Michael Halbert as Lafayette
Photo credit: Marie-Louise Halbert
New Haven, Conn. (July 15, 2024)— On August 21, 2024, beginning at 5 p.m., New Haven Museum (NHM) and The American Friends of Lafayette will host a two-part welcoming celebration for the Marquis de Lafayette when he returns (in full regalia) to New Haven, exactly 200 years after his last triumphal visit to the city. Register here for this free NH250 event.
The evening begins in the rotunda with an informal meet and greet with Lafayette—as portrayed by reenactor Michael Halbert—sharing Lafayette’s observations of the city, and the state of the country. A reception will follow at 5:30 p.m. At 6 p.m., Dr. Robert Pierce Forbes, an academic and public historian specializing in the Early American Republic, will present, “Lafayette’s Return: Defusing the Crises of 1824.” Forbes will tell the largely unknown story of how President James Monroe discreetly guided the nation through its most dangerous period before the Civil War—including his tactical invitation to Lafayette in time to calm the 1824 presidential election—which had the potential to be the most chaotic in our history.
Why honor Lafayette now? The American Friends of Lafayette offers an astonishing list of the Frenchman’s achievements, all in support of fledgling America. At 19, Lafayette volunteered to serve without pay, and Congress commissioned him a major general in 1777. He was the youngest general in the War of Independence, and served until the end of the war. General Washington, impressed with the youthful general's zeal and courage, accepted Lafayette on his staff and held him in confidence as "friend and father."
Lafayette became General Washington's favorite foreign officer due to his fierce loyalty. He served with distinction at Valley Forge during the terrible winter of 1777-1778 when Washington sent him on a reconnaissance mission to Barren Hill (now Lafayette Hill). Lafayette and his 2200-men, surrounded by 16,000 British and Hessian troops, and outnumbered 8 to 1—outfoxed the enemy and returned to Valley Forge with a minimum of casualties, pulling off one of the most astonishing escapes in military history. The enemy was stunned by their failure.
Lafayette’s generosity to his American troops was legendary. He spent $200,000 of his own money to pay for their much-needed items such as clothing and weapons at a time when the American economy was on the verge of collapse. Realizing Washington's dangerous military dilemma by late 1778 and still awaiting the military and financial help promised the Americans by his country, he returned to France and argued for a speedy delivery. He made strong appeals to influential ministers and King Louis XVI himself. Thousands of crack French troops, marines, and battleships with massive aid arrived. Historians agree that without French help, Washington would have lost the War for Independence. On August 21,1824, the Marquis de Lafayette returned to New Haven as the last surviving major general of the American Revolution and received a tremendous outpouring of patriotism and gratitude. He arrived in a country riven by political chaos, sectional tension, and the looming threat of violence surrounding the presidential election of 1824 - an atmosphere not unlike the animosity and discord of today.
According to Forbes, the State of the Union in 2024 is uncannily similar to the State of the Union in 1824. “The visit of Lafayette was a master class in restoring patriotic unity to a divided country,” he says. He adds, “My hope is that the public will take away from the presentation a sense of the patterns in American history. We have faced similar challenges in this country before and found a way to overcome them.”
Halbert agrees that the time is right for this sort of commemoration. “Many of our present younger generation and even older Americans have lost sight and interest in the foundations or the historical significance of American Revolutionary War history,” he says. “We need to remind them and future generations of this millennium that America is still the leader of the free world and that the freedoms we cherish today resulted from the sacrifices of our founding fathers and our foreign volunteers like Lafayette.”
Comments