American Yap

Marquis de Lafayette was a French war hero and commander who played a significant role in the American Revolutionary War. Despite having little combat experience, Lafayette was appointed as a major general under George Washington and quickly developed a close relationship with him. Lafayette commanded his troops skillfully, resolving internal threats and conducting successful operations against the British. He returned to France to seek support and convinced the French to send troops and ships to aid the colonies. Lafayette played a crucial role in trapping British forces in Yorktown, leading to their surrender and the victory of the colonies. He was hailed as a hero in the US and was promoted to brigadier general upon his return to France. Despite not being native to the colonies, Lafayette was instrumental in their winning the war. Welcome to the American Gap, a podcast about American Revolutionary Seekers. Today we will be talking about the French war hero and commander, Marquis de Lafayette. Lafayette was born September 6, 1757 to a noble family, and early on in his teen years he was orphaned and left with a very big fortune. He soon became part of a circle of young courtiers to King Louis, but he sought fame and glory as a soldier. During his teen years, Lafayette had developed this strange fascination with the American colonies, so when he was given the opportunity in 1777, he traveled to Philadelphia 27 months after the start of the war. He didn't really have much combat or really any combat experience, yet he was given charge by the Continental Congress, or I mean he was appointed as a major general, and he was a major general under Washington, and they soon became friends. He served under Washington for six weeks, and during the Battle of Brandywine, he displayed his excellence and his skillful and tactful leadership to the point that Washington then recommended to the Continental Congress for Lafayette to command his own division, and so shortly after being given the title of major general, six weeks after, he was given command of his own division. He and him and Washington developed this close relationship during this time, because they, Washington didn't have parents, and Lafayette was orphaned, so Washington almost took as a dad or role model figure for Lafayette, and so they became pretty close. He commanded his troops masterfully and very successfully, and one winter, he even helped resolve an internal threat from Conway Cable trying to overthrow Washington's lead in like a coup, but he helped deal with that. One of his highlights of this command was a masterful retreat he conducted at Barren Hill in 1778, but shortly after this, he decided to return back to France to work with Ben Franklin and Josh Adams. In France, he avoided arrest because there was a law against French lieutenants and soldiers being in the colonies, but in France, working with Franklin and Adams, he was able to convince the French to send 6,000 troops and six ships in 1778, and he returned with them in 1780. Once returning, he was given command of the Virginian army, and in 1781, he helped conduct hand-run operations against the British. Now as the end of the war neared, he forced British commander Charles Cornwallis into Yorktown, and once they ran Yorktown, the colonies had trapped the British rule, and this forced British surrender, and that led to victory for the colonies. He was held as a hero in the U.S., and when he returned to France in 1782, he was promoted to brigadier general. There he fought for the equality of lives and fought for the freedom of France, and overall, even though he wasn't an American, like someone native to the colonies or a native to Britain, he still was one of the major reasons behind the colonies winning the war, and I'll leave you with the words of Lin-Manuel Miranda and his song about Lafayette guns and ships. Now we have a secret weapon, an immigrant, you know and love, who's unafraid to step in. He's constantly confusing, confounding the British into this. Everyone give it up for America's favorite fighting prisoner, Lafayette! I'm taking this hoist, man, I ain't breaking red coast weather with such things. Lafayette! And I'm never gonna stop until I make a number, burn a mother's head, and I'll remain down. Lafayette! Watch me engage in them, escaping them, and raising them out. Lafayette! I go to France for more funds. Lafayette! Come back before I die. And ships, and so their balance shifts. We rendezvous with Rochambeau, consolidate their gifts. We can end this war in your town, cut them off at three. But for this to succeed, there is someone else we need. I know. Lafayette! Sir, he knows what to do in the trench, and you know it's an effluent influence, I mean. Lafayette! Sir, you're gonna have to use him eventually. What's he gonna do in the trench? I mean. Lafayette! No one has more resilience or matches my practical tactical brilliance. Lafayette! You want to fight? Take a land back. Lafayette! I need my right-hand man back. Lafayette! Sir, you gotta get the right-hand man back. Lafayette! I mean, you've got to flip a button to the letter by the point of the minute to get your right-hand man back. Alexander Hamilton, troops are waiting in the field for you. If you join us right now, together we can turn the tide. Oh, Alexander Hamilton, I have soldiers that will yield for you. If we manage to get this right, they'll surrender by early light. Your world will never be the same again.