75 / 239
74
154
[
LAFAYETTE,
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de]
Document manuscrit signé par Andrew J. McConnico et
Joseph Marks (2)
Norfolk, 19 juillet 1824
2 pp. in-4, encre brune, chiffré “30” dans le coin gauche du document
LAFAYETTE INVITÉ À L’ANNIVERSAIRE DE LA CHUTE
DE YORKTOWN PAR DES VOLONTAIRES DU COMTÉ DE
NORFOLK
Promulgation officielle transmise à Lafayette de la résolution
prise par les “Junior and Independent Volunteers of the
Borough of Norfolk (...) the Volunteer Corps of Virginia be
requested to assemble on the plains of York on the 19
th
of
October, the Anniversary of the surrender of the British forces
under Cornwallis, and that the same be celebrated as a
national festival, in honor of General Lafayette who so signally
and heroically contributed to the glory of that event”, signé
par le “Chairman”, et le “Secretary”. Cet exemplaire doit être
transmis au “Governor of Virginia with a request that he will
forward the same to General Lafayette, on his arrival in the
United States”, avec une invitation “to honor the contemplated
festival at York Town with his company”
[JOINT :] la version imprimée de ce manuscrit
Lafayette visited the site of the battle on 19 October as the
stop after his visit to Washington’s grave at Mount Vernon.
Lafayette’s participation in the anniversary celebrations at
Yorktown marked one of the highpoints of his visit – for, of
course, not only was he the only surviving general from the
Revolution, but he had played a distinguished part in the battle
that secured final American victory.
Although the battle had taken place forty-three years earlier,
the town had not been rebuilt since then :
“Lafayette was conducted amid the acclamations of the people,
to the head quarters prepared for him. It was in the very house that
Cornwallis inhabited during the siege of Yorktown, forty-three years
previous. Yorktown, which has never recovered from the disasters
of the Revolutionary war (...) appeared from its actual condition very
properly adapted to the celebration which was to take place the
following day : houses in ruins, blackened by fire, or pierced by bullets ;
the ground covered with fragments of arms, the broken shells, and
overturned gun-carriages (...) The manner in which we were lodged,
tended to keep up the illusion ; a single bed for General Lafayette ; all
who accompanied him, officers, generals, and the governor, placed
themselves at random on mattresses or straw, in the half open and
unfurnished apartments (...) We were awakened at day-break on the
19
th
, by the cannon thundering from the plain, calling all the surrounding
troops to arms. General Lafayette, accompanied by the committee of
arrangement, went to Washington’s marquee, which had travelled with
us, and was erected at some distance from the head quarters : there he
received the different corps of officers from the surrounding regiments.
During this presentation we were witness to the most affecting scenes :
two old Revolutionary soldiers fainting away in shaking hands with the
general (...) At eleven o’clock the troops approached the head quarters
near which they formed two columns, and some moments after they
marched to conduct General Lafayette under a triumphal arch erected
over the situation of the English redoubt which he formerly carried, at
the head of the American troops he commanded during the siege of
Yorktown. His march now took place through a double row of ladies
whose vivid joy and elegant costume singularly contrasted with the
warlike arrangements around us’. After speeches, at which Lafayette
was ‘profoundly moved’, general festivities took place, lit by a cache
of candles found that same day in a chest in Cornwallis’s house : ‘A
ball in York-town in 1824 by the light of Cornwallis’s candles, appeared
so pleasant an occurrence to our old Revolutionary soldiers, that
notwithstanding their great age, and the fatigue of the day, most of
them were unwilling to retire until the candles were entirely consumed
(Levasseur,
Lafayette in America
, I, pp. 183-185).
500 / 800
€
155
[
LAFAYETTE
, Gilbert du Motier, marquis de]
Trois copies de lettres sans doute par Levasseur
À bord du
Cadmus
, au Havre, ou au large de Long Island, 26
juillet 1824 ; 14 août ; 4 septembre
3 pp. in-4
À BORD DU
CADMUS
.
EXEMPLAIRES DE LAFAYETTE : PRÉCIEUSE COPIE, SANS
DOUTE DE LA MAIN DE LEVASSEUR, DE DEUX LETTRES DU
GÉNÉRAL ET DE SON FILS À LEUR AMI BARNET ÉCRITES
“AFTER NEAR FORTY YEARS ABSENCE BLESSED WITH A
SIGHT OF THE AMERICAN SHORE”.
LETTRE NE FIGURANT PAS DANS GOTTSCHALK
Sans doute de la main de Levasseur : Lafayette à son ami
Barnett, du
Cadmus
devant Long Island, 14 août 1824 (en
anglais) ; de Georges Washington Lafayette au même, du
Cadmus
, 26 juillet et 19 août 1824 (en français) ; et Henry
Robinson au même, Le Havre, 4 septembre 1824.
It appears that the originals of Lafayette and his son’s letters
were entrusted to Henry Robinson to deliver to M. Barnett
on his return to France ; Lafayette writing in his letter that
“I must however close my letters as the packet of the 19 sails
in the morning and our chance is to catch her in the bay”, while
Robinson writes of his safe arrival at Le Havre on 4 September
“with 19 passengers”, before going on to describe what he had
witnessed of Lafayette’s arrival in America. Robinson’s letter,
at least, was written with publication in mind : “the following
particulars please to give to the editor of
the constitutional
, with
any remarks you may think proper to add”. This possibly being
a reference to the oft-suppressed French liberal newspaper
Le Constitutionnel.
Lafayette’s letter opens : “I am now after
near forty years absence blessed with a sight of the American
shore...”
RÉFÉRENCE : non mentionné dans le calendrier des lettres fixé par
Gottschalk,
A Guide...,
1975
200 / 300
€