How Revolutionary War hero Lafayette is remembered in Canandaigua

CANANDAIGUA, NY — A brass band, “crowds of men, women and children” and “carriages loaded with ladies and gentlemen” waited on Main Street, Canandaigua for Marquis de Lafayette to arrive.

Then, off to the west, a cavalcade could be seen, as former City Historian Herbert J. Ellis, piecing together old newspaper articles and information gleaned from other sources, penned in an article of his own in 1961 for the Daily Messenger.

“The greeting was terrific,” the article noted,” the band played stirring music, the cannon on Arsenal Hill burst forth, the shouting and applause was deafening, all crowding to see the Marquis.”

The article on the French nobleman who served as major general in the Continental Army and helped fight for American independence, was shared by the late Canandaigua Historian Lynn Paulson two years ago when City Council gave the OK to place a historic marker in Lafayette’s honor.

The marker — with certainly much less fanfare than Lafayette’s arrival in Canandaigua in 1825 as part of a 50th anniversary celebration of the American Revolution — was placed last month at the corner of North Main Street and Scotland Road, across from the Fort Hill Apartments and the Fort Hill Performing Arts Center.

The Lafayette marker is a short walk from a marker commemorating another French visitor, historian and "Democracy in America" author Alexis De Tocqueville, who came to Canandaigua everal years after Lafayette's visit as part of his study of the new nation.

Why is Lafayette such a big deal?

Lafayette played no small role in the war for independence. According to several historical accounts, he was wounded in the Battle of Brandywine near Philadelphia.

Lafayette was one of then Gen. George Washington’s right-hand men, according to City Manager John Goodwin, who claims a “fevered passion” for American history.

“Without his and the French help, we probably would not have won independence,” Goodwin said.

Americans at the time knew and understood this.

According to Ellis’ article, “whenever the Marquis traveled in the United States, he was met with tremendous enthusiasm and acclaim by the American people.”

Canandaiguans of 1825 loved Lafayette

Lafayette, who was the last surviving major general of the war at the time, arrived in Rochester via the new Erie Canal and traveled to Mendon, where he was met by a delegation from Canandaigua.

This was the evening of June 7, 1825, although his farewell tour of the 24 states of the U.S. started the year prior at the invitation of President James Monroe.

Lafayette's procession moved down Main Street to the Blossom Hotel, a precursor of the Canandaigua Inn that was located near where the police station now stands. Ellis’ article, noting previous accounts of the procession, indicated that Lafayette was “highly pleased,” especially the “greetings from the ladies which he acknowledged with gracious bows.”

Lafayette, with candles on either side of him to illuminate his face, addressed the crowd from the balcony of the Blossom Hotel before going back inside for a reception in his honor.

After which, he was taken to the home of the Hon. John Greig, among the prominent people of Canandaigua at the time, near where the new historical marker was placed.

Roses were placed between the mattresses of the bed where Lafayette was to sleep, only the strong scent of the roses kept him awake, the article noted. “ … so the servants were instructed to remove the roses from the bed, after which he slept comfortably.”

Lafayette needed all the sleep he could get, because the next day he was to leave Canandaigua for Geneva, with much of the same pomp and circumstance sending him off as was demonstrated for his arrival.

“And so the great Major General Marquis de Lafayette rode down Canandaigua’s broad Main Street, out onto the Lafayette Highway (Geneva turnpike), with crowds of people shouting farewell, on to another ovation in Geneva,” as the article concludes.

Lafayette's Canandaigua legacy

The new marker, which was paid for by the nonprofit organization The LaFayette Trail Inc., is just that — a marker, not an exhaustive history: “On June 7, 1825, General Lafayette was greeted at the local hotel and spent the night at the nearby mansion of John Greig,” the marker reads.

The group has funded markers in other communities along the trail, in anticipation of the bicentennial of what was essentially his farewell tour of the U.S. and generally to create more awareness of him. Julian Pierre Icher, founder and president of the group, said at the time the marker was approved that Lafayette's popularity during that era of American history was "amazing."

Remember, no internet, no social media, and the news that did reach Americans in the early 1800s traveled slowly. And the U.S. at the time was a country divided, Icher said.

"The fact that Lafayette was able to be a hero everywhere, in every single state at that time, really shows to me the national significance of his legacy," Icher said in an unpublished interview from two years ago.

As Paulson noted, also in an unpublished interview, this was one stop on a 100-day tour of the then 24-state country.

“He was really here only part of the day and overnight and left the next morning for Geneva,” Paulson said at the time.

Still, the Lafayette name has lived on, in the name of businesses like the Lafayette Motel and Restaurant and the city’s Lafayette Avenue, which was built between 1840 and 1860, according to a history column written by Paulson in 2016.

"Usually we name it for somebody who is a major player in the community that helped found the community or did something monumental rather than just somebody who came here to visit," Paulson said in the unpublished interview. "They did do that."

And now, a mini history informs new generations of Lafayette's deeds for American freedom and 50 years later, for Canandaigua.

“To have that connection to someone who has had such a large impact on the country is pretty neat,” Goodwin said. “The fact that Canandaigua has been and continues to be connected with these national and, in LaFayette’s case, international folks is something that should be celebrated.”

This article originally appeared on MPNnow: How Revolutionary War hero Lafayette is remembered in Canandaigua NY