The small painting depicts: 'New York City, July 14, 1825 - the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Regiment of Artillery, New York State Militia welcomes the visiting hero of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette.' Lafayette was the French aristocrat who had helped America during its bid for independence and brought France into conflict against the British. To honor him on his day of departure for France, after his extended farewell tour of America, the unit adopted the name 'National Guard' in remembrance of the Garde National de Paris, which Lafayette commanded during the early days of the French Revolution. Taking note of the unit and its new name, Lafayette left his carriage and went down the line of troops clasping hands. The painting is an artist rendering from the National Guard Heritage Series.
The Marquis de Lafayette
(b. 1757 Auvergne, France – d. Paris, France 1834)
was 18 when he heard about the American Revolution. Lafayette, a captain of artillery in a regiment in Metz, met at a dinner, the brother of King George III, the Duke of Gloucester. The Duke reported on American events and the Declaration of Independence. Lafayette was fascinated. From a Paris agent, he got a commission as an American officer. He was 20 when he joined American ranks as a major general. Lafayette served on Washington's staff, became Washington's friend and eventually, a trusted field officer. He proved himself in fighting in New Jersey and Pennsylvania in 1778, but returned to France in 1779 to help secure French support for the American cause. When he returned to America he played an important role in the entrapment of Cornwallis at Yorktown. Lafayette went to France after the war and helped foment the revolution there. He became a leader of a French Division against the Austrians. In 1792, the Jacobins (radical forces within the revolution) forced Lafayette to flee the country. He fled to Flanders, where he was imprisoned by the Austrians for five years. After his release, he returned to France, where he avoided Napoleon and his dictatorship. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, Lafayette became a member of the Chamber of Deputies. In 1824, Lafayette made a triumphant return to the United States, where he was celebrated. As payment for his services in the Revolutionary war, Congress granted him $200,000, and a township of 24,000 acres in Louisiana. When he returned to France, he took with him a plot of American soil, within which he was buried in 1834. Lafayette's full proper name was The Marquis Marie Joseph Paul Yves Rock Gilbert du Montier Lafayette.)
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1) 7th Regiment Armory Map [47]
