Adopted Son Read online

  CONTENTS

  COVER PAGE

  TITLE PAGE

  DEDICATION

  EPIGRAPH

  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

  LIST OF MAPS

  A NOTE ABOUT THE LETTERS

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  PROLOGUE: An Inexplicable Charm

  (JUNE 28, 1778)

  ONE: I Was All on Fire to Have a Uniform

  (SEPTEMBER 1757–DECEMBER 1775)

  THE FAMILY’S MISFORTUNES IN WAR BECAME A KIND OF PROVERB

  FROM THE TIME I WAS EIGHT, I LONGED FOR GLORY

  I WOULD MUCH RATHER HAVE BEEN VERCINGETORIX

  I DID NOT HESITATE TO BE DISAGREEABLE

  THE DESTINIES OF FRANCE AND HER RIVAL WERE BOTH TO BE DECIDED

  TWO: So Young and Inexperienced a Person

  (FEBRUARY 1732–JUNE 1775)

  KEEP TO THE FASHION OF YOUR EQUALS

  A YOUTH OF GREAT SOBRIETY, DILIGENCE, AND FIDELITY

  I WISH EARNESTLY TO ATTAIN SOME KNOWLEDGE OF THE MILITARY PROFESSION

  THE CONSCIENCE OF A SOLDIER HAS SO LITTLE SHARE

  I AM NOW EMBARKED ON A TEMPESTUOUS OCEAN

  THREE: This Great Military Arrangement

  (JULY 1775–JUNE 1777)

  THEY WERE BRIBED INTO THE PRESERVATION OF THEIR LIBERTIES

  I THINK THE GAME IS PRETTY NEAR UP

  I HAVE FOUND A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO DISTINGUISH MYSELF

  A GENEROUS RECEPTION WILL DO US INFINITE SERVICE

  FOUR: The Confusion Became Extreme

  (JUNE–SEPTEMBER 1777)

  HE REQUIRED NO PENSION NO SPECIAL COMMAND

  I HAVE COME HERE TO LEARN

  LA FAYETTE IS THE SOLE EXCEPTION

  WE DON’T CARE HOW SOON HE BEGINS THE FROLICK

  THE AMERICAN FIRE WAS MURDEROUS

  FIVE: I Am Now Fixed to Your Fate

  (SEPTEMBER 1777–JANUARY 1778)

  ADVISE ME, DEAR GENERAL, FOR WHAT I AM TO DO

  THE MARQUIS IS DETERMINED TO BE IN THE WAY OF DANGER

  HE LIKES TO CONSULT ME ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT MATTERS

  I ENTERTAIN SENTIMENTS OF THE PUREST AFFECTION

  SIX: Oh American Freedom What Schall Become of You!

  (JANUARY–APRIL 1778)

  I DO NOT ENTERTAIN MYSELF ANY IDEA OF LEAVING YOUR ARMY

  THE WORLD HAS THEYR EYES FIXED UPON ME

  KAYEHEANLA

  THE PROPEREST MAN WE COULD CHOOSE

  SEVEN: They Will Not Be Fond of Fighting Us

  (APRIL–JULY 1778)

  SUFFER HIM TO RETURN TO HIS EMPLOYERS

  THE GENERAL WELL KNEW WHAT HE WAS ABOUT

  HIS COUNTRYMEN SOON FIND ACCESS TO HIS HEART

  FIGHT, SIR

  THE GENERAL AND HE SLEPT ON THE SAME CLOAK

  EIGHT: I Hope Your French Friend Will Ever Be Dear to You

  (JULY 1778–JANUARY 1779)

  AT LEAST WE SHALL GET A GOOD DINNER

  PEOPLE CENSURE THE ADMIRAL WITH GREAT FREEDOM

  I THINK MYSELF HAPPY IN BEING LINKED TO YOU IN BONDS OF STRICTEST FRIENDSHIP

  I FLATTER MYSELF THAT GENERAL WASHINGTON WILL NOT DISAPPROVE OF THIS PROPOSAL

  DO’NT FORGET AN ABSENT FRIEND

  NINE: I Love Him as My Own Son

  (JANUARY 1779–MARCH 1780)

  I WOULD WILLINGLY HAVE SOLD OFF THE FURNITURE OF VERSAILLES

  DON’T FORGET ME, MY DEAR GENERAL

  WE WILL TALK OF THIS MATTER & FIX OUR PLANS

  I SHALL TELL YOU FRANKLY THAT WE ARE WASTING PRECIOUS TIME

  TEN: I Am Considered Too American

  (MARCH–DECEMBER 1780)

  I EAT SEVERAL MEALS OF DOGG, AND IT RELLISH’D VERY WELL

  WHAT M. DE LAFAYETTE HAS WRITTEN YOU IS PURELY A RESULT OF HIS ZEAL

  WHOM CAN WE TRUST NOW?

  HE MADE IT A RULE TO FOLLOW GENERAL WASHINGTON IN EVERYTHING

  ELEVEN: The Boy Cannot Escape Me!

  (JANUARY–JULY 1781)

  YOU WILL REMEMBER THAT YOUR CORPS IS A PART OF THIS ARMY

  IT IS PROBABLE I WILL BE IN THE SOUTHERN WILDERNESS UNTILL THE END

  IT IS NOT MY TONGUE THESE GENTLEMEN WILL CUT OFF

  THEY RETARDED AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE THE ENEMY PROGRESS

  GOD GRANT THAT THE PUBLIC DOES NOT PAY FOR MY LESSONS

  TWELVE: The Fifth Act Has Just Ended

  (JULY–DECEMBER 1781)

  YOU WILL THEREFORE NOT REGRET YOUR STAY IN VIRGINIA

  I HEARTLY THANK YOU FOR HAVING ORDERED ME TO REMAIN IN VIRGINIA

  MAY THAT GREAT FELICITY BE RESERVED FOR YOU!

  THE ENGINEERS TROLL ABOUT LIKE SORCERERS MAKING CIRCLES

  I PITY LORD CORNWALLIS

  THIRTEEN: Do Often Remember Your Adopted Son

  (JANUARY 1782–DECEMBER 1784)

  IN EVERY THING I DO I FIRST CONSIDER WHAT YOUR OPINION WOULD BE

  LET US UNITE IN PURCHASING A SMALL ESTATE

  HE HAS GAINED MORE APPLAUSE THAN HUMAN NATURE AT 25 CAN BEAR

  YOU WILL BE MY COMPASS, MY DEAR GENERAL

  THESE THINGS DARKENED THE SHADES & GAVE A GLOOM TO THE PICTURE

  FOURTEEN: Vive La Fayette!

  (JANUARY 1785–DECEMBER 1791)

  THE HERO OF AMERICA HAS BECOME MY HERO

  KINGS ARE GOOD FOR NOTHING BUT TO SPOIL THE SPORT

  HE IS SENSIBLE HIS PARTY ARE MAD

  THE SCENE OF THE ONE ACTION WAS IN HEAVEN, THE OTHER IN HELL

  FIFTEEN: The Lament of Washington

  (JANUARY 1792–DECEMBER 1799)

  HIS CIRCLE IS COMPLETED

  I HAVE ASSOCIATED YOU WITH STORMY DESTINIES

  COURAGE, CHILD OF WASHINGTON!

  THIS AFFAIR HAS MADE ME VERY UNHAPPY

  I HOPED THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED

  ENVOI: Le Vashington Français

  (JANUARY 1800–MAY 1834)

  THE SOUL HAS DISAPPEARED FROM LA GRANGE

  HE HAS NOT RETREATED AN INCH

  AFTERWORD: Greatness of Name in the Father Oft-Times Overwhelms the Son

  NOTES

  CHRONOLOGY OF WASHINGTON AND LAFAYETTE

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  ALSO BY DAVID A. CLARY

  COPYRIGHT

  To my dad, Vern Clary, and my son, Jesse Clary. Following the story of the childless Washington and the fatherless Lafayette reminded me how fortunate I am to have both.

  War is an act of force, and the emotions are necessarily involved in it.

  —KARL VON CLAUSEWITZ

  ILLUSTRATIONS

  George Washington at Princeton

  Château de Chavaniac, Lafayette’s birthplace

  Lafayette at eighteen

  Adrienne

  Charles Lee

  Horatio Gates

  Henry Knox

  Baron de Kalb Introducing Lafayette to Silas Deane

  Duportail

  Johann “Baron” de Kalb

  John Hancock

  Washington as Lafayette first saw him

  Lafayette as Washington first saw him

  Alexander Hamilton

  John Laurens

  Lord Stirling

  Nathanael Greene

  Washington, Lafayette, and Greene taking shelter from a storm

  The Battle of Brandywine

  Lafayette Wounded at Brandywine

  Henry Laurens

  Daniel Morgan

  Thomas Mifflin

  Washington and Lafayette at Valley Forge

  Baron von Steuben

  Robert Morris

  Anthony Wayne

  Vergennes

  Benjamin Franklin

  John Sullivan

  Lafayette at about the time of the Rhode Island Campaign

  John Adams

  John Paul Jones

  Rochamb
eau

  America’s First Ally

  La Luzerne

  Benedict Arnold

  Thomas Jefferson

  Cornwallis

  De Grasse

  Benjamin Lincoln

  Surrender of Cornwallis

  John Jay

  Washington and Lafayette at Mount Vernon

  James Madison

  George Washington after the war

  Gouverneur Morris

  Louis XVI

  Marie-Antoinette

  Thomas Paine

  Lafayette at the bar of the Assembly

  James Monroe

  Lafayette and his family in prison

  George Washington near the end of his life

  La Grange

  Adrienne after prison

  Lafayette after his tour of America

  MAPS

  Lafayette’s European World

  Northern Theater of the American Revolution, 1776–1778

  Battle of Brandywine

  Campaign and Battle of Monmouth Court House

  Southern Theater of the American Revolution, 1778–1781

  Virginia and Yorktown Campaigns, 1781

  Siege of Yorktown, 1781

  A NOTE ABOUT THE LETTERS

  The letters and documents quoted in this book are presented as they were originally written, with one exception. I have eliminated the eccentric capitalization common during that age (when Lafayette was excited, he often capitalized every word except proper adjectives), which is tolerable in handwriting but distracting when set in type. Otherwise, spelling, grammar, and syntax are in original form, and bracketed clarifications are inserted only when necessary. Letters written in French are presented in colloquial English.

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  ADAMS, John (1736–1826), American statesman; delegate to France; president

  ANDRÉ, John (1751–1780), British officer; Arnold’s co-conspirator

  ARMISTEAD, James (ca. 1759–1830), slave; Lafayette’s chief spy in Virginia

  ARNOLD, Benedict (1741–1801), Continental Army major general; traitor

  BAILLY, Jean-Sylvain (1736–1793), French revolutionary

  BARRAS, Jacques-Melchior Saint-Laurent, marquis (later comte) de (?–1800), French squadron commander

  BURGOYNE, John (1722–1792), British general, American Revolution

  CALONNE, Charles-Alexandre de (1734–1802), French controller of finances

  CARLISLE, Frederick Howard, Earl of (1748–1825), head of British peace commission

  CARMICHAEL, William (?–1795), secretary to American delegation in Paris

  CASTRIES, Charles-Eugène-Gabriel de La Croix, marquis de (1727–1801), French minister of marine

  CHASTELLUX, François-Jean de Beauvoir, chevalier de (1734–1788), French staff officer and writer

  CLINTON, George (1739–1812), governor of New York; Continental Army general

  CLINTON, Sir Henry (1730–1795), British general, American Revolution

  CONWAY, Thomas (1733–1800?), Irish-French Continental Army general

  CORNWALLIS, Charles, Earl of (1738–1805), British general, American Revolution

  D’AYEN, Jean-Paul-François de Noailles, duc (1739–1824), Lafayette’s father-in-law

  DEANE, Silas (1737–1789), Connecticut lawyer; American delegate to France

  DE BROGLIE, Charles-François, duc (1718–1804), maréchal de France

  DE BROGLIE, Victor-François, comte (1719–1781), maréchal de France

  DE GRASSE, François-Joseph-Paul, comte, marquis de Grasse-Tilly (1722–1788), French admiral

  DE KALB, Johann “Baron” (1721–1789), Continental Army major general

  DE STAËL, Anne-Louise-Germaine (née Necker), madame, baronne de Staël-Holstein (1766–1817), French writer and hostess of famous salons

  D’ESTAING, Charles-Henri-Théodat, comte (1729–1794), French admiral

  D’ORMESSON, Henri-François de Paule Lefèvre (1751–1807), French controller of finances

  DUPORTAIL, Louis le Bègue de Presle (1743–1802), chief engineer, Continental Army

  FRANKLIN, Benjamin (1706–1790), printer; American statesman; delegate to France

  FRESTEL, Félix, George-Washington Lafayette’s tutor

  GAGE, Thomas (1721–1787), British general and colonial governor

  GATES, Horatio (1728–1806), Continental Army major general; president, Board of War

  GÉRARD, Conrad-Alexandre (1729–1790), first French minister to the United States

  GIMAT, Jean-Joseph Sourbader de (1743 or 1747–1792?), French volunteer, aide to Lafayette; Continental Army colonel

  GRAVES, Thomas (1725?–1802), British admiral, American Revolution

  GREENE, Nathanael (1742–1786), Continental Army major general

  HAMILTON, Alexander (1757–1804), aide to Washington; Continental Army colonel; secretary of treasury

  HANCOCK, John (1737–1793), Massachusetts politician; president of Continental Congress

  HENRY, Patrick (1736–1799), Virginia politician and orator

  HOWE, Richard, Lord (1726–1799), British admiral, American Revolution

  HOWE, Sir William (1729–1814), British general, American Revolution

  HUNOLSTEIN, Aglaé de Puget de Barbantane, comtesse d’ (1755–1796), Lafayette’s mistress

  JAY, John (1745–1829), American statesman, diplomat, jurist, abolitionist

  JEFFERSON, Thomas (1743–1826), American politician, diplomat, president

  JOLY DE FLEURY, Jean-François (1718–1802), French controller of finances

  JONES, John Paul (1747–1792), American naval hero of the Revolution

  KNOX, Henry (1750–1806), major general, Continental Army, chief of artillery

  KNYPHAUSEN, Wilhelm, Baron von (1716–1780), German commander in America

  LA COLOMBE, Louis-Sainte-Ange, chevalier Morel de (1755–1799), aide to Lafayette and de Kalb; New York host of George-Washington Lafayette

  LAFAYETTE, George-Washington-Louis-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de (1779–1849), Lafayette’s son

  LAFAYETTE, Marie-Adrienne-Françoise de Noailles, marquise de (1759–1807), Lafayette’s wife

  LAFAYETTE, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de (1757–1834), major general, Continental Army; commandant, National Guard of Paris

  LA LUZERNE, Anne-César, chevalier de (1741–1791), French minister to United States

  LAURENS, Henry (1724–1792), South Carolina planter and merchant; president of Continental Congress; delegate to peace talks in Paris; father of John

  LAURENS, John (1754–1782), aide to Washington; soldier and abolitionist; son of Henry

  LEE, Arthur (1740–1792), American diplomat, delegate to France; political troublemaker

  LEE, Charles (1731–1782), Continental Army major general

  LINCOLN, Benjamin (1733–1810), Continental Army major general

  LIVINGSTON, Robert (1746–1813), American secretary of foreign affairs

  LOUIS XVI (1754–1793), king of France 1774–1792

  LOUIS XVIII (1755–1824), king of France 1814–1815, 1815–1824

  MADISON, James (1751–1836), American politician; congressman; president

  MARIE-ANTOINETTE (1755–1793), queen of France 1774–1792

  MARTIN, Joseph Plumb (1760–1850), enlisted man, Continental Army, 1776–1783

  MAUREPAS, Jean-Frédéric Phélypeaux, comte de (1701–1781), prime minister (without portfolio) to Louis XVI

  McLANE, Allan (1746–1829), Continental Army cavalry officer; spy, secret agent

  MIFFLIN, Thomas (1744–1800), Pennsylvania politician; quartermaster general of the Continental Army; member, Board of War

  MIRABEAU, Honoré-Gabriel Riqueti, comte de (1749–1791), French revolutionary

  MONROE, James (1758–1831), Continental Army officer, aide to Stirling; ambassador to France; president of the United States