Lafayette arrived in America in June, 1777, and at once plunged into the
struggle. He refused an active command at first, preferring to serve in
a more humble capacity until accustomed to American troops. In the
Battle of Brandywine, only some forty days after his arrival, he
received a wound from a musket ball--a wound sufficient to keep him in
bed for six weeks. This battle was a defeat for the American forces and
was followed by the fall of the City of Philadelphia. Wounds and defeat
seem, however, to have acted only as a stimulus, and in December, 1777,
as a reward for intrepid and brilliant service, he was given the command
of a division of the American army. He was then twenty years of age.
Then followed four years of active service under General Washington,
broken only by a temporary return to France in 1779 on a diplomatic
mission. Gentle and courteous, yet apparently insensible to fear, his
spirit was an inspiration. At the Battle of Monmouth the enemy, during a
lull, observed a general officer in the service of the Americans
advancing into the danger zone, with some other officers and men, to
reconnoitre the enemy's position. An aide-de-camp fell, struck by a
ball, and all but the general fled precipitately. They saw the latter,
although under the fire of a battery, lean to assist the stricken aide,
and finding that all was ended turn and slowly rejoin the others. The
British commander, General Clinton, ordered his men not to fire; and
the chivalry of this Englishman probably saved the American officer's
life. It was Lafayette.
In 1780 he asked leave to take a position in the Southern Department
where the situation of the American army is described in a letter to
Lafayette by General Greene, then commanding the division.
"It is now within a few days of the time when you shall be with me. Were
you to arrive you would find a few ragged, half-starved troops in the
wilderness, destitute of everything necessary for either the comfort or
convenience of soldiers.... The country is almost laid waste and the
inhabitants plunder one another with little less than savage fury. We
live from hand to mouth, and have nothing to subsist on but what we
collect with armed parties.... I fear this department is to be the great
Serbonian bog to the American armies and particularly to the general
officers."
The vision of a Serbonian bog acted only as a magnet, and Lafayette
started to join Greene. On his way, however, he was recalled by the
commander-in-chief, General Washington, to take command of an expedition
against Benedict Arnold, the traitor, now a brigadier-general in the
enemy's army, who was marching into Virginia and with revengeful fury
carrying fire and sword wherever he went. Lafayette was dispatched
against him with specific orders that if Arnold surrendered there should
be no stipulation made for his safety, and at the same time forbidding
the slightest injury to his person;--it being the purpose of Washington,
never however fulfilled, to bring Arnold to public punishment according
to the rules and regulations of the army.
Lafayette's command seems to have been no better than Greene's. In a
letter to Greene he describes his men as being in a condition of
"shocking nakedness." Even the officers were destitute of money,
clothing, and everything that could contribute to cleanliness and
comfort. As for the men, they were poorly fed, their shoes worn out,
without tents, and destitute of almost any protection from the
inclemency of the weather. Some of his officers assured the Marquis that
his command would speedily be reduced one-half by desertion,--and as a
matter of fact thirteen out of one company deserted in a single day. A
nauseous and contagious disease, generally produced by a want of
cleanliness, overspread nearly the entire command. In consequence of
these difficulties, Arnold escaped, but Lafayette forced his retreat.
The military genius of George Washington at last turned the tide of war.
In October, 1781, he had the enemy's troops under Cornwallis cornered at
Yorktown. In the course of the siege it became necessary to capture a
certain redoubt possessed by the enemy. Washington determined to carry
it with the bayonet, and appointed Lafayette to conduct the charge. The
American infantry advanced with irresistible power, relying entirely
upon their bayonets, and carried the redoubt by assault.
Shortly afterward Cornwallis surrendered his entire army to Washington,
and the last battle of the American Revolution had been fought. In
November, 1781, the confederated republics having won, Lafayette
returned to France.
Washington and Lafayette! The American and the Frenchman. Great
soldiers both, but above all, great _men_. The real soul of the soldier
speaks out in this letter from the American to the Frenchman, written in
1784: "At length, my dear Marquis, I have become a private citizen on
the banks of the Potomac; and under the shadow of my own vine and my own
fig-tree, free from the bustle of the camp and the busy scenes of public
life, I am solacing myself with those tranquil enjoyments, of which the
soldier who is ever in pursuit of fame, the statesman whose watchful
days and sleepless nights are spent in devising schemes to promote the
welfare of his own, perhaps the ruin of other countries, as if this
globe was insufficient for us all--and the courtier who is always
watching the countenance of his prince in the hope of catching a
gracious smile--can have very little conception. I have not only retired
from all public employments, but am retiring within myself and shall be
able to view the solitary walk, and tread the paths of private life with
heartfelt satisfaction. Envious of none, I am determined to be pleased
with all; and this, my dear friend, being the order of my march, I shall
move gently down the stream of life until I sleep with my fathers."