Founding Friendship: James Monroe and the Marquis de Lafayette
Featuring Tim McGrath, author of James Monroe: A Life

In the summer of 1777 during the American Revolutionary War, a nineteen-year-old Continental Army captain from Virginia met a twenty-year-old French aristocrat, recently commissioned a major general by Congress. The two became fast friends, experiencing combat at Brandywine, getting better acquainted during the Valley Forge winter, and each playing a heroic role at Monmouth Court House. Over the next five decades, the lives of these two patriots intersected during revolutions, war, and political intrigue. Years of separation only tightened the bond between them, including the heroic meeting between their courageous wives during the last violent days of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, when the two ladies took part in an event Charles Dickens could not have dreamed up.

About Fredericksburg Lafayette Bicentennial Commemoration 2024:

Over the last two years, representatives of historic and civic organizations, city personnel, and historic-minded individuals researched documents, mapped out Lafayette’s original route, identified the venues that he visited, and formed a plan to honor this hero at the 200th anniversary of his 1824 Fredericksburg visit.

In the years following his Farewell Tour, public awareness of Lafayette’s important contribution has gradually faded. But in 1824, across the country, Lafayette held rock star status.

The goals of the Commemoration are to rekindle interest in Lafayette’s incredible life, to underscore Fredericksburg’s continuing relationship with “The Hero of Two Worlds,” and to foster gratitude for his contributions.

The Commemoration Committee has worked to create “an event like none other.” The Committee worked closely with the American Friends of Lafayette (AFL) to tie our programming to its own. For more information on other Lafayette Bicentennial events, visit Lafayette200.org here. 

See more information about the Fredericksburg Lafayette Bicentennial Commemoration 2024 here.