Marquis de Lafayette
Birth: 1757
Death: 1834
Became an international sensation after defying his family to fight against Britain in the American Revolution. His status as a liberal, pro-Revolutionary noble made him the obvious choice to serve as the first commander of the Paris National Guard. However, he became disillusioned with the Revolution's increasingly radical turn and emigrated immediately after the fall of the monarchy in August 1792. Although there is no evidence of the duchess of Elbeuf being personally acquainted with him, she describes his deceased mother as her 'dear friend' and makes regular note of his role in Revolutionary events.
Wikipedia
Gilbert_du_Motier,_Marquis_de_Lafayette
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Appears in these Letters:
1789
22 July: Revolutionary Paris in July 1789
The duchess reflects on events in the Revolution so far and the rising power of Paris's new municipal government. She castigates a...
14 October: A King Imprisoned? The October Days
On 5-6 October 1789, a Parisian crowd led by thousands of women marched out to demonstrate at Versailles and forced the royal family to relocate to...
1792
4 September: Revolutionary Massacre: Paris in September 1792
At the start of September 1792 Revolutionary tensions boiled over in the capital in the wake of the fall of the monarchy and news of...
Lafayette in the uniform of a major general of the Continental Army, by Charles Willson Peale, between 1779–1780
[Source: Wikipedia]