Attached image: “An illustration of the Marquis de Lafayette with escort riders foraging for food for the horses of the Continental Army while they were encamped at Morristown.” (AI rendered on data by Bill Truran and he endorses it as historically representative)
During this prelude to the actual 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence we are looking at some of our local people who put their possessions and lives on the line for freedom for America. These are Patriots of the United States.
Today we recognize Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.
Lafayette was a French nobleman and a major general in the Continental Army under George Washington. He had leadership roles during the battles of Brandywine, Monmouth and at the siege of Yorktown near the end of the Revolutionary War.
Lafayette had ideals of freedom and his close relationship with General Washington made him a revered figure in New Jersey.
He was only 20 years old when the war began during the year 1776. Following his family’s martial traditions, he was commissioned as an officer when he was just 13 years old.
He returned to France during the middle of the war to lobby for an increase in French support for the American cause for freedom. While he came to the Western Hemisphere in search of glory, he also saw that the American revolutionary case was a noble one.
Lafayette was considered “The Hero of Two Worlds” for his accomplishments in the Old World as well as the New World, serving both the United States and France.
Well respected, he returned to the United States in 1824 for a Grand Tour. The village near the center of our county, that had been in existence from the mid-1700s, was named after him—Lafayette Township.
Lafayette was a symbol of a major player in the Revolutionary War in the remote Sussex County, NJ. He also played an inspirational role here during the war, although he didn’t lead military operations here.
Bill Truran, Sussex County’s historian, may be contacted at billt1425@gmail.com He is the author of “Mohawk on the Delaware”
