Fifty years after the start of the American Revolution, near this spot in Buffalo, New York at a place called Eagle Tavern, Marquis de Lafayette gave a speech during his 1824-1825 tour of America on June 4, 1825.
The image is from 1900 of Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument in Lafayette Square in Buffalo. The monument was built in the 1880s.
When the aging Marquis de Lafayette returned to America for his farewell tour, he was treated with a level of adulation modern audiences reserve for rock stars. As the last surviving major general of the Revolutionary War, his 24-month journey through all 24 states ignited an unprecedented wave of national patriotism and unity, drawing massive, weeping crowds wherever he spoke.
Image via Library of Congress, no known restrictions.
