GENERAL LAFAYETTE
- Program
- Subject
- Location
- Lat/Long
- Grant Recipient
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Lafayette Trail
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Event, People, Site
- 370 W Pittsylvania St, Halifax, NC 27839, USA
- 36.33080344133, -77.593457179183
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The Lafayette Trail, Inc.
GENERAL LAFAYETTE
Inscription
GENERAL LAFAYETTEPASSED THROUGH HALIFAX
CA. JULY 15, 1777, EN ROUTE
TO VOLUNTEER HIS MILITARY
SERVICE AT THE CONTINENTAL
CONGRESS IN PHILADELPHIA.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2026
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834), was a French nobleman and captain in the French Dragoons. In April 1777, Lafayette sailed on the Victoire, a ship built with his personal funds, for North America to serve as a military leader in the American Revolution, despite a royal decree prohibiting French officers from serving. Shortly after his arrival, the Continental Congress commissioned him as a major general serving under George Washington. Wounded during the Battle of Brandywine, Lafayette managed to organize a successful Patriot retreat. Early in 1779, he returned to France to negotiate an increase in support from the French government, securing thousands of French troops to fight for the American cause. As one of three division commanders, Lafayette played a pivotal role in the 1781 Battle of Yorktown. He succeeded in containing Lord Cornwallis’s men, allowing time for additional French and American forces to arrive and lay siege to the British troops, forcing Cornwallis to surrender and ensuring American victory.
In June of 1777 the 19-year-old Lafayette landed on American soil near Georgetown, South Carolina. He then made his way north towards Philadelphia. On July 18th, 1777, Major J. B. Ashe sent a letter reporting to the North Carolina Governor, Richard Caswell, on the state of affairs at Halifax, where a military camp had been established. He included in his letter that “one of the Royal Bloods of France, (the Marquis de Lafayette) recommended by Mr. Franklin, passed this a few days since, on his way to the Grand Army.” It is estimated that Lafayette passed through Halifax a few days preceding the 18th.
Lafayette arrived in Philadelphia by the end of July and met with George Washington on July 31st. He was commissioned that same day as a Major General, after volunteering to serve without pay.