Gilbert du Motier , Marquis de Lafayette Marie - Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de La Fayette , Marquis de La Fayette ( ; 6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834 ) , often known simply as Lafayette , was a French aristocrat and military officer born in Chavaniac , in the province of Auvergne in south central France . Lafayette was a general in the American Revolutionary War and a leader of the " Garde nationale " during the French Revolution . In the American Revolution , Lafayette served as a major - general in the Continental Army under George Washington . Wounded during the Battle of Brandywine , he still managed to organize a successful retreat . He served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island . In the middle of the war , he returned to France to negotiate an increase in French support . On his return , he blocked troops led by Cornwallis at Yorktown while the armies of Washington and those sent by King Louis XVI under the command of General de Rochambeau , Admiral de Grasse , and Admiral de Latouche Tréville prepared for battle against the British . Lafayette was the most important link between the American and the French Revolutions . As an ardent supporter of the United States ' constitutional principles he called on all nations to follow the American example . Lafayette was impressed by George Washington and other Protestants . During his short stay in France he visited Paul Rabaut and his son Jean - Paul Rabaut Saint - Etienne , two Reformed pastors . Under Lafayette ' s influence Louis XVI issued the edict of toleration in 1787 ( Edict of Versailles ) , which particularly benefitted the Huguenots . Back in France in 1788 , Lafayette was called to the Assembly of Notables to respond to the fiscal crisis . Lafayette proposed a meeting of the French Estates - General , where representatives from the three traditional orders of French society — the clergy , the nobility and the commoners — met . He served as vice president of the resulting body . The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was largely based on his draft . Lafayette was appointed commander - in - chief of the " Garde nationale " in response to violence . During the French Revolution , Lafayette attempted to maintain order — to the point of ordering the " Garde nationale " to fire on demonstrators at the Champ de Mars in July 1791 — an action for which he ultimately was persecuted by the Jacobins . In August 1792 , as the radical factions in the Revolution grew in power , Lafayette tried to flee to the United States through the Dutch Republic . He was captured by Austrians and spent more than five years in prison . Lafayette returned to France after Napoleon Bonaparte secured his release from prison in 1797 . He refused to participate in Napoleon ' s government , but was elected to the Chamber of Deputies under the Charter of 1815 , during the Hundred Days . With the Bourbon Restoration , Lafayette became a liberal member of the Chamber of Deputies in 1815 , a position he held until his death . In 1824 , President James Monroe invited Lafayette to the United States as the " nation ' s guest " ; during the trip , he visited all twenty - four states in the union at the time . In honor of his contributions to the American Revolution , many cities and monuments throughout the United States bear his name . During France ' s July Revolution of 1830 , Lafayette declined an offer to become the French dictator ; instead he supported Louis - Philippe ' s bid as a constitutional monarch . Lafayette died on 20 May 1834 , and is buried in Picpus Cemetery in Paris , under soil from Bunker Hill . He became a United States citizen during his lifetime , and received honorary United States citizenship in 2002 . For his accomplishments in the service of both France and the United States , he is known as " The Hero of the Two Worlds " . Ancestry . Lafayette was born on 6 September 1757 to Michel Louis Christophe Roch Gilbert Paulette du Motier , Marquis de La Fayette , colonel of grenadiers , and Marie Louise Jolie de La Rivière , at the château de Chavaniac , in Chavaniac , near Le Puy - en - Velay , in the modern department of Haute - Loire . His full name is rarely used ; instead he is often referred to as the marquis de La Fayette or Lafayette . Biographer Louis R . Gottschalk says that Lafayette spelled his name both Lafayette and LaFayette . Lafayette ' s lineage appears to be one of the oldest in Auvergne . Members of the family were noted for their contempt for danger . Lafayette ' s ancestor Marshal of France Gilbert de La Fayette III was a companion - at - arms who led Joan of Arc ' s army in Orléans . His great - grandfather was the Comte de La Rivière , a former lieutenant general in the Royal " Armées " . According to legend , another ancestor acquired the Crown of Thorns during the 6th Crusade . Lafayette ' s uncle Jacques - Roch died fighting the Austrians and left the marquis title to Lafayette ' s father . Lafayette ' s father , struck by a cannonball at the Battle of Minden in Westphalia , died on 1 August 1759 . Lafayette became Lord of Chavaniac , but the estate went to his mother . Lafayette ' s mother and his maternal grandfather , the Marquis de La Rivière , died , on 3 and 24 April 1770 respectively , leaving Lafayette an income of 25 , 000 " livres " . Upon the death of an uncle , the 12 - year - old Lafayette inherited a handsome yearly income of 120 , 000 livres . Lafayette was raised by his paternal grandmother , Mme de Chavaniac , who had brought the château into the family with her dowry . Also in the household were Mme de Chavaniac ' s daughters Madeleine du Motier , and Charlotte de Guérin , the Baronne de Chavaniac . Lafayette studied at the Collège du Plessis ( Lycée Louis - le - Grand ) until 1771 , while being a trainee to become an officer at the < a href = " Musketeers % 20of % 20the % 20Guard " > Musketeers of military Household of King of France < / a > . Departure from France . Joining the American War . In 1775 , Lafayette took part in his unit ' s annual training in Metz , where he met Charles - François de Broglie , marquis de Ruffec , the Army of the East ' s commander . When he first learned of that quarrel , he wrote , " My heart was enlisted and I thought only of joining the colors . " Lafayette returned to Paris in the fall and participated in " sociétés de pensée " ( thinking groups ) that discussed French involvement in the American Revolution . At these meetings , a frequent speaker , Abbé Guillaume Raynal , emphasised the " rights of man " . He criticised the nobility , the clergy and the practice of slavery . The monarchy banned Raynal from speaking , and he expressed his views secretly in the Masonic Lodges of which Lafayette was a member . On 7 December 1776 , Lafayette arranged through Silas Deane , an American agent in Paris , to enter the American service as a major general . Lafayette visited his uncle Marquis de Noailles , the Ambassador to Britain . During a ball at Lord George Germain ' s , he met Lord Rawdon , met Sir Henry Clinton at the Opera , and met Lord Shelburne at breakfast . Lafayette refused to toast King George , and left after three weeks . In 1777 , the French government granted the American military one million livres in supplies after Minister Charles Gravier pressed for French involvement . De Broglie intrigued with his old subordinate , German Johann de Kalb , ( who had previously done a reconnaissance of America ) , to send French officers to fight alongside the Americans , ( and perhaps set up a French generalissimo ) . De Broglie approached Gravier , suggesting assistance to the American revolutionaries . De Broglie then presented Lafayette , who had been placed on the reserve list , to de Kalb . Departure for America . Returning to Paris , Lafayette found that the Continental Congress did not have the money for his voyage ; hence he acquired the sailing ship " La Victoire " himself . The king officially forbade him to leave after British spies discovered his plan , and issued an order for Lafayette to join his father - in - law ' s regiment in Marseille , disobedience of which would be punishable by imprisonment . The British ambassador ordered the seizure of the ship Lafayette was fitting out at Bordeaux , and Lafayette was threatened with arrest . He travelled to Spain for support in the American cause . On 20 April 1777 , he sailed for America , disguised as a woman , leaving his pregnant wife in France . The ship ' s captain intended to stop in the West Indies to sell cargo ; however Lafayette , fearful of arrest , bought the cargo to avoid docking at the islands . He landed on North Island near Georgetown , South Carolina , on 13 June 1777 . American Revolution . On arrival , Lafayette met Major Benjamin Huger , with whom he stayed two weeks before going to Philadelphia . The Continental Congress delayed Lafayette ' s commission , as they had tired of " French glory seekers " . After Lafayette offered to serve without pay , however , Congress commissioned him a major - general on 31 July 1777 . Since he was not assigned a unit , he nearly returned home . Benjamin Franklin wrote to George Washington recommending acceptance of Lafayette as his " aide - de - camp " , hoping it would influence France to commit more aid . Washington accepted , and Lafayette met him at Moland House in Bucks County , Pennsylvania , on 10 August 1777 . When Washington expressed embarrassment at the state of the camp and the troops , Lafayette responded , " I am here to learn , not to teach . " He became a member of Washington ' s staff , although confusion existed regarding his status . Congress regarded his commission as honorary , while he considered himself a full - fledged commander who would be given control of a division when Washington deemed him prepared . To address this , Washington told Lafayette that a division would not be possible as he was of foreign birth ; however , Washington said that he would be happy to hold him in confidence as " friend and father " . Brandywine , Albany , and the Conway Cabal . Lafayette ' s first battle was at Brandywine on 11 September 1777 . After the British outflanked the Americans , Washington sent Lafayette to join General John Sullivan . Upon his arrival , Lafayette went with the Third Pennsylvania Brigade , under Brigadier Thomas Conway , and attempted to rally the unit to face the attack . In face of the British and Hessian superiority , Lafayette was shot in the leg . During the American retreat , Lafayette rallied the troops , allowing a more orderly retreat before being treated for his wound . After the battle , Washington cited him for " bravery and military ardour " and recommended him for the command of a division in a letter to Congress . Lafayette returned to the field in November after two months of recuperation in the Moravian settlement at Bethlehem , PA , and received command of Major General Adam Stephen ' s division . He assisted General Nathanael Greene in reconnaissance of British positions in New Jersey ; with 300 soldiers , he defeated a numerically superior Hessian force in Gloucester , on 24 November 1777 . He returned to Valley Forge for the winter , where the Horatio Gates - led War Board asked him to prepare an invasion of Canada from Albany , New York . Thomas Conway hoped to replace Washington with Gates , who had been successful in the Battle of Saratoga . He concocted a plot known as the Conway Cabal which separated Washington from Lafayette , one of Washington ' s firmest supporters . Lafayette alerted Washington of his suspicions about the plot before leaving . When Lafayette arrived in Albany , he found too few men to mount a Canadian invasion . He wrote to Washington of the situation , and made plans to return to Valley Forge . Before departing , he recruited the Oneida tribe , who referred to Lafayette as " Kayewla " ( fearsome horseman ) , to the American side . In Valley Forge , he criticized the War Board ' s decision to attempt an invasion of Canada in winter . The Continental Congress agreed , and Gates was removed from the Board . Meanwhile , treaties signed by America and France were made public in March 1778 , and France formally recognized American independence . Barren Hill , Monmouth and Rhode Island . The Americans tried to sense the British forces ' reaction to France ' s entering the war . On 18 May 1778 , Washington dispatched Lafayette with a 2 , 200 - man force to reconnoitre near Barren Hill , Pennsylvania . The next day , the British heard that Lafayette had made camp nearby and sent 5 , 000 men to capture him . On 20 May , General Howe led a further 6 , 000 soldiers and ordered an attack on Lafayette ' s left flank . The flank scattered , and Lafayette organized a retreat while the British remained indecisive . To feign numerical superiority , Lafayette ordered men to appear from the woods on an outcropping known as Barren Hill ( now Lafayette Hill ) and to fire upon the British periodically . Lafayette ' s troops simultaneously escaped via a sunken road . Lafayette was then able to cross Matson ' s Ford with the remainder of his force . Unable to trap Lafayette , the British resumed their march north from Philadelphia to New York ; the Continental Army , including Lafayette , followed and finally attacked at the Monmouth Courthouse in New Jersey . At Monmouth , Washington appointed General Charles Lee to lead the attacking force . On 28 June , Lee moved against the British flank ; however , soon after fighting began , he began acting strangely . Lafayette sent a message to Washington to urge him to the front ; upon his arrival he found Lee ' s men in retreat . Washington rallied the American force and repelled two British attacks . Due to the day ' s heat , fighting ended early and the British withdrew in the night . The French fleet arrived in America on 8 July 1778 , under Admiral d ' Estaing , with whom General Washington planned to attack Newport , Rhode Island . Lafayette and General Greene were sent with a 3 , 000 - man force to participate in the attack . Lafayette wanted to control a joint Franco - American force in the attack but was rebuffed . On 9 August , the American force attacked the British without consulting d ' Estaing . When the Americans asked the admiral to leave his fleet in Narragansett Bay , d ' Estaing refused and attacked the British under Lord Howe . The attack dispersed the British fleet , but a storm damaged the French ships . D ' Estaing moved his ships north to Boston for repairs . When the fleet arrived , Bostonians rioted because they considered the French departure from Newport a desertion . John Hancock and Lafayette were dispatched to calm the situation , and then Lafayette returned to Newport to prepare for the retreat made necessary by d ' Estaing ' s departure . For these actions , Lafayette was cited by the Continental Congress for " gallantry , skill and prudence " . However he realized that the Boston riot might undermine the Franco - American alliance in France , so he requested and was given permission to return to France . Return to France . In February 1779 , Lafayette returned to Paris . For disobeying the king by going to America , he was placed under house arrest for two weeks . Nevertheless , his return was triumphant . Benjamin Franklin ' s grandson presented him with a 4 , 800 - livre gold - encrusted sword commissioned by the Continental Congress , and the king asked to see him . Louis XVI , pleased with the soldier after Lafayette proposed schemes for attacking the British , restored his position in the dragoon s . Lafayette used his position to lobby for more French aid to America . Working with Franklin , Lafayette secured another 6 , 000 soldiers to be commanded by General Jean - Baptiste de Rochambeau . Lafayette received news that Adrienne had borne him a son , Georges Washington Lafayette . After his son ' s birth , he pushed for additional commitments of support from France for the American Revolutionary War . He ordered new uniforms and arranged for the fleet ' s departure . Before returning to America , Lafayette and the French force learned that they would be operating under American command , with Washington in control of military operations . In March 1780 , Lafayette gave power of attorney to business manager Jacques - Philippe Grattepain - Morizot and Adrienne , and left France , departing for America aboard the " Hermione " , from Rochefort . He arrived in Boston on 28 April , carrying the then secret news that he had secured French reinforcements ( 5 , 500 men and 5 frigates ) for George Washington . Virginia and Yorktown . Lafayette returned to America in May 1780 and by August was in command of two brigades of light infantry that operated in the Highlands north of New York City . The brigades were commanded by Brigadier Generals Enoch Poor and Edward Hand . These units disbanded late that year and provided Lafayette with additional valuable field command experience . George Washington drew upon that experience in late February 1781 , placing LaFayette in command of three regiments of light infantry from New England and New Jersey . The regiments were commanded by Colonel Joseph Vose of Massachusetts , Lieutenant Colonel Jean - Joseph Sourbader de Gimat of France , and Lieutenant Colonel Francis Barber of New Jersey . In all there were about 1 , 200 light infantry troops . They were sent to Virginia to defend against Benedict Arnold and to replace Baron von Steuben . Lafayette evaded Cornwallis ' attempts to capture him in Richmond . In June , Cornwallis received orders from London to proceed to the Chesapeake Bay and to oversee construction of a port , in preparation of an attack on Philadelphia . As the British column travelled , Lafayette followed in a bold show of force that encouraged new recruits . In June , Lafayette ' s men were joined by forces under General ( Mad ) Anthony Wayne . Soldiers deserted both leaders ; Wayne executed six for desertion . Lafayette offered to release his men from service because of the great danger ahead ; all of his men remained . On 4 July , the British left Williamsburg and prepared to cross the James River . Cornwallis sent only an advance guard across the river , with intentions to trap , should Lafayette attack . In the Battle of Green Spring on 6 July , Lafayette ordered Wayne to strike with roughly 800 soldiers . Wayne found himself vastly outnumbered against the full British force and , instead of retreating , led a bayonet charge . The charge bought time for the Americans , and Lafayette ordered the retreat . The British did not pursue . The result was a victory for Cornwallis , but the American army was bolstered by the display of courage by the men . By August , Cornwallis had established the British at Yorktown , and Lafayette took up position on Malvern Hill . This maneuver trapped the British when the French fleet arrived . On 14 September 1781 , Washington ' s forces joined Lafayette ' s , which had succeeded in containing the British until supplies and reinforcements arrived . On 28 September , with the French fleet blockading the British , the combined forces attacked in the Siege of Yorktown . On 14 October , Lafayette ' s 400 men on the American right took redoubt 9 after Alexander Hamilton ' s forces had charged redoubt 10 , in hand - to - hand combat . After a failed British counter - attack , Cornwallis surrendered on 19 October 1781 . Return to France and visit to America . Lafayette returned to France on 18 December 1781 . He was welcomed as a hero , and on 22 January 1782 , was received at Versailles . He witnessed the birth of his daughter , whom he named Marie - Antoinette Virginie upon Thomas Jefferson ' s recommendation . He was promoted to maréchal de camp , skipping numerous ranks . Lafayette then helped prepare for a combined French and Spanish expedition against the British West Indies . The Treaty of Paris signed between Great Britain and the U . S . on 20 January 1783 made the expedition unnecessary . In France , Lafayette worked with Thomas Jefferson to establish trade agreements between the United States and France . These negotiations aimed to reduce U . S . debt to France , and included commitments on tobacco and whale oil . He joined the French abolitionist group Society of the Friends of the Blacks , which advocated the end of the slave trade and equal rights for free blacks . In 1783 , in correspondence with Washington , he urged the emancipation of slaves ; and to establish them as tenant farmers . Although Washington demurred , Lafayette purchased land in the Cayenne for his plantation " La Belle Gabrielle " , to " experiment " with education , and emancipation . In 1784 , Lafayette returned to America , and visited all the states except Georgia . The trip included a visit to Washington ' s farm at Mount Vernon on 17 August . In Virginia , Lafayette addressed the House of Delegates where he called for " liberty of all mankind " and urged emancipation . Lafayette advocated to the Pennsylvania Legislature for a federal union , and visited the Mohawk Valley in New York for peace negotiations between the Iroquois , some of whom had met Lafayette in 1778 . Lafayette received an honorary degree from Harvard , a portrait of Washington from the city of Boston , and a bust from the state of Virginia . Maryland ' s legislature honored him by making Lafayette and his male heirs " natural born Citizens " of the state , which made him a natural born citizen of the United States after ratification of the new national Constitution . Lafayette later boasted that he had become an American citizen before the concept of French citizenship existed . Connecticut , Massachusetts , and Virginia also granted him citizenship . Upon his return to France , it is said that Lafayette became involved in an affair with the comtesse Aglaé d ' Hunolstein , one that he broke off on 27 March 1783 by letter , at the insistence of her family . He became briefly linked amorously to Madame de Simiane ; however , scholars are divided , whether Adrienne knew of these two extramarital affairs . Enemies of Lafayette made much of the court gossip . Through the next years , Lafayette was active in the " Hôtel de La Fayette " in the " rue de Bourbon " , the headquarters of Americans in Paris , where Benjamin Franklin , John Jay and his wife Sarah Livingston , and John Adams and his wife Abigail , met every Monday , and dined in company with family and the liberal nobility , such as Clermont - Tonnerre , and Madame de Staël . French Revolution . Assembly of Notables and Estates - General . King Louis XVI convoked the Assembly of Notables on 29 December 1786 , in response to France ' s fiscal crisis . The King appointed Lafayette to the body , in the comte d ' Artois ' division , which met on 22 February 1787 . In an address first read to the assembly , then signed and endorsed by Lafayette , it was proposed to lower unnecessary spending , which included , among other things , purchase of useless estates and gifts to courtiers . He called for a " truly national assembly " , which represented the three classes of French society : clergy , nobility , and commons . On 8 August 1788 , the King agreed to hold an Estates General the next year . Lafayette was elected to represent the nobility ( Second Estate ) from Riom in the Estates General . The Estates General convened on 5 May 1789 ; debate began on whether the delegates should vote by head or by Estate . If voting was by Estate then the nobility and clergy would be able to overturn the commons ; if by head , then the larger Third Estate could dominate . Before the meeting , he agitated for the voting by head , rather than estate , as a member of the " Committee of Thirty " . The issue was not resolved and , on 1 June , the Third Estate asked the others to join them . From 13 to 17 June , many of the clergy and some of the nobility did so ; on the 17th , the group declared itself the National Assembly . Three days later , the doors to their chambers were locked . This action led to the Tennis Court Oath , where the members swore to not separate until a Constitution was established . Lafayette , along with forty - six others , joined the National Assembly and on 27 June , the rest followed . On 11 July 1789 , Lafayette presented a draft of the " Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen " . The next day , after the dismissal of Finance Minister Jacques Necker , Camille Desmoulins organized an armed mob . The King had the Royal Army under the duc de Broglie surround Paris . On 13 July , the Assembly elected him their vice - president ; the following day the Bastille was stormed . National Guard , Versailles , and Day of Daggers . On 15 July , Lafayette was acclaimed commander - in - chief of the National Guard of France , an armed force established to maintain order under the control of the Assembly . Lafayette proposed the name and the symbol of the group : a blue , white and red cockade . On 5 October 1789 , a Parisian crowd , composed mostly of rough women working in the markets selling fish , marched to Versailles in response to the scarcity of bread . Members of the National Guard followed the march , and when Lafayette called this march nonsense , the National Guard ' s men openly defied his power and according to some sources , they said " We are going with you , or over you " , then Lafayette reluctantly led the National Guard army to Versailles . At Versailles , the king accepted the Assembly ' s votes on Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , but refused requests to return to Paris . That evening , Lafayette replaced most of the royal bodyguards with National Guardsmen . At dawn , the crowd broke into the palace . Before it succeeded in entering the queen ' s bedroom , Marie Antoinette fled to the king ' s apartments . Lafayette took the royal family onto the palace balcony and attempted to restore order . The crowd insisted that the king and his family move to Paris where they were installed in the Tuileries Palace . At the balcony , King Louis simply appeared , and everyone started chanting " Vive le Roi ! " . Then when Marie Antoinette appeared with her children , she was told to send the children back ; afterwards , when she came out alone , people shouted to shoot her , but when she stood her ground facing almost certain death , no one opened fire . After several seconds and the lowering of muskets , people started to chant " Vive la Reine ! " ( " Long live the Queen " , now the crowd is including the Queen ) . As leader of the National Guard , Lafayette attempted to maintain order . On 12 May 1790 , he instituted , along with Jean Sylvain Bailly ( mayor of Paris ) , a political club called the " Society of 1789 " . The club ' s intention was to provide balance to the influence of the Jacobins . On 14 July 1790 , Lafayette took the civic oath on the Champs de Mars , vowing to " be ever faithful to the nation , to the law , and to the king ; to support with our utmost power the constitution decreed by the National Assembly , and accepted by the king . " He continued to work for order in the coming months . On 20 February 1791 , the Day of Daggers , Lafayette traveled to Vincennes in response to an attempt to liberate a local prison . Meanwhile , armed nobles converged around the " Tuileries " , afraid the unprotected king would be attacked . Lafayette returned to Paris to disarm the nobles . On 18 April , the National Guard disobeyed Lafayette and stopped the King from leaving for Saint - Cloud over Easter . Decline : Flight to Varennes , Champs de Mars , and the Parisian Mayoral election . On 20 June 1791 , an unsuccessful plot , called the Flight to Varennes , nearly allowed the king to escape from France . As leader of the National Guard , Lafayette had been responsible for the royal family ' s custody . He was thus blamed by Danton for the mishap and called a " traitor " to the people by Maximilien Robespierre . These accusations portrayed Lafayette as a royalist , and damaged his reputation in the eyes of the public . The episode garnered support throughout the country for the Republican movement , and " polarized " the king ' s supporters . Through the latter half of 1791 , Lafayette ' s stature continued to decline . On 17 July , the Cordelier s organized an event , at the " Champs de Mars " , to gather signatures on a petition which called for a referendum on Louis XVI . The assembled crowd , estimated to be up to 10 , 000 , hanged two men believed to be spies after they were found under a platform . In response , the Assembly asked Bailly , the mayor of Paris , to " halt the disorder " ; martial law was declared ; and National Guard troops , under Lafayette , marched to the scene . Lafayette , at the head of the column , carried a red flag to signify martial law . The National Guard under Lafayette tried to disperse the crowd without the use of violence . The National Guards ' first attempts were successful and the crowd dispersed . However , later that same day , it assembled again , due in part to speeches given by Georges Danton and Camille Desmoulins . At some point , stones were thrown at the troops . Lafayette is thought to have ordered his troops to fire warning shots into the air . When the crowd did not back down , Lafayette ordered his men to fire into the crowd . Senior Officers in the National Guard questioned after the event stated they found it hard to control the actions of the volunteer soldiers . Many injuries were reported , though not all were fatal ; this is generally thought to have been due to the disorganization and inexpert actions taken by the National Guard in the quelling of the disorder . Exact numbers of deaths are unknown ; estimates generally range from a dozen to fifty . Because of these confusions , the sequence of events at the Champ de Mars remains unclear and contested . In combination with the Flight to Varennes , this event , known as the ' Champs de Mars Massacre ' ( " Fusillade du Champs de Mars " ) , furthered the public ' s mistrust of Lafayette and Bailly ; in the aftermath , Lafayette resigned from the National Guard and Bailly left his post as mayor . In November , Lafayette ran against Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve in the mayoral election to succeed Bailly , but lost by a large margin . Criticism plagued Lafayette ' s mayoral campaign : his role in the flight to Varennes and in the Champs de Mars massacre were denounced both by politicians on the left and right . Conflict and imprisonment . Lafayette returned to his home province of Auvergne following the loss of the mayoral election . France declared war on Austria on 20 April 1792 , and preparations to invade the Southern Netherlands ( known at that time as the Austrian Netherlands , and in the future as Belgium ) , were begun ; Lafayette received command of one of the three armies , at Metz . The war proceeded poorly : Lafayette , along with Jean - Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur , comte de Rochambeau and Nicolas Luckner , asked the Assembly to begin peace proceedings , as the generals feared the army would collapse if forced to attack . In June 1792 , Lafayette criticized the growing influence of the radical clubs through a letter to the Assembly from his field post , and ended his letter by calling for radical parties to be " closed down by force " . Earlier , in May , he had secretly proposed to a Brussels diplomat that the war be stopped until he achieved peace in Paris , perhaps by force . Lafayette ' s prior actions , despite the proposal ' s secrecy , caused suspicions that he planned a " coup d ' état " . Marie - Antoinette advised authorities of Lafayette ' s plan , since she did not favor the constitution . Lafayette left his command and returned to Paris on 28 June , where he asked the Assembly for the radical parties to be outlawed , the National Guard to defend the monarchy , and for the Constitution to be upheld . His return augmented suspicions that he planned a " coup d ’ état " . Again , Lafayette and the " Feuillants " proposed to save the constitutional monarchy and royal family by uniting his army with General Luckner ' s . Marie - Antoinette refused : Lafayette had lost the support of the monarchy and the radical parties of the Revolution . On 8 August , a vote of impeachment was held against him for abandoning his post , in which more than two thirds voted against . Two days later , during a march by the people on the Tuileries , the Swiss Guard opened fire on citizens approaching the palace , sparking a battle which resulted in the death of 600 guards and 400 members of the crowd . The King and his family fled the palace , and sought refuge in the Legislative Assembly who , under armed threat , suspended Louis XVI and convoked the National Convention . Commissioners dispatched by the Paris Commune arrived at Sedan , where Lafayette now led the French Northern Army , to inform him of the events and to secure allegiance to the new government . Lafayette refused their offer of an executive role in the new government , and ordered them arrested , as he found them to be " agents of a faction which had unlawfully seized power . " New commissioners came to Sedan and informed Lafayette that he had been relieved of his command . On 19 August , the Assembly declared Lafayette a traitor , giving him the almost certain prospect of being guillotined if he fell into the hands of the new , radical authorities in France . Lafayette had already decided to flee with his similarly endangered staff officers to the Republic of the United Netherlands ( Dutch Republic ) . Lafayette hoped to gather his family in Britain , then retire to the United States , but did not make it . Troops of the counter - revolutionary coalition of Austria and Prussia had been massing in the Southern Netherlands , to invade France with the intention of restoring the old French monarchy . Flemish Austrian troops under Major General ( later Field Marshal ) Johann von Moitelle arrested Lafayette ' s party the evening of 17 August at Rochefort , Belgium , at that time a village in the officially neutral Prince - Bishopric of Liège . Among those arrested with Lafayette were Jean Baptiste Joseph , chevalier de Laumoy ; Louis Saint Ange Morel , chevalier de la Colombe ; Alexandre - Théodore - Victor , comte de Lameth ; Charles César de Fay de La Tour - Maubourg ; Marie Victor de Fay , marquis de Latour - Maubourg ; Juste - Charles de Fay de La Tour - Maubourg ; Jean - Xavier Bureau de Pusy . From 25 August to 3 September 1792 , he was held at Nivelles ; then transferred to Luxemburg where an Austrian - Prussian - French royalist military tribunal declared him , César de La Tour - Maubourg , Jean Bureaux de Pusy , and Alexandre de Lameth , all previously deputies in the French National Convention , to be " prisoners of state " for their leading roles in the Revolution . The tribunal sentenced them to an incarceration that was to last until , as was anticipated by coalition rulers , a restored French king could render final judgment on the prisoners for their alleged political crimes . On 12 September 1792 , a Prussian military escort received the men from their Austrian guards . The party travelled down the Moselle river to Coblentz , then down the Rhine river to the Prussian fortress - city of Wesel , where the Frenchmen remained in the central citadel from 19 September to 22 December 1792 . When victorious French revolutionary troops began to threaten the Rhineland , King Frederick William II of Prussia transferred the prisoners east to the citadel at Magdeburg , where they remained an entire year , from 4 January 1793 to 4 January 1794 . When Frederick William decided that he could gain very little by continuing to battle the astonishingly effective revolutionary forces of the young Republic of France , and that there were much easier pickings for his army in the Kingdom of Poland , he stopped armed hostilities with the Republic and turned the state prisoners back over to his erstwhile coalition partner , the Habsburg Austrian monarch Francis II , Holy Roman Emperor . Prussian escorts assembled Lafayette , Latour - Maubourg , and Bureaux de Pusy at Nysa ( Neisse ) in Silesia , near the northern border of the emperor ' s territories of the Czech lands ( today ' s Czech Republic ) . On 17 May 1794 , a further escort drove them by carriage to the border , where an Austrian military unit was waiting to receive them . The next day , around midnight , the Austrians delivered their captives into a barracks - prison , formerly a college of the Jesuits , in the fortress - city of Olomouc ( Olmütz ) , Moravia . Lafayette occupied two rooms with thick walls and large windows covered by two sets of grills , overlooking the city ' s southern fortifications . An international network of supporters centered in Philadelphia , London , Hamburg - Altona , and Paris lobbied for Lafayette ' s release and the amelioration of his prison conditions . It also established communications with him and helped him plot break - outs . The most spectacular escape attempt was sponsored by Alexander Hamilton ' s sister - in - law Angelica Schuyler Church and her husband John Barker Church , a British Member of Parliament who had once served as commissary general of the American Continental Army . They hired as agent a multilingual young physician from the British Electorate of Hanover , Justus Erich Bollmann , who established contact with Lafayette in prison and acquired an assistant , a South Carolinian medical student named Francis Kinloch Huger . Remarkably , Lafayette had stayed his first night in America , in 1777 , at the home of Huger ' s father Major Benjamin Huger . With the help of Bollmann and Francis Huger , Lafayette managed to escape an escorted carriage drive in the countryside outside Olomouc , a drive granted by the emperor for health purposes . While the rescuers were subduing an unexpectedly ferocious Austrian sergeant , they shouted for Lafayette to ride off north toward the border , on the mount they had provided . However , Lafayette soon disappeared from his rescuers ' sight and lost his way in the countryside . That evening , 8 November 1794 , a tanner suspicious of Lafayette ' s ungrammatical , French - accented German , reported him to the mayor of village Rýžoviště ( Braunseifen ) near Šternberk , who laid an ambush , took Lafayette into custody , and returned him to Olomouc . Lafayette ' s wife , Adrienne , had also been enduring a long captivity . It began on 17 September 1792 , when she was placed under house arrest . Adrienne appealed to the Americans for assistance . For political reasons , the young nation could not officially assist the family , although they retroactively paid Lafayette $ 24 , 424 for his military service , and Washington personally sent money . In May 1794 , during the Reign of Terror , Adrienne was transferred to the La Force Prison in Paris ; she went from prison to prison , and , but for American diplomatic efforts on her behalf , would have shared the death of her sister , mother , grandmother , and other relatives at the guillotine . Finally , after the fall of Robespierre and his radical Jacobin party , she gained her release on 22 January 1795 . Adrienne organized the family ' s finances and appealed to the U . S . for American passports . James Monroe secured passports for Adrienne from Connecticut , which had granted the entire Lafayette family citizenship . Their son Georges , who was hiding to avoid execution , was sent to the U . S . She , however , travelled with her two teenage daughters Anastasie and Virginie to Dunkirk and embarked for the Danish port of Altona ( later Altona , Hamburg ) and the adjacent free imperial city of Hamburg . There she hired a bilingual servant , bought a carriage , and travelled southeast through the German states to Vienna for an audience with Francis II . Taken by surprise , Francis granted permission for her and the daughters to live with Lafayette in captivity . Lafayette , who had endured harsh solitary confinement since his escape attempt a year previously , was flabbergasted when soldiers opened his prison door to usher in his wife and daughters on 15 October 1795 . For the next two years , the family spent the days confined together in Lafayette ' s original two rooms , while the daughters spent the nights in a third , adjacent room . Through the press , diplomacy , and personal appeals , Lafayette ' s sympathizers on both sides of the Atlantic made their influence felt , most importantly on the French legislative chambers , Directory , foreign ministry , and army . A young , victorious general , Napoleon Bonaparte negotiated the release of the state prisoners at Olomouc , as a prelude to the Treaty of Campo Formio . Thus Lafayette ' s captivity of over five years had come to an end . The Lafayette family and their comrades in captivity left Olomouc under Austrian escort early on the morning of 19 September 1797 , crossed the Bohemian - Saxonian border north of Prague , and were officially turned over to the American consul in Hamburg on 4 October . The French Directors and Napoleon Bonaparte saw Lafayette as a political rival , however , and did not want him to return to France . He remained in exile in the Danish province of Holstein and the Batavian Republic for two more years , until Napoleon Bonaparte ' s " coup d ' état " of 18 Brumaire , 9 November 1799 . Lafayette used the change of regime to slip into France with a passport in the name of " Motier " . He managed to convince an angry Napoleon that he planned to live in rural obscurity . Not wanting to serve in Napoleon ' s army , Lafayette resigned his commission . The Lafayettes retired to " La Grange " , which Adrienne had inherited from her mother . Admirers soon came to La Grange , including Charles James Fox . Later life . Lafayette was unwilling to cooperate with Napoleon ' s government . In 1804 , Napoleon was crowned Emperor after a plebiscite in which Lafayette did not participate . He remained relatively quiet , although he spoke publicly on Bastille Day events . After the Louisiana Purchase , Jefferson asked if he would be interested in the governorship . Lafayette declined , citing personal problems and the desire to work for liberty in France . During a trip to Auvergne , Adrienne became ill , largely due to her time in prison . In 1807 , she became delirious but recovered enough on Christmas Eve to gather the family around her bed and to say to Lafayette : " " Je suis toute à vous " " ( " I am all yours " ) . She died the next day . The Hundred Days . Lafayette was elected to the Chamber of Representatives under the Charter of 1815 , during the Hundred Days , which called for Napoleon to abdicate after Waterloo . Lucien Bonaparte came before the assembly to denounce abdication . Lafayette replied : By what right do you dare accuse the nation of . . . want of perseverance in the emperor ' s interest ? The nation has followed him on the fields of Italy , across the sands of Egypt and the plains of Germany , across the frozen deserts of Russia . . . The nation has followed him in fifty battles , in his defeats and in his victories , and in doing so we have to mourn the blood of three million Frenchmen . Charbonnerie . Louis XVIII and the ultra - royalist s became increasingly repressive . In 1823 , Lafayette was involved in the Saint - Amand Bazard conspiracy , in the premature Charbonnerie insurrection at Belfort . France intervened against the liberal government in Spain , increasing patriotism , and discrediting dissent . In 1825 Charles X was crowned , and the ultra - loyalists consolidated power . Grand tour of the United States . President James Monroe invited Lafayette to visit the United States from August 1824 to September 1825 , in part to celebrate the nation ' s 50th anniversary . During his trip , he visited all 24 American states , traveling more than . Lafayette arrived from France at Staten Island in New York , on 15 August 1824 , to an artillery salute . The towns and cities he visited , including Fayetteville , North Carolina , the first city named in his honor , gave him enthusiastic welcomes . During this tour he recognized and embraced James Armistead Lafayette , a free black who took his last name to honor him ; while in Yorktown , the story of the event was reported by the Richmond Enquirer . In late August , he visited John Adams at Peacefield , the former President ' s estate in Quincy , MA . On 17 October 1824 , Lafayette visited Mount Vernon and George Washington ' s tomb . On 4 November 1824 , he visited Jefferson at Monticello , and on the 8th he attended a public banquet at the University of Virginia . Subsequently , he accepted an invitation for honorary membership to the University ' s Jefferson Literary and Debating Society . In late August 1825 , he returned to Mount Vernon . A military unit decided to adopt the title " National Guard " , in honor of Lafayette ' s celebrated " Garde Nationale de Paris " . This battalion , later the 7th Regiment , was prominent in the line of march when Lafayette passed through New York before returning to France on the frigate USS " Brandywine " . Late in the trip , he again received honorary citizenship of Maryland . Lafayette was feted at the first commencement ceremony of George Washington University in 1824 . He was voted , by the U . S . Congress , the sum of $ 200 , 000 and his choice of a township of land . He chose to place his township , today known as the Lafayette Land Grant , near Tallahassee , Florida . In his reminiscence of 1873 Israel Jefferson , former slave at Monticello , recalled a conversation Lafayette had when visiting Thomas Jefferson in 1824 , " Lafayette remarked that he thought that the slaves ought to be free ; that no man could rightly hold ownership of his brother man ; that he gave his best services to and spent his money on behalf of the Americans freely because he felt that they were fighting for a great and noble principle – the freedom of mankind ; that instead of all being free a portion were held in bondage ( which seemed to grieve his noble heart ) ; that it would be mutually beneficial to masters and slaves if the latter were educated , and so on . . . . This conversation was very gratifying to me , and I treasured it up in my heart . " Accession of Louis - Philippe . As the restored monarchy of Charles X became more conservative , Lafayette re - emerged as a prominent public figure . He had been a member of the Chamber of Deputies from Seine - et - Marne since 1815 and had pursued the abdication of Napoleon . Throughout his legislative career , he continued to endorse causes such as freedom of the press , suffrage for all taxpayers , and the worldwide abolition of slavery . He was not as directly visible in public affairs as in previous years ; however , he became more vocal in the events leading up to the July Revolution of 1830 . When the monarch proposed that theft from churches be made a capital crime , agitation against the Crown increased . On 27 July 1830 , Parisians began erecting barricades throughout the city , and riots erupted . Lafayette established a committee as interim government . On 29 July 1830 , the commission asked Lafayette to become dictator , but he demurred to offer the crown to Louis - Philippe . Lafayette was reinstated as commander of the National Guard by the new monarch , who revoked the post after Lafayette ' s inconsistent command during the trial of d ' Artois ' s ministers and to marginalize the Republican opposition which Lafayette led de facto . In 1832 , he confronted the Minister of Foreign Affairs Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta about the annexation of Poland by Russia . Death . Lafayette spoke for the last time in the Chamber of Deputies on 3 January 1834 . The winter was wet and cold , and the next month he collapsed at a funeral from pneumonia . Although he recovered , the following May was wet and , after a thunderstorm , he became sick and bedridden . On 20 May 1834 , Lafayette died on 6 rue d ' Anjou - Saint - Honoré in Paris ( now 8 rue d ' Anjou in the 8th arrondissement of Paris ) . He was buried next to his wife at the Picpus Cemetery under soil from Bunker Hill , which his son Georges sprinkled upon him . King Louis - Philippe ordered a military funeral in order to keep the public from attending . Crowds formed to protest their exclusion from Lafayette ' s funeral . François - René de Chateaubriand reported on Lafayette ' s death , and expressed regret for participation in the early mistreatment of his reputation in France : " In this year of 1834 , Monsieur de Lafayette died . I may already have done him an injustice in speaking of him ; I may have represented him as a kind of fool , with twin faces and twin reputations ; a hero on the other side of the Atlantic , a clown on this . It has taken more than forty years to recognize qualities in Monsieur de Lafayette which one insisted on denying him . At the rostrum he expressed himself fluently and with the air of a man of breeding . No stain attaches to his life ; he was affable , obliging and generous . " Legacy . Honors . American President Andrew Jackson ordered that Lafayette be accorded the same funeral honors as John Adams and George Washington . Therefore , 24 - gun salutes were fired from military posts and ships , each shot representing a U . S . state . Flags flew at half mast for thirty - five days , and " military officers wore crepe for six months " . The Congress hung black in chambers and asked the entire country to dress in black for the next thirty days . Lafayette was widely commemorated in the U . S . In 1824 , the U . S . government named Lafayette Park in his honor ; it lies immediately north of the White House in Washington , D . C . In 1826 , Lafayette College was chartered in Easton , Pennsylvania . Lafayette was honored with a monument in New York City in 1917 . Portraits display Washington and Lafayette in the chamber of the U . S . House of Representatives . Numerous towns , cities , and counties across the United States were named in his honor . On 4 July 1917 , shortly after the U . S . entered World War I , Colonel Charles E . Stanton visited the grave of Lafayette and uttered the famous phrase " Lafayette , we are here . " After the war , a U . S . flag was permanently placed at the grave site . Every year , on Independence Day , the flag is replaced in a joint French - American ceremony . The flag remained even during the German occupation of Paris during World War II . On visiting Corsica in 1943 , General George S . Patton commented on how the Free French forces had liberated the birthplace of Napoleon , and promised that the Americans would liberate the birthplace of Lafayette . Although he became a naturalized American citizen during his lifetime , Lafayette was granted honorary United States citizenship by Congress in 2002 . The Order of Lafayette was established in 1958 by U . S . Representative Hamilton Fish III , a World War I veteran , to promote Franco - American friendship and to honor Americans who fought in France . The frigate " Hermione " , in which Lafayette returned to America , has been reconstructed in the port of Rochefort , Charente - Maritime , France . Several warships were named after Lafayette . The French Navy acquired USS " Langley " in 1951 and renamed it " La Fayette " . A modern stealth frigate is also named after Lafayette , and is also the name of a ship class , " La Fayette " . The French ocean - liner SS " Normandie " was to be the troopship USS " Lafayette " after being acquired by the US Government , but was destroyed by a fire before conversion to the new role was completed . The name was later given to a ballistic missile submarine . The city of Fayetteville , North Carolina , is named after General Lafayette . While many cities are named after Lafayette , Fayetteville was the first and holds the distinction of being the only one he actually visited . He arrived in Fayetteville by horse - drawn carriage in 1825 . The city of Lafayette , California is named after him . James McHenry , whom Lafayette considered a good friend , built a country seat on 95 acres and named it Fayetteville in his honor . He purchased it in 1792 from a tract called Ridgely ' s Delight about a mile west of Baltimore . Lafayette , the county seat of Tippecanoe County , Indiana , was named after him . Lafayette Park , one of the first public parks created in 1833 by the City of Saint Louis , Missouri , was named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette in 1854 . Many streets around the United States are named for Lafayette , such as Lafayette Street in New Haven , Connecticut , Lafayette Street in Williston Park and Lafayette Street ( Manhattan ) . New York City actually has five Lafayette Streets , one in each borough , as well as a Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn . US 1 in New Hampshire , from the Massachusetts border in Seabrook to Portsmouth , is named Lafayette Road . Avenue de Lafayette is located in the Downtown Crossing section of Boston . Lafayette Avenue in Baltimore is also named to honor him . There are also Lafayette Boulevard in Bridgeport , CT , Lafayette Road in Harrington Park , New Jersey and Lafayette Street in Cape May , NJ . There is a Lafayette Street in Waltham , MA located near a critical area during the Revolution . Ulice Lafayettova ( " Lafayette Street " ) in Olomouc , Czech Republic , is near the site of Lafayette ' s imprisonment . Mount Lafayette , a mountain in the White Mountains of New Hampshire , is named in honor of General Lafayette . Lafayette re - visited New Hampshire and all the other states in an extremely popular , triumphal tour during 1824 – 1825 , celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill . Poste Lafayette , Mauritius Historical reputation . Lafayette ' s reputation in America has always stood very high , both in the popular mind and in scholarship . The scholarly view is dominated by the work of Louis R . Gottschalk in a six volume biography ( published 1935 - 1973 ) that carried Lafayette ' s life to 1790 . Historian Gilbert Chinard says that , for Americans , “ Lafayette became a legendary figure and a symbol so early in his life , and successive generations have so willingly accepted the myth , that any attempt to deprive the young hero of his republican halo will probably be considered as little short of iconoclastic and sacrilegious . ” Crout says his participation in the American Revolution Lafayette ' s reputation among French historians is more problematic . François Furet includes him among the 14 most important actors of the French Revolution , where he played a critical role in 1789 - 92 . He is praised as the embodiment of the liberal ideals of 1789 , but he had few eulogies . French historians have said he was too ambitious and yet too mediocre an intellect to play a bigger role . He wrote very little , and impressed Frenchman the less the more they saw of him . To historians on the left , he was a traitor to the glorious cause . To historians on the right , he was too ineffective to be their hero .