The National tribune., 1881-10-22
LAFAYETTE,S FUNERAL

sent to General Sherman
| WASHINGTON, October 8, 1881.
| General ". 7. Sherman.
| Ny DEAR GENERAL: Now that the name of
Lafayette is being everywhere pronounced in
| connection with the approaching celebration at
Yorktown, you request me to furnish you some
particulars in relation to his funeral, at which
you are aware | was present.
| l was then a youth residing in Paris. 1 had
been guest at La Grange, where the General
and his family had received me with open arms
as also afterwards at his hotel in Paris, both as
an American and as a descendant of family In
| Rhode Island to which, in the days of his youth,
he was warmly attached. attended the funeral
as one of the delegation of Americans. He was
buried with the honors of Lieutenant-General
of the Army and of COMMANDMENTS Chief of
the National Guard. The military escort con-
sisted of troops of the line, numbering, it was
said 100000 men. Part of the infantry marched
ON either flank of the procession, in readiness to
act in the event of an attempt being made by
the Societe des Droits de rHomme to take pos
session of the body and inaugurate an insurrec-
tiOn as had been successfully done at the funeral
of General Lamarque in June, 1882.
| The order of the procession was as follows
First came long cortege of carriages preceded,
presume by cavalry; then the body, with the
pall-bearers Immediately behind the hearse
walked George Washington Lafayette, the
Comte de Lasteyrie Lafayette's son-in-lawD
and the young Lasteyrie, then youth of nine
| teen. Immediately behind these came the dele
cation of Americans; then came the Chamber
| of Peers, and after them the Chamber of
Deputies, all in their official robes. Last came
several hundred officers of the National Guard
from every part of France, all in uniform. The
procession was closed by troops of the line, in
! Guiding cavalry and several field batteries. The
Americans walked two and two, the American
| Consul, DunscOmbe Bradford, leading; 1, with
another, bringing up the rear. On arriving at
! the Church of the Assumption Rue Saint
Honore) the procession halted, while the pail
bearers the members of the family, and the
Americans filed in and paid the last honOrs to
/ the remains, which were deposited in trent of
the grand altar. On approaching the Place Ven
| dome there was sudden halt. Five thousand
law and medical students were there with Re-
publican flag and crying: give la Republique."
"a bas Louis Philippe" and "A bas les tyrans"
| The infantry escort instantly faced Outwards at
charge bayonet, and single charge of cavalry,
| in which few were killed and wounded, sufficed
| to disperse the mob. The same thing occurred
when reached the Boulevard DIES Italiens, and
! at two other points on the route, and with the
same result. At the first alarm in the Place
VendOme many of the Americans thought it
prudent to leave, supposing that the corpse
| would be the central point of the attack, and
| that they would thus find themselves in the
midst of desperate conflict. At each subse-
| quent alarm large numbers more of the Ameri-
cans retired so that when we reached the long
defle leading to the Cemetery of Picpus but two
of us were left, the Consul and myself, who
walked side by side A wide breach had been
made in the walls of the cemetery to admit the
field battery that was to fire the appropriate
salutes over the grave.
| On arriving at the gate we found that no one
was to be admitted but the Lafayette family
and the pall-bearers but as Bradford and my
self were in citizens dress, and walking directly
behind the relatives of the deceased, we were
supposed to constitute a part of the family, and
passed in with them. The coffin was placed on
slab in the centre of the paved area forming
the entrance into the cemetery, and, after few
prayers said over it by priest, was carried into
the cemetery and placed by the side of the
newly-opened grave, which was next to the grave
of the Generals wife. George Washington La
fayette stood on one side of the grave, and the
| Generals old family steward on the other and
1 stood at the foot of the grave between them.
The steward held in his hand the Generals
| silver epaulettes of COmmander-in-Chief of the
National Guard, which were to be buried with
him. George Washington Lafayette asked him,
in low voice, to hand them to him; but the
venerable old man, overwhelmed with grief did
not hear him, and gently took them from his
hand and passed them to the Generals son.
1t was said, 1 know not with what truth,
that the coffin was buried in some American
soil which the General had brought over with
him from the United States in cask for this
very purpose.
In the return of the procession nothing specially
interesting occurred. l remember, however, that
it was an intensely hot day in July and that the
march of four miles to the cemetery was very
trying inasmuch as no one in the procession
was allowed to cover his head, even for an in
slant
Since that funeral George Washington La
fayette and the Comte de Lasteyrie have died; as
also our Consul, Dunscombe Bradford. So that,
unless some of the pall-bearers still survive the
present Comte de Lasteyrie and myself are the
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