The Marquis de Lafayette returned to Marblehead 200 years to the date of when he last made an appearance in town.
The Marblehead Museum hosted Lafayette and a crowd of dozens to commemorate the bicentennial of when he stopped in town as a part of his farewell tour across America in 1824 and 1825.
The event, co-sponsored by the American Friends of Lafayette, began with the arrival of Lafayette, played by Mark Schneider, in a horse-drawn carriage. Members of Glover’s Regiment huzzahed and the crowd gave the Marquis a warm “welcome back.”
In the Lee Mansion’s garden, Lauren McCormack, executive director of the Marblehead Museum, welcomed the crowd and the guest of honor.
“On this very day, 200 years ago, the citizens of Marblehead welcomed the Marquis De Lafayette back to town. Fifty years after the Revolution ended, several veterans of Gen. (John) Glover’s Marblehead Regiment were still alive to see the return of one of the war’s most storied heroes,” she said.
“Now in 2024, as we gear up for what promises to be an exciting eight years commemorating and remembering the Revolutionary War during its 250th anniversary, it is fitting that we kick off with an event commemorating Gen. Lafayette and his visit to Marblehead,” McCormack added.
State Rep. Jenny Armini thanked Lafayette for his visit and reflected on his impressions of the town 220 years ago.
“I was incredibly touched to read Lafayette’s impression of Marbleheaders during his first visit in 1784. He said, ‘I rejoice in the virtuous spirit and animating industry remarkable in the remaining sons of Marblehead,’” Armini said.
“But what remains remarkable and why this commemoration today is so important is that we as Marbleheaders get to celebrate the fact that the same virtuous spirit, the same animating industry is still alive today in our community,” she added. “We have not forsaken the lessons of those years. We have kept them alive and we’ve built upon them for the generations that followed.”
McCormack walked the crowd through the itinerary of Lafayette’s 1824 visit, which included meeting with Selectman John Prince, breakfasting, and even taking a nap.
In keeping with the spirit of that stay, Select Board Chair Erin Noonan read from Prince’s speech to the Marquis.
“Your visit to this town after the peace of 1783 has created a peculiar attachment in us towards you,” Noonan read. “Numbers of us are personally acquainted with you and though not present with you in your absence, we have sympathized with you in all your various fates through revolutions and counterrevolutions… Our enjoyment is only marred by anticipating your departure, never to return.”
Lafayette himself addressed the crowd — all while using 21st-century technology.
“I shall endeavor to make myself heard with this vocal amplifier, perhaps an invention of Dr. (Benjamin) Franklin heretofore unknown,” he said.
He lauded the character of the town’s residents and recalled his journey from France to the British colony fighting for independence. He made a particular point to praise Marblehead’s own Gen. Glover.
“The men alongside whom I served and the many of those men who died in the service of our glorious cause I consider my family as well, no one more so than Gen. Glover and his Marbleheaders who served alongside me at the Battle of Rhode Island,” he said.
After Lafayette’s address, Alan Hoffman of the American Friends of Lafayette laid out more of the historical context of his visit. He noted that Glover’s Regiment and Lafayette worked together in the evacuation from Brooklyn to Manhattan, the crossing of the Delaware River in 1776, the Battle of Rhode Island, and the evacuation of Aquidneck Island. In each evacuation, there were no injuries or losses.
Hoffman also said that when Lafayette returned to Marblehead in 1824, he insisted on meeting with Glover’s descendants.
The event came to a close with a three-shot volley from members of Glover’s Regiment in Lafayette’s honor.
