American History

for Lafayette (1757-1834) and it appears he served as an officer in America in the Continental Army and at one point was given a division of Virginia infantry to command. Nothing I read indicates that he brought any French forces with him, but that he served in the American Colonial Army.

In France at age 16 he had been commissioned into the Black Musketeers, his grandfathers unit, and years later during the French Revolution he was in the National Guard.

>So I wonder what military unit was illustrated in the pictures your French comrades were pointing to? Was it definitely an 18th century unit?

Lafayette was given many later honorary associations and also was the namesake of the 1916 US military unit, the 'Lafayette Escadrille' that was comprised of volunteer Americans who joined up to fight for France in the First World War.

In any case, looking into more about the young French marquis who aided America so much in our revolution renewed my appreciation of him.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafayette_Escadrille

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honors_and_memorials_to_the_Marquis_de_Lafayette

..His father was killed in action at the Battle of Minden on August 1, 1759, fighting against British officers — including Cornwallis, who would later become his son's enemy in America. la Fayette was educated by tutors at home and then at the Collège du Plessis before moving to the Académie de Versailles for military training. He was heir to a vast fortune that he expanded at age 16 by marrying a relative of the French royal family.

He was also 16 when he received his first commission in his grandfather's regiment, the Black Musketeers. By 1776 la Fayette was a captain of cavalry and enthralled with the Enlightenment ideals of liberty and equality contained in Declaration of Independence. He arranged a meeting with Silas Deane, the Continental Congress' clandestine representative in France, who was eager to obtain whatever support he could for the colonies' fight. Deane wrote a letter of introduction for la Fayette, who purchased a ship and left for America in April 1777 in open defiance of his own family and of France's king.

Although la Fayette had no battlefield experience, the Continental Congress appointed him a Major General in the Continental Army on July 31, 1777—a decision made considerably easier when la Fayette made it clear he did not expect pay or a command. He reported to George Washington's staff, and the two formed a close, remarkably affectionate bond that would last the rest of their lives.

la Fayette first saw field action at the Battle of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, when the young Frenchman helped stave off a complete rout and was wounded in the left leg—which gave him credibility in the eyes of his American compatriots. After he recovered, he commanded a reconnaissance force that defeated a force of Hessians near Gloucester, New Jersey, on November 25. A week later Congress gave him his own command: a division of Virginia infantry...
http://www.ouramericanrevolution.org/index.cfm/people/view/pp0044