Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was born on September 6, 1757, at the family chateau near Le Puy, France. In 1759, the British killed his soldier father at the Battle of Minden. His mother and grandfather died within weeks of each other before he turned thirteen, leaving him a wealthy orphan. Two years later, Lafayette entered the French Army, his noble pedigree assuring him a rapid rise to captain. The sixteen-year-old aristocrat aligned himself with one of France's most powerful families by marrying Marie Adrienne Francoise do Noailles on April 11, 1774.

Lafayette might have settled into a comfortable, unremarkable life if not for the outbreak of the American Revolution in 1775. The colonists' struggle for independence appealed to his romantic nature and left him thirsting for glory. As a patriotic Frenchman, he also welcomed the chance to weaken Great Britain. Without asking King Louis XVI's permission to leave France, Lafayette purchased a ship called La Victoire and sailed for America on April 26, 1777. Lafayette offered his services to the Continental Congress as an unpaid volunteer, and that body appointed him a major general on August 1, 1777.
Recognizing that Lafayette lacked combat experience, General George Washington appointed the nineteen-year-old Frenchman to his staff. Lafayette came to regard Washington as the father he had never known, and the childless Virginian returned his aide's affection. Lafayette proved his courage and commitment to the American cause when he suffered a leg wound while rallying some Continentals at the Battle of Brandywine.

Lafayette stood by Washington's side through the trying winter at Valley Forge and the Battle of Monmouth. He returned to France early in 1779 and helped persuade Louis XVI to send a French army to America to assist the hard-pressed Continentals. After Lafayette rejoined Washington, the latter ordered him to Virginia in April 1781 to oppose raiding British armies commanded by Brigadier General Benedict Arnold and Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis. During the Siege of Yorktown, Lafayette commanded the light infantry division that represented the cream of the Continental Army.

Lafayette would go on to play a conspicuous role in the early phases of the French Revolution, only to be chased from France by his political enemies and imprisoned by the Austrians. In 1824 and 1825, he toured the United States, where he was greeted everywhere he went by adoring crowds. He died in Paris on May 20, 1834.

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