In his latest column, John Cross ’76 uncovers a great hoax played on the College community and the town of Brunswick surrounding a visit by Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette.

In 1824, nearly a half-century after the beginning of the American Revolution and a quarter-century after the death of George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette accepted the invitation of President James Monroe to tour the United States as an honored guest. As you may have guessed, there were connections to Bowdoin College in Lafayette’s travels.

Lafayette’s story was well known to the American people at the time. A French aristocrat, he spent his own fortune to come to America at age 19 and fight in the American Revolution. He became a close friend of George Washington, who thought of him as an adopted son. Commissioned a major general (without pay) by Congress in 1777, Lafayette was wounded at Brandywine, recruited the Oneida as allies, returned to France to raise support for the American cause, and soon returned to the battlefield. Later in the war, American forces under his command pinned down Cornwallis’s troops at Yorktown, leading to the British surrender.

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