Marquis de Lafayette

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was born September 6, 1757, in Chavaniac, France. As a nineteen-year- old French nobleman he sailed for America in 1777 to volunteer in the Revolutionary War, was commissioned major general by the Continental Congress, and within months had become one of George Washington Person George Washington b. 1732 · d. 1799 Planter, military commander, and first President of the United States. Master of Mount Vernon from 1761 until his death in 1799, and a regular presence in Alexandria, which he … ’s most trusted field commanders. He served at Brandywine, Valley Forge, Monmouth, and the siege of Yorktown, and remained Washington’s intimate friend for the rest of Washington’s life. He died May 20, 1834, in Paris.

Alexandria, October 1824 — Lafayette’s grand tour

Returning to America for the first time in forty years at the invitation of President Monroe, Lafayette spent thirteen months touring all twenty-four states. He arrived in Alexandria on October 16, 1824, met by an enormous crowd, a militia escort, and a city-wide celebration on Market Square in front of City Hall. Late that evening Dr. Thomas Semmes, Worshipful Master of Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 Nonprofit Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 founded 1783 Alexandria's senior Masonic lodge, chartered in 1788 under the Grand Lodge of Virginia with as its first Worshipful Master. Custodian of the largest private collection of … , secured Lafayette’s promise to return for a Masonic occasion ^[1] Source 1 City of Alexandria — "Lafayette in Alexandria" Government record .

February 21, 1825 — the Bastille key

Lafayette returned to Alexandria on February 21, 1825, the eve of Washington’s birthday, and was formally received by Alexandria-Washington Lodge No. 22 together with Brooke Lodge No. 2 and Evangelical Lodge No. 8. The Master of Lodge No. 22 presented him with a diploma of honorary membership; Lafayette presented the lodge with the great iron key to the Bastille — ten inches long, more than five pounds — that he had carried out of revolutionary Paris and once sent to Washington at Mount Vernon. The key remains on permanent display at the 101 Callahan Drive Place 101 Callahan Drive A 333-foot granite tower atop Shuter's Hill, completed 1932 by Freemasons across the United States to honor as Charter Master of . Conceived after an 1871 fire at the lodge's Old … ^[1] Source 1 City of Alexandria — "Lafayette in Alexandria" Government record ^[2] Source 2 Grand Lodge of New York — "Marquis de Lafayette's Apron" Website .