In a Letter Calling America “the land of genuine freedom”, the Marquis de Lafayette Announces His Intention to Be Soon in America for His Great 1824 Tour

In 1824, with the nation prosperous, exuberant and in the midst of the Era of Good Feeling, nostalgia was strong for the Revolutionary War generation that had made the U.S. independent and was now passing rapidly from the scene. President James Monroe invited the Marquis de Lafayette to visit the United States, and accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette, the old soldier visited all 24 states of the Union. Everywhere he was received with great enthusiasm and excitement. On August 16, he disembarked in New York and was escorted from the Battery in a carriage drawn by four white horses to City Hall. Then, while in his carriage and placed on a barge with his horses, Lafayette was taken to Brooklyn and cheered by thousands. In the crowd was a 15-year-old boy named Walt Whitman who never forgot that exciting moment. When he arrived in Philadelphia on September 29, Lafayette was greeted by a long parade that included 160 Revolutionary War veterans drawn in large wagons. A few days later, the Marquis visited Brandywine battlefield where he had been shot in the leg. In October, he visited the tomb of Washington at Mount Vernon, then left for Yorktown, where he was greeted by Chief Justice John Marshall. After that, he stayed with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. At a banquet at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, the Marquis was seated between Jefferson and James Madison. On November 23, Lafayette dined in the White House with President and Mrs. Monroe. He would remain based in Washington until March 1825.

Among the many he longed to see during this trip was Marinus Willett. The Saturday Evening Post had this to say about the friendship between Lafayette and Willett in their issue from August 21, 1824, the day Lafayette arrived in New York on his Grand Tour: “Decidedly the most interesting sight was the [New York] reception of the General by his old companions in arms: Colonel Marinus Willet[sic], now in his eighty-fifth year, General Van Cortland, General Clarkson, and the other worthies whom we have mentioned… He embraced them all affectionately, and Col. Willet again and again. He knew and remembered them all. It was a re-union of a long separated family. After the ceremony of embracing and congratulations were over, he sat down alongside of Col. Willet, who grew young again and fought all his battles over. “Do you remember,” said he, “at the battle of Monmouth, I was volunteer aid to Gen. Scott ? I saw you in the heat of battle. You were but a boy, but you were a serious and sedate lad. Aye, aye; I remember well. And on the Mohawk, I sent you fifty Indians. And you wrote me, that they set up such a yell that they frightened the British cavalry, and they ran one way and the Indians another.” No person who witnessed this interview will ever forget it; many an honest tear was shed on the occasion. The young men retired at little distance, while the venerable soldiers were indulging recollections, and were embracing each other again and again… Such sincere, such honest feelings, were never more plainly or truly expressed. The sudden changes of the countenance of the Marquis, plainly evinced the emotions he endeavored to suppress. When a Revolutionary story from the venerable Willet recalled circumstances long passed, the incident… made the Marquis sigh; and his swelling heart was relieved when he burst into tears.”

Guglielmo Pepe, General, fought with Murat alongside Napoleon before and after his return from Elba. Once Napoleon entered his final imprisonment, King Ferdinand returned to the throne of Naples, as Italy was then not one united country, and Pepe retained his rank. Pepe fought to have the King grant Naples its own Constitution, along the lines of the American model, even considering his kidnapping in the process. In 1820, a Constitution was promised by Ferdinand, with no intent to keep that promise. Pepe then went to war against the King and his newly acquired Austrian forces, losing, after which time he left for England and France, evidently hoping to come to America, and found his old friend the Marquis de Lafayette.

Autograph letter signed, Paris, May 14, 1824, to General Marinus Willett. “I have the pleasure to introduce to you General Pepe, the great Neapolitan Patriot who after the disaster of the army under his command has exerted himself for the good of the cause in the peninsula, and now wishes to visit the land of genuine freedom. Not knowing when he goes I have a chance to arrive before him as I intend to be with you as soon as I have terminated some family arrangements on this side of the Atlantic. But as friends I thought it better to send these few lines to my friend Gnl Pepe whose acquaintance, I am sure, will be Very Welcome to you.” With the address panel present but separate. Some adhesive to the latter panel from old mounting. Small vestige of mounting on letter.

That same day, he wrote a letter introduced Pepe to one other person, according to published papers: Thomas Jefferson.