“What do we really know about Lafayette’s visit to Beaufort
in 1825?” As it turns out, not much - but researching documentary evidence to substantiate local legends led
me down some interesting research paths that are the substance of the rest of
this post. Trying to uncover additional information about his visit led me to the story of a long and consequential transatlantic relationship that
involved some of the key figures of European and American history over a period
of more than 50 years.
That transatlantic relationship has several distinct phases
which explains why President James Monroe asks Congress to invite Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette, Marquis De La Fayette to be the “Nation’s
Guest” in 1824 – and why Lafayette comes to Beaufort in 1825.
James Monroe is a Patriot. He quit college to join the Continental
Army in 1776. He’s badly wounded at the Battle of Trenton in early 1777. In fact, in Emanuel Leutze's painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware" James Monroe is depicted as the man holding the American flag upright on his way to the fight. [The painting cannot be considered historically accurate but it is among the most recognizable images we associate with the American Revolution.]
In April 1777, a young, wealthy French aristocrat with an
impressively lengthy name defied his own king to fight in the American
Revolution. This is what most Americans know about Lafayette: He came to fight
with the Americans against the British King.
George Washington is the initial connection between Monroe
and Lafayette. When Lafayette arrived unannounced but keen to help, Washington
decided to make use of him – first for his publicity value -- as the 19
year-old French nobleman had no combat experience.
Lafayette gets that wartime experience at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777. He shows extreme courage under fire. In some accounts, Lafayette
is standing between Patriot Major General, William Alexander, AKA Lord Stirling
and James Monroe when Lafayette takes a bullet in his leg. Monroe keeps company
with Lafayette while he’s recovering – and thus the roots of a lifelong
friendship is formed. Soon afterwards Lafayette is given command as a Major General in the Continental Army. From this point onwards, Lafayette prefers to be
addressed as “General.”
Monroe and Lafayette were both encamped at cold, miserable,
and disease-ridden Valley Forge with Washington from December 19, 1777, to June
19, 1778. Both men fought at the Battle of Monmouth. Thus by 1778 Monroe and Lafayette have become friends -
based on their shared military service in the cause of American independence
and their shared belief in American principles of liberty and equality.
But their personal paths diverge in 1779. Monroe is
frustrated by his lack of military recognition and becomes a civilian. He studies law with Thomas Jefferson to support himself and to prepare for political office. Lafayette continues his military career and gets Louis XVI to provide official military support and troops to the American cause of
Independence from Great Britain.
Lafayette fights during the Siege of Yorktown and returns to France at
the end of 1781.
It takes a bit for peace talks to start but once underway,
the negotiation goes rather quickly. The Treaty of Paris ending the American
Revolution is signed September 3, 1783. This painting is unfinished because the
British delegation refused to sit for the artist Benjamin West.
Lafayette returns to America in August 1784 to celebrate the
signing of the Treaty of Paris with the American people. He gets to Virginia in
November and stays at
Mount Vernon with George Washington who’s more of a
father figure to him than his former commander. On November 18, Washington and
Lafayette go to Richmond to meet with others but I cannot be sure that Monroe
was there.
Lafayette writes to James Madison that “Our friend Munro is very
much Beloved and Respected in Congress” so it’s likely that they did meet up.
The 5 years from 1784 to 1789 is something of a lull before
the storm. These flags are emblematic of the political whiplash over the course
of Lafayette’s life. After 1788, Lafayette is in and out of politics in France
– sometimes in support of the government, at other times out of favor with the
powers of the day.
PHASE 2: FRENCH REVOLUTION
Lafayette becomes one of the leaders of the early phases of
the French Revolution with a goal to reform France’s government. He co-authors
the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen in late July 1789 and
becomes head of the National Guard tasked to maintain order in Paris.
Unfortunately, the King is reluctant to ratify the abolition of noble
privileges. This angers the mob – and though Lafayette manages to save Queen Marie Antoinette at this time -- the mob forces the royal family to
relocate to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Louis XVI bides his time under house
arrest for a time but tries to escape in June 1791. The family is quickly recaptured.
A month after that, Lafayette orders National Guard soldiers
to open fire at an anti-monarchy demonstration in Paris and French citizens
die. Lafayette is torn between support of the King and his reformist impulses. Lafayette’s reputation in revolutionary France falters even as threats
from Prussia and Austria are growing.
Lafayette and his National Guard troops are
repositioned to defend against Prussian and Austrian forces gathering near the
border. Louis XVI is deposed by the Jacobin faction in August 1792 – and the faction declares Lafayette an enemy of the State. The General knows that it’s flee or
die.
He decides to flee and live to fight another day. Lafayette
plans to get to the Dutch Republic, sail to Britain, try to help his relatives
escape, and then head to the United States where he and his male heirs had been
awarded honorary citizenship in several states in 1784. But his plan fails. He gets captured by Austrian troops at
Rochefort [in present-day Belgium] and jailed. Upon news of this, Adrienne, his wife, sends their young
son, Georges Washington, into hiding; she and their daughters remain on
their estate.
In December 1792 Louis XVI is convicted by the
Jacobins. He dies at the guillotine on 21 January 1793. His wife, Marie Antoinette is beheaded 9 months later. The bloodbath accelerates after the deaths of the King and
Queen. After being held at several prisons, Gen. Lafayette becomes “State
Prisoner #2” at Olmutz in Austria in 1794. The Jacobins led by Maximilien Robespierre confiscate Lafayette’s fortune and imprison his wife and young daughters.
All this underlines just how dangerous France is when Monroe arrives as Minister to France in August 1794 with his wife Elizabeth Kortright Monroe and their
children. Monroe was brave and daring in military matters; he’s brave and
daring in his first ministerial posting.
He continues advocating for the release of Lafayette just as his
predecessor had done ; but he ups the ante. He learns that Lafayette’s wife,
Adrienne’s mother, grandmother, and sister have died by
guillotine. He acts to help the imprisoned Adrienne and her girls. Monroe finds
one of the few carriages left in Paris, gussies it up, stocks it with food and
clothing, accepts his own wife’s offer to act in his stead and off the La Belle Americaine goes to pay a
social call to Adrienne in prison. Adrienne is set to die the following day –
but Elizabeth Monroe makes it clear that
she will be visiting Adrienne on the morrow. It was a gutsy move. Not wanting
to endanger ties with the United States, France abruptly reversed its verdict
and did not execute Adrienne or her daughters though they would keep them in
prison until January 1795. When they are
released, they shelter in the American Minister’s home in Paris. Thomas Paine,
author of Common Sense, is also sheltering with the Monroes.
This is an excerpt of the letter from Monroe to his boss,the Secretary of State, Edmund Randolph in February 1795. Monroe says Adrienne is with them and in dire financial straits. At his own discretion, Monroe advanced her
about $1000 from an account appropriated by Congress for the General in 1794.
A few weeks later an almost unrecognizable Georges appears
on the doorstep of the Monroe’s house with his tutor, Felix Festrel who had
kept him safe since the time of the General’s capture. Monroe facilitates
Georges and Festrel’s escape to America. Monroe issues Georges an American passport in the name of
George Motier.
In this letter to President Washington, Mme. Lafayette places
her son under the protection of the United States. She says that the letter
carrier will share information about Lafayette’s circumstances in person with
the President. Mme. Lafayette closes by imploring GW to accept her trust,
respect, and attachment. Bear in mind: These two people have never met. Georges becomes a House guest of President Washington and Georges attends Harvard University during his 3 years sojourn in the USA.
In September 1795, Monroe issues Adrienne an American
passport in the name of Mrs. Motier of Hartford, CT. She and her daughters sail
to Dunkerque, get on an American ship bound for Hamburg, and make their way
into neutral Denmark where an aunt was sheltering family refugees from France.
In October 1795, Emperor Francis II of Austria agrees to let Adrienne and her
daughters Anastasie and Virginie join Lafayette in the
Olmutz prison.
The Monroes were very popular in France. Both of them spoke
French well, and they adopted some French mannerisms. n the words of the
historian Harlow Giles Unger, “La Belle Americaine was a goddess, and Monroe
was as close to becoming a god in French officialdom as it was possible for any
foreigner to be." However, President Washington decides that
Monroe is too close to the French and re-assigns him to England and Spain.
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina, Eliza Lucas Pinckney’s son,
replaces Monroe.
BTW: Peggy Pickett will channel Eliza’s life during the Revolution as she oversees her sons’
plantations on March 25 in a local history program co-sponsored by the Beaufort History Museum and the BDC at the Beaufort Library.
American diplomats continued to push for Lafayette’s release
after Monroe was removed by Washington. But it took Napoleon to free Lafayette.
When Napoleon Bonaparte and his revolutionary armies conquered Austria in 1797,
a clause in the Treaty of Campo Formio released Lafayette. They left Olmutz prison on September 19 and moved to La Grange, Adrienne’s estate east of Paris.
Monroe and Lafayette were comrades in arms in the American
Revolution; During the French
Revolution, the Monroes save Lafayette’s family.
Lafayette may be free but his reputation remains tarnished
in his native country. He has financial problems. His wife developed health
issues during her imprisonment. The General’s support of liberal democratic
causes in France, Greece, Italy and Poland makes his suspect in Europe.
PHASE 3: MONROE BECOMES 5th PRESIDENT OF THE
UNITED STATES
James Monroe spends the years from 1796 raising his
political profile. He serves as Governor of Virginia three times. He suppresses
a slave rebellion; his only son dies; He helps negotiate the Louisiana Purchase
in 1803. He goes on diplomatic missions to France, England and Spain. He serves
as Secretary of State and Secretary of War and for a few days was heading both
of those departments in 1814. He is a very popular man in the US. Great Britain was defeated, Monroe
and the Jeffersonian Republican party enjoyed a clear victory in the 1816 Presidential Election. The electoral count was 183 for Monroe, 34 for his
Federalist party opponent Rufus King of New York. But it was during the "Era of Good Feelings" that political issues
arose that would dominate American politics for the next 40 years.
Unfortunately, the women in his life were not as well liked. “The Beautiful American” of France was not popular in Washington, DC.
Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison, was a hard act for brave, reserved, formal and sick Elizabeth to
follow. On account of her nature and health, she didn’t make social calls to the wives of
government officials which annoyed those wives. Monroe’s eldest
daughter, Eliza, became the unofficial White House hostess during her father’s
two terms. But Eliza Monroe Hays was considered
acerbic and rather imperious. She did not let others forget that her childhood best friend was
Hortense, Queen of Holland, Napoleon’s step-daughter by his first wife Josephine and his sister-in-law as she married Louis Bonaparte in 1802.
Monroe was a great admirer of George Washington. Just as George Washington had done, Monroe
took to the roads and waters to unify the nation. He broke his tours into 3
segments covering over 2000 miles in all.
He was the first president to ride a steamboat (from Baltimore to
Philadelphia) and the first sitting president to travel as far west as the
Michigan territory.
He also oversaw the addition of some Spanish territory along
the Gulf of Mexico by peaceful means. The Adams-Onis Treaty set up a new
boundary with the Viceroyalty of New Spain.
During his Southern Tour in 1819, Monroe stopped by Beaufort for a few
days on his way to check out the recently ceded Florida territory. On May 3rd, the inhabitants of the town learned that President Monroe would arrive in a few days. According to the
Savannah Daily Republican newspaper, most of the citizenry took to their horses and assembled to greet the President at the Port Royal Ferry Crossing along the Whale Branch River [quite near to the current location of the Whale Branch Bridge]. "On entering the town he was handsomely saluted by a company of artillery, commanded by capt. [sic] Burke, and received the salutations of the Intendent..." (which was what the mayor of Beaufort used to be called). The text of his welcome and the President's response were printed in the newspaper issue.
The next day Monroe visited
Fort Marion (AKA
Fort Lyttelton) and was guest of honor at a dinner held in
Beaufort College where a number of toasts were offered. These toasts are included in the
Savannah Daily Republican newspaper as well. Toasting others was a key component of political and social life
in the 18th and 19th centuries. (I was quite disappointed to not find any record of
the toasts made during Lafayette’s visit 6 years later. Who was offering the toast and the nature of the toast can give a researcher insight into the thoughts and minds of the toaster and his/her place in the community.)
Monroe had several unique problems during his first term as
President. The Panic of 1819 was
the first widespread and durable financial crisis in
the United States that
caused a general collapse of the American economy that lasted through 1821.
Geographic expansion during Monroe’s first term exposed
latent tensions over the morality of slavery and the balance of economic power.
In 1819 there were 22 states in all - 11
states with slavery and 11 states where slavery was not allowed. But Missouri
wanted to become the 23rd state. The carefully maintained balance
was in jeopardy. There was a Congressional bruiser of a political fight that
was resolved by Henry Clay’s Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state
and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, so as not to upset the balance
between slave and free states in the nation. The Compromise also outlawed
slavery above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana
Territory.
A few days later after the compromise was signed, Monroe’s
youngest daughter Maria married her first cousin in a White House ceremony –
the first Presidential child to do so. The wedding was a small family affair with a guest list of only 42 people. Lauren McGwin's article about the wedding and the reception afterwards is a fascinating read. The article's summary on the White House Historical Association website says "Although offended when not invited to the wedding, high society was welcomed to a reception at Stephen Decatur's house on the eve of the duel that would take his life."
Despite the financial Panic of 1819 and the Missouri Crisis,
James Monroe was re-elected unopposed in the election of 1820. Monroe won his
second term by a true landslide - 231 to 1 in the electoral college. The hold-out was William Plumer, an elector from New Hampshire who casts his vote for John
Quincy Adams.
From 1793 until 1933, presidents of the United States were inaugurated on March 4. Monroe's second inauguration was the first time that March 4 happened to fall on a Sunday. After consulting with Supreme Court justices on the
matter, Monroe decided to hold the Inaugural ceremony on Monday, March 5. It was the first oath taking outdoors. According to witnesses, “The occasion was
“simple, but grand, animating and impressive.” (p. 324). Following Washington’s example, Monroe makes it clear that he will not run for a third term. The most significant policy to emerge from Monroe’s 2nd term was the Monroe Doctrine warning European powers not to interfere in the
affairs of the Western Hemisphere. By late 1822 four main candidates are hoping to
be America’s next President.
Left to right: John Quincy Adams, son of former President John Adams; Andrew Jackson, Hero of New Orleans; a prominent politician from Georgia who had held a number of positions in the Federal government William H. Crawford; and
the architect of the Missouri Compromise and Speaker of the House Henry Clay.
The political scene is heating up – and Monroe is looking to smooth the waters. About the only thing every citizen of the United States can agree upon in 1824 is that Lafayette is an American hero – and with the 50
th anniversary of the
Declaration of Independence coming up soon, President Monroe asks Congress to invite his friend, the
great hero of the Revolution Major General Lafayette, to visit America as
its guest. Lafayette quickly says “yes.” It’s been 40 years since his last
visit to America.
Lafayette is 67 years old, largely unappreciated and ignored
by the French, and in financial difficulties. He is accompanied by his
middle-aged son, Georges, his secretary and a valet. From his arrival in New
York on August 16, 1824 to his embarkation to return to France on September 7,
1825, presentations, plays, feasting, balls, and pageants greeted him wherever
he traveled. His 13 month marathon trip to all 24 states is a triumph!
There is however, a little touch of scandal. His very good - and very much younger – free-thinking Scot female friend, the
controversial
Frances Wright accompanied Lafayette for parts of the tour. She
is about 200 years ahead of her time. They travel on separate conveyances for
propriety -- and because his son Georges
is not a fan. Lafayette introduces her to important American citizens such as
Jefferson, Madison, John Quincy Adams, and Gen. Andrew Jackson and their wives. BTW:
Miss Wright will not be traveling with General Lafayette while he is on his way to Beaufort. She headed west to visit some experimental communities. They will meet up in New Orleans later.
While Lafayette’s in the country he is witness to an unusual
Presidential election. Andrew Jackson received the most popular votes and the most
electoral votes in the Presidential election of 1824. But
because of the crowded field of candidates, Jackson fell 32 electoral votes
short of election – which throws the election into the House of
Representatives.
But before the House of
Representatives can consider the matter, at Speaker of the House Henry Clay’s invitation, Gen.
Lafayette addresses a joint session of Congress on December 10, 1824. He makes
a short speech thanking the country for its efforts on his family’s
behalf during the French Revolution. He declared his faithfulness to American ideals of "liberty, equality, and true social
order, and so it shall continue to be to my latest breath.’ Lafayette was the
first foreign representative to address both houses of Congress. He spoke to both houses on the same day but not in a joint meeting. Therefore, Lafayette's speeches fail to meet the criteria according to the "History, Art & Archives: United States House of Representatives" website. Lafayette, however, was the subject of one of the only two addresses by a foreign representative to a Joint session of Congress: French Ambassador Andre de Laboulaye spoke before the assembled Congress to mark the centennial of the death of the Marquis de Lafayette on May 20, 1934.
The House chooses the next president on a snowy February 9, 1825. Lafayette is present for the official count of the electoral college vote,
then leaves with the Senators while the representatives do their duty. John Quincy Adams is chosen on the first ballot. With the Presidential election settled, Lafayette heads
south in February 1825.
He gets to Beaufort South Carolina on March 18, 1825. We
know that he was here – we know that he arrived after dark, but other details
remain a bit murky.
According to an account in the Southern Patriot newspaper of Charleston the week after Lafayette's visit: Upon his arrival he was
met by a committee who led a procession to a reception room where
citizens were gathered for opening remarks. Nearby was
a ballroom. This specific source states that he remained in
the ballroom for three hours and was then led back to the landing point. The
implication of the text is that the Ball was held in the same building as the
reception room.
Note: This happens to be the guide for the upcoming Grand Procession re-enactment set for Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
Lafayette’s private secretary Auguste Levasseur provides
this account in Lafayette in America, 1824 - 1825:
During the rest of our sail to Savannah, we skirted the islands of Hunting, Beaufort, Port Republican, Hilton Head, etc., and often by such narrow passages that the sides of our ship nearly touched the land on each side, and it had rather the look of rolling on the grasslands that surrounded it than that of gliding on the water which disappeared beneath it. It was nearly midnight when we passed in front of Beaufort, and everyone on board was sleeping, but we were soon awakened by the shouts of the citizens who had waited up to then on the bank, and General Lafayette, having gotten up, gave in to their entreaty that he spend some moments among them.
A woman purportedly named Hetty Barnwell - but whose identity cannot be verified – is purported to have been
present at Lafayette’s arrival. But problems arise: The tale does not surface until almost 100 years after the event in a book not known for its accuracy. Furthermore, the account that was published in Historic Houses of South Carolina by Harriett Leiding (1921) is not the same as the typed transcript of the letter that is in our LAFAYETTE, MARQUIS DE vertical file and in the Barnwell Family Papers posted online.
Leiding's account is found on pages 245-246. She begins by writing that Lafayette came to Beaufort on March 2, 1805 - which is simply not accurate - and spoke from the balcony of the John Mark Verdier house. Leiding says that the ball was held at Barnwell Castle that unfortunately had "burned about 1879. An authentic account taken from an old letter written by a member of the Barnwell family, who entertained him, reads:"
We went into Beaufort last Thursday evening expecting LaFayette would come there on Friday. We had lent our house to give the ball in. The ball committee requested us to dress the rooms, as he was expected at two o'clock. We were obliged to leave the rooms half dressed, to go down to the bay to see the procession. We had a very good position as we went to McNeston's Balcony where the arch was erected, but all our trouble was in vain, for after waiting there about an hour we returned to our home. We were afraid that he would not come at all. However, at about twelve notice was given that he had come. We were, of course, deserted by the Guards, who went to conduct him to the house. The procession was then so handsome that I scarcely regretted his not coming in the day. All the boys in the town had lights in their hands, which had a beautiful effect, shining on the long, white plumes of the Guards. He stayed just long enough to shake hands all around and eat supper. As it was the first time that LaFayette had entered any place at night at least it had the effect of novelty!
Now compare the above account with this letter ascribed to Hetty Barnwell that's posted online in the Lowcountry Digital Library and that we have copies of stored in the BDC vertical files:
There is the inconsistency of the balcony's name "McNeston's" in the Leiding transcription; "Wescot's" in the Barnwell typescript. A quick search of the 1820 and 1830 Federal Censuses shows some men surnamed Wescot in other parts of South Carolina - but none in Beaufort. A quick search of the 1820 and 1830 Federal Censuses shows some men surnamed "Neston" in other parts of South Carolina but no "McNeston" at all. That, of course, does not mean that perhaps a Mr. Wescot or a Mr. McNeston was living in Beaufort in 1825 and that he had a balcony and that Lafayette may have stood upon said balcony and addressed Beaufortonians. Miss Barnwell also claims that the Ball was held in her
aunt’s ground floor basement – without specifying the name of that aunt or the location of her aunt's house.
Francis Richard Lubbock, a native of Beaufort who became
Governor of Texas, states in Six Decades in Texas or Memoirs of Francis
Richard Lubbock (1900) that "At the time of La Fayette's visit I fairly effervesced with delightful enthusiasm. It was a holiday for everybody. Our guest was a hero. He came in my father's boat." He describes the scene 75 years after the occasion this way on page 5:
Lubbock was 9 years old when Lafayette came to
Beaufort and thus 84 years old when his memoir was published. The Henry Shultz was a steamboat owned and operated by his
father, Dr. Henry Thomas Willis Lubbock. A typo in the excerpt gives the year of Lafayette's
arrival as "1824" rather than 1825. Several sources indicate that James Hamilton was indeed accompanying Lafayette on his travels in South Carolina and Georgia. The reason given for Lafayette's late arrival is that the steamboat got stuck on a sandbar and had to wait for the incoming tide to float it. Lubbock also says that the
ball was held at "Mrs. Elliott's, [at which] I had the honor of being
presented to the illustrious general, and complimented by him for my manliness
and patriotism." We knot that the Intendent of Beaufort (read that as "mayor") was William
Elliott, III and his family lived in what we call The Anchorage now in 1825. But there
were a lot of Mrs. Elliotts in Beaufort in 1825.
This little newspaper article printed in the Tampa Tribune & Sun covers a lot of ground re: a Verdier-Lafayette connection.
Unfortunately, so far there is no corroborating evidence in
other sources for the Verdier family's specific claims. You will notice in the newspaper article that some of the details are not consistent with other accounts: There is no mention of the grand
procession. Lafayette just walks a several hundred feet from the steamer to the
portico of the John Mark Verdier house at 801 Bay Street. This article gives the name of the steamship as "William Seabrook." But the Southern Patriot newspaper issue of March 17, 1825 clearly puts Lafayette travel on the Henry Shultze steamship to Edisto, Beaufort, and Savannah.
This article has the sequence of Lafayette’s
journey backwards as well. Lafayette was in Charleston, then Edisto, then Beaufort, and
left here for Savannah. The account also refers to a "sumptuous banquet" held in Lafayette's honor at the family home. It behooves us to take note that Verdier's daughter Mrs. I.V. Scull talked with the newspaper reporter but was not present at the 1825 Red Letter Local History day event.
Our LAFAYETTE vertical file contains some correspondence between Dr. E. H. Anderson of Beaufort and administration at the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library about sources in those institutions about Lafayette's visit to Beaufort in 1825. Their research was inconclusive beyond the Southern Patriot article quoted above.
Evan Thompson, former Executive Director of Historic Beaufort Foundation, references an unpublished "Reminiscences of Mary Barnwell Elliott Johnstone" from 1894 that we do not have in our holdings. In his "Lost & Found" column entitled "Where was Lafayette's famous visit?" in the short-lived Beaufort Today newspaper April 4, 2008 issue, he dismisses Johnstone's account out of hand. Drawing from her memories as a one year old toddler, Johnstone claims that Lafayette's reception was at the Barnwell house [ i.e., Barnwell Castle].
Thompson writes that none of the “witnesses” are particularly
reliable – and I agree with him. So as it turns out, here are the facts that I can substantiate:
Kind of like Julius Caesar: Lafayette Came. Lafayette Saw. Lafayette conquered -- the hearts of Beaufortonians and Americans. Everything else related to his visit to our fair city remains the stuff of
local legend.
