Lee managed badly. He retreated when he should have attacked, and ordered Lafayette to give way at the moment that the enemy was about to yield. Lafayette, angry and disgusted, sent word to General Washington that he was needed on the field. Washington galloped forward, took the command from Lee, reformed the troops, and won, after a hard day, the battle of Monmouth. From dawn till midnight Lafayette was in the saddle, now in the thick of the light, now attending by Washington's side, and when the battle was over, the two lay down under the same blanket, beneath the summer stars, and talked of the morrow. When the morrow came the British had stolen away, and all the comfort that Washington and Lafayette had was that though—through no fault of theirs—they had not stopped the enemy, they had rescued the American army from the jaws of defeat.
Then they turned their thoughts to the French fleet, which was on its way to the United States. Great hopes were felt that this, with the American army, could capture the British in New York. The Count d'Estaing, a brave and faithful man, was in command of the French. He was very much attached to Lafayette, and had a father's love and a soldier's admiration for the boy hero. He took greatly to the project of capturing New York; but the water was not deep enough at the entrance to the harbor to let his vessels enter. So it was concluded to undertake the capture of Newport, on Rhode Island, where the British had a strong garrison. Lafayette was sent forward with an advance guard to aid in the enterprise, and after a rapid march of 240 miles reached the point of meeting. Then commenced one of the most annoying and unpleasant chapters of Lafayette's experience in America. The French fleet sailed out of Newport to attack an English fleet which had just arrived. In the midst of the fight, when victory seemed sure, a heavy storm arose, scattered the French fleet, tore away masts and rudders, and left most of the vessels helpless. The Count d'Estaing was deeply chagrined, and was compelled to go to Boston for repairs to his fleet. Many of the American officers were angry at this. General Sullivan, in a general order, accused the French of having "abandoned" their allies. A protest against the course of Count d'Estaing was drawn up and signed by the American officers. Lafayette was indignant. He would not, of course, sign the protest. He declared to General Sullivan that the slur cast on the Count d'Estaing was a personal insult, and demanded an apology for it. This he obtained. Then he started for Boston, to try to prevent any ill-feeling there toward his countrymen. His letters to Washington at this time are very long, and full of grief and shame that his countrymen should have been so misunderstood. His feelings were expressed in the queerest of English, but they were very sincere. Happily, Washington shared them. Everything was done to keep the peace between the allies, and finally with success. While he was in Boston Lafayette heard that a battle was likely to take place at Newport, where the Americans had landed on the north end of the island, and were attacked by the British. Lafayette mounted his horse, and after riding eighty miles in less than eight hours, reached the field in time to take an honorable part in the retreat which had become necessary. All further operations with the fleet appearing unlikely, he made up his mind to go back to France for a while to join the French army, and fight in the war which seemed about to take place on English soil.
A curious incident detained him. During the year 1778 Commissioners had come over from England to offer terms of peace to Congress. But no terms short of independence for the United States would be accepted. Lord Carlisle was the chief of the Commissioners. In one of his letters he warned the Americans not to trust the French, "whose perfidy was too well known to need further proof." Lafayette's fiery blood boiled at this insult to his nation. He straightway challenged Lord Carlisle to a duel. "I demand of you," he wrote, "an apology as public as was the insult. I hope to add to the glorious privilege of being a Frenchman that of proving to one of your nation that mine can not be attacked with impunity."
It was a foolish thing, this challenge. Lord Carlisle very properly replied that he was responsible for his public words only to his government. Washington, in the kindest manner, reminded Lafayette that the chivalrous spirit he had shown was a little out of date, and might make him seem ridiculous in the eyes of sensible men. Besides, even if the duel were to be fought, chance rather than courage often decided this sort of contests, and justice in no case was helped by the result. He could not bear to see a life risked which should be kept for greater and better service. And the brave old Count d'Estaing wrote earnestly to Washington to put a stop to this boyish adventure, and not to permit such a needless exposure of so precious a life.
Lafayette returned to France in the early part of 1779. He had left his country in disgrace, under an order of arrest for disobedience to his King. Even his friends had condemned his action as fool-hardy and useless. Nearly all his family had joined in bewailing what they regarded as the ruin of a promising career by enlisting in a hopeless cause. He came back famous and honored. He had won high military rank, and had proved himself, in the words of the American Congress in parting with him, "wise in council, brave in battle, patient amid the fatigues of war." The hopeless cause he had taken up was on the point of victory, and the King who had ordered him to prison for joining it had become the open ally of the new nation.
Lafayette was welcomed with open arms, and though still but twenty-one, his advice was sought by both the American and French governments with high respect. Still ardently devoted to the American cause, he sought some opportunity to serve it. He planned first an expedition against the wealthy commercial cities of the English coast, in which he was to command the land-forces, and John Paul Jones, the gallant American sailor who was to be so famous, was to command the fleet. When this fell through, on account of the timidity of the French ministers, Lafayette proposed an attack upon Canada, but this also was a failure. Then, with characteristic independence and courage, he staked all his hopes on getting money, a fleet, and an army for the United States. He had been instructed by Congress not to ask for an army, for the Americans were afraid of the jealousy which foreign troops would excite. But Lafayette believed that a French army might arrive in the nick of time, and decide the result of the war. The event proved that he was right. He returned to America in April, 1780, a few weeks in advance of the French forces, of the coming of which neither the English nor the Americans had any suspicion. Then opened the last year of real war in the struggle for independence. Lafayette was to take a great part in its events, and of this we shall hear in the next chapter.