Facts about Marquis de Lafayette
- 11
A close friendship with George Washington deeply influenced Lafayette, who named his son after the general and modeled his military and political ideals on Washington's example.
- 10
Lafayette served as commander of the National Guard of Paris during the early French Revolution, a position he held from 1789 to 1791 before his political influence waned.
- 09
Congress granted Lafayette 11,200 acres of land in Ohio in 1803 as compensation for his unpaid Revolutionary War service, though he never settled on the property.
- 08
His marriage to Adrienne de Noailles in 1774 at age 16 united two of France's most powerful aristocratic families and produced four children over their 41-year union.
- 07
Lafayette owned the Chavaniac estate in the Haute-Loire region of France and retired there after his military career ended, living peacefully until his death in 1834 at age 76.
- 06
Two of Lafayette's sons served as generals in the French military, continuing their father's military legacy into the 19th century.
- 05
Marquis de Lafayette's adopted son, George Washington Lafayette, was named after the American general and lived with the family at Mount Vernon for two years during the 1820s.
- 04
During the French Revolution, Lafayette drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in 1789, a document that became foundational to French constitutional law.
- 03
Lafayette's estates in France were confiscated during the Reign of Terror, and he spent 5 years imprisoned in Austrian and Prussian dungeons between 1792 and 1797 for his moderate political stance.
- 02
In 1824, Lafayette returned to America for a triumphal 14-month tour at age 67, visiting all 24 states and receiving a hero's welcome from citizens grateful for his Revolutionary War service.
- 01
At age 19, the Marquis de Lafayette purchased a commission in the French army and volunteered to serve without pay during the American Revolutionary War.