Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de

Lafayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de

(1757–1834) statesman, soldier; born in Auvergne, France. Scion of a wealthy, aristocratic family—his father was killed in the Seven Years' War against England—he entered the French army in 1771 and resigned in 1776 to join the Revolutionary forces in America, where he was commissioned a major general and joined the staff of George Washington. He participated in several battles and was wounded at Brandywine. He served as a liaison officer when the French and Americans became allies in 1778; he went back to France in 1779 where he was treated as a hero, then returned in 1780 to fight with the American forces, playing a crucial role in the final victory at Yorktown (1781). Back in France in 1782, he would often work to promote America's interests—he revisited the U.S.A. in 1784 and then made a triumphal final tour in 1824—meanwhile becoming a major player in French political life.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.