When once his enthusiasm was aroused, nothing could diminish it. When he heard that the credit of the "insurgents" was so low that they couldn't possibly provide him a ship, he said in that case they needed him all the more, and he bought one with his own money. It was enthusiasm that led him to the front in the battle of Brandywine. It was enthusiasm that made him ride seventy miles and back, for the French fleet when it was needed so sorely. Of course, was not his motto "cur non?"

In all his dealings with this country, he showed his generosity and disinterest. What was it if not generosity, when at his own expense, he fitted out the ship that brought him and the other officers to this country? How many times during the war did he clothe his soldiers and supply their wants when the country couldn't? He proved his disinterested devotion to the satisfaction of Congress, when he offered to serve as a volunteer without pay and at his own expense. Gladly did he forego the comforts and pleasures to which education and rank entitled him, and bear with the soldiers every hardship and privation. When, chiefly through his influence, France agreed to send aid to America, and offered him a commission, he refused it so as not to arouse jealousy among other Frenchmen. Was not this unselfish love of liberty of the plainest type?

His most striking characteristic, and I think the one by which he did us the most service, was his loyalty. It strengthened Washington to have one man upon whom he could rely so completely. When Gates was trying to stir up trouble against him and had appointed Lafayette to take charge of an invasion into Canada over which he had no control, he urged him to accept, because it would be safer with him than any one else. Lafayette did accept and he carried it out in such a way that Gates' scheme failed completely. At the Battle of Monmouth, too, when Washington sent Charles Lee to command over him, he showed his loyalty to Washington by submitting quietly and doing all he could to bring a victory out of a defeat. But what counted most, perhaps, was the faithfulness with which he carried out every order no matter how small and unimportant.

Lafayette also aided this country by his active efforts as a French nobleman. He induced France and Spain to join in preparing a fleet against the British, and it was not his fault that Spain kept putting it off until too late—he made the effort. He did succeed in raising the popularity of the Colonies in France, and in securing six thousand troops under Rochambeau, a fleet under d'Estaing and supplies for our soldiers. After the French forces arrived, he was very useful in keeping harmony between the armies, because of his influence over his own countrymen as well as Americans.

Lafayette was one of the most faithful soldiers as well as one of the best generals, this country had during the Revolutionary War. From the time he offered himself as a volunteer, until the war was over he served the country faithfully and well. At the very beginning of his career in this country, he became Washington's aide-de-camp, and as such learned a great deal of the latter's methods of fighting. In this capacity he was in the thick of the battle of Brandywine and did much, by his ready daring to encourage the soldiers. Before a wound, which he received in this battle, had entirely healed, and while he was out to reconnoitre, he came unexpectedly upon a large body of Hessians. He attacked boldly, and they, believing they were fighting all of Greene's men, retreated. Thus he was ever ready with his wit and daring.