La Fayette (Picpus Cemetery, Paris, France) - American Revolutionary War Veteran Graves on Waymarking.com

The only entrance to the cemetery is at N48 50.654 E2 23.780. An entrance fee of 2.50 euros is charged.

Opening hours : Oct.-Easter, Tues.-Sat. 2-4; Easter-Sept., Tues.-Sat. 2-6. Métro: Nation.

La Fayette first heard about the American struggle for independence while stationed in Metz as a French army officer in 1776. Young and idealistic, he immediately resolved to serve the American cause of liberty. Early in 1777, he signed an agreement with Silas Deane to serve as a major general in the Continental Army. He bought a ship, which he named "La Victoire" and equipped it at his own expense. However, a wealthy young man with a high profile at the Court of Versailles could not take up the American cause without endangering official french neutrality, and Louis XVI issued an order to prevent his departure. Deterred neither by his family nor his king, La Fayette left for America in the utmost secrecy from a small Spanish port in April 1777.

He reached South Carolina in mid-June and rode 600 miles to Philadelphia to present his credentials to the Continental Congress. A skeptical Congress first denied his application as coming from just another foreigner who expected a commission in the U.S. Army. They soon realized, however, that La Fayette was in a class by himself. Captivated by his enthusiasm for their cause and his wish to serve without pay, Congress decided to give him the rank of Major General - one month before his twentieth birthday. Soon after, La Fayette met General Washington, who took an instant liking to him. He adopted La Fayette as the son he never had, while La Fayette found in his General the father he had lost in battle...

In the spring of 1780, General Clinton, who had sailed from New York with a huge expeditionary force, had taken the South Carolina port of Charleston and had left General Cornwallis in command. Cornwallis quickly moved north into North Carolina and Virginia. Washington's efforts to contain him were fruitless. Late in 1780, he dispatched La Fayette with his elite troops to take command of the army in Virginia.

It wasn't until the following June, however, that La Fayette received the necessary reinforcement that enabled him to march 5000 strong from Fredricksburg to Williamsburg.

It was at that moment that General Clinton, fearing the arrival of a new French fleet under Admiral de Grasse, ordered Cornwallis to hold the seaport at Yorktown for the British fleet. Cornwallis moved his army to Yorktown early in August and began to fortify the town. La Fayette occupied nearby Williamsburg while he awaited the arrival of Washington's and Rochambeau's troops by land and de Grasse's fleet by sea.

After the decisive victory of the french and American forces at Yorktown in October, La Fayette returned to france in December 1781 where he continued to lead an active career in public life...

La Fayette returned twice to the United States after the War. In 1784, he toured the battlefields, and stayed with Washington at Mount Vernon. Acclaimed in all the major cities of the East Coast, La Fayette was, at twenty-eight, the "Hero of Two Worlds." La Fayette's farewell visit took place in 1824. At the invitation of Congress, he was a "guest of the Nation" for an entire year. Together with his son, George Washington La Fayette, the sixty-seven-year-old Marquis visited all twenty-four states. He was deeply moved by the tremendous outpouring of gratitude of the American people wherever he went. He was made an honorary citizen of the United States, and his descendants still have the right to carry an American passport.

When La Fayette's wife, Adrienne de Noailles, died in 1807, she asked to be buried in the private cemetery of Picpus next to the other members of her family who had been victims of the Terror during the French Revolution. They had been buried here in a common grave along with 1300 victims of the guillotine in 1793 and 1794. La Fayette was buried beside her in soil that he brought back from America in 1824...

Today, every 4th of July, U.S. officials, French Cincinnati Society members, and French Sons of the Revolution gather to remember La Fayette. A Star Spangled Banner always flies over the grave.

(Text taken from "Paris : Birthplace of the U.S.A." by Daniel Jouve, Alice Jouve, and Alvin Grossman.)

Location type: Single Grave Date of Death: May 20, 1834 Cause of death: Died Later Grave Marker Text: no text Ranks: Major General Date of Birth: Not listed

Visit Instructions:

PLEASE NOTE: This category is for American Revolutionary War Veterans only. Veterans of other revolutions are not part of this category.

I have allowed one entry for a grave of British solders, but it was an exception. Please only list graves for Colonial soldiers.

Simply visit the locations. Please provide as much information as possible. Pictures would be a great addition.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   11/09/2019 Outspoken1 visited it 12/31/2009 nounie visited it

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