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American Revolution Hero Lafayette Returns at New Haven Museum
August 21 @ 5:00 pm
On August 21, 2024, beginning at 5 p.m., New Haven Museum (NHM) and The American Friends of Lafayette will host a two-part welcoming celebration for the Marquis de Lafayette when he returns (in full regalia) to New Haven, exactly 200 years after his last triumphal visit to the city. Register here for this free NH250 event.
The evening begins in the rotunda with an informal meet and greet with Lafayette—as portrayed by reenactor Michael Halbert—sharing Lafayette’s observations of the city, and the state of the country. A reception will follow at 5:30 p.m. At 6 p.m., Dr. Robert Pierce Forbes, an academic and public historian specializing in the Early American Republic, will present, “Lafayette’s Return: Defusing the Crises of 1824.” Forbes will tell the largely unknown story of how President James Monroe discreetly guided the nation through its most dangerous period before the Civil War—including his tactical invitation to Lafayette in time to calm the 1824 presidential election—which had the potential to be the most chaotic in our history.
Why honor Lafayette now? The American Friends of Lafayette offers an astonishing list of the Frenchman’s achievements, all in support of fledgling America. At 19, Lafayette volunteered to serve without pay, and Congress commissioned him a major general in 1777. He was the youngest general in the War of Independence, and served until the end of the war. General Washington, impressed with the youthful general’s zeal and courage, accepted Lafayette on his staff and held him in confidence as “friend and father.”
