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nordleuchten · 1 year

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also, you were talking about georges' feats in the military; could you share those stories if ya have 'em? i don't think I've ever read any of them before

thank youu :))

Dear @msrandonstuff,

of course I can!

Many of the sources I am going to rely upon are La Fayette’s letters to friends and family members. Because like every proud Papa, La Fayette liked to tell everybody what his son did and accomplished.

Georges was a good officer who took his role very serious and who not only freely choose this occupation for himself and enjoyed it, but who also understood how his military conduct was connected to his and his family’s honour. Here is a description of Georges’ military qualities from an undated letter La Fayette wrote his friend Amé Thérèse Joseph Masclet:

The fact is, that George, who is a republican patriot, -- and I have met with few such in my lifetime, -- has, besides a passion for the military profession, for which I think him adapted, as he possesses a sound and calm judgment, a just perception, a strong local memory, and will be equally beloved his superiors, his comrades, and his subordinates. I love him with too much tenderness to make any distinction between his desires and mine; and I am great an enemy to oppression of every description place a restraint on the wishes of a beloved son twenty years of age. I could joyfully see him with honourable scars, but beyond that supposition have not the courage to contemplate existence.

Jules Germain Cloquet, Recollections of the Private Life of General Lafayette, Baldwin and Cradock, London, 1835, p. 131.

While, as La Fayette wrote, he thought Georges very much suited for the military and although he liked the idea of Georges following in his steps, he was above forcing his son to follow a certain path. La Fayette believed children should make their way, independent of their parents’ wishes – although the parents should support and guide their child because a father for example knows his son differently than the child knows itself.

Georges joined the military and was made a sous-lieutenant around the time of the Battle of Marengo. He served in succession as an aide-de-camp to the Generals Canclaux, Dupont and Grouchy. Towards the end of Georges’ military career, Marshal Joachim Murat wanted to appoint Georges as his officier d’ordonnance but Napoléon was against it and the appointment never came to pass.

Georges was wounded in the Battle of Minico/Battle of Pozzolo on December 25, 1800. La Fayette wrote the following about his son’s injuries and conduct to Masclet on 28 Pluviôse [February 17] [1801]:

I have not this long while heard from you my dear Masclet: sure I am, nevertheless, that you do not forget your friend, and that you have been pleased with George’s good fortune on the Mincio. He was in the wing and under the general who fought and won the action. The eleventh regiment of hussars was the most distinguished. My son had for his share three bullets, but slight wounds. General Dupont tells me he had named him in the account of the battle. George insisted on the suppression of the mention made of him, unless the same was done in favour of his wounded comrades. His wounds would have been sooner cured, had he not remained with the regiment as long as there was something to do which caused an inflammation and a dépôt in his arm. But when the eleventh hussars made the blockade of the forts of Verona, which put them out of the way of danger, George got into the city, where he was very well taken care of. When General Dupont saw him last, he was in good train of recovery, although he yet wore a scarf. His side was still less damaged than the arm. So that the danger of the battle, which has been great, being over, we have had nothing to fear, and much to rejoice at. I give you those details as I know you will enjoy them. Here is a good honourable solid peace.

Jules Germain Cloquet, Recollections of the Private Life of General Lafayette, Baldwin and Cradock, London, 1835, pp. 229-230.

Georges wounds were without serious consequences, and he fully recovered. He next distinguished himself during the Battle of Eylau on February 7-8, 1807. La Fayette again wrote to Masclet:

George was on the eve being appointed to the rank of captain, and even the Emperor, before he went to Italy. had promised his promotion to Generals Grouchy and Canclaux and to M de Tracy [Georges’ father-in-law]. Since that period, my son has served as volunteer aide de camp at the embarkation at Helder, at Ulm, at Udine, and in the new war at Prenzlaw, at Lubeck, at Eylau, where he had the good fortune to save his general; and at Friedland, where Grouchy commanded the wing of the cavalry which routed the Russians only at the seventh charge. The promotion promised before all these events, and for which several applications had been made by the principal ministers and general officers, has been constantly refused, so that George, although the senior lieutenant of the division, has abandoned all idea of advancement. The peace will bring him back to us, as he is a volunteer: we expect him immediately.

Jules Germain Cloquet, Recollections of the Private Life of General Lafayette, Baldwin and Cradock, London, 1835, p. 106.

La Fayette also wrote to his friend Thomas Jefferson regarding Georges’ conduct at Eylau. The Marquis wrote on April 29, 1807:

My Son and Son in Law are in the Army of Poland under the Emperor’s Command, the one as a Volunteer Aid de Camp to General Grouchy, the other as an Aid de Camp to General Beker, Both my personal friends—George Had the Happiness at the Bloody Battle of Eylaw to save the Life of His General Whose Horse Had been killed and fell on His Bruised thigh, at a Moment when our troops were Overpowered and the Russians Giving No Quarter—My Son Lept down, disengaged Grouchy from Under His Horse, Gave Him His own, and so Both Got of. Since which time, and probably on that Account, there Has been a new Manifestation of a Sentiment already and I may say officially Expressed after the Affair of Prentzlaw when George Had the Good fortune to be Approved for His Conduct—it is that not only He Never Has Any promotion to Expect from the Emperor But that His Zeal in the Active Army is so far displeasing as to put Him in immediate danger to be sent, in His Rank of Lieutenant, to Some Remote Regimen—He Has Consequently determined to Return to Us, either to Serve in an interior Staff, or to Rest Himself at La Grange, as Soon as the Circumstances of the Army will permit His Leaving the division to which He is Attached, unless a proper Explanation Speedily takes place.

“To Thomas Jefferson from Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette, 29 April 1807,” Founders Online, National Archives, [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. It is not an authoritative final version.] (05/24/2023)

To top the list off, La Fayette also wrote to James Madison on June 10, 1807:

My Son and Younger Son in Law are in the Grand Army, The later an aid de Camp to our friend Gnl. Becker Now Chef d’Etat Major to the Wing Under Mal. Massena, George a Volonteer aid de Camp to Gnl. Grouchy. In that Independant Situation He Has determined to Go on, Very Happy in the Esteem and Kindness of our Numerous friends at the Army and Among its Chiefs, But Having Had Strong Reasons Not to Expect Even the Usual and Common Course of promotion. It Has been His fortunate lot, at the Bloody Battle of Eylaw, to Save the life of His Beloved General, Brother in law to Mr. Cabanis.

“To James Madison from Marie-Adrienne-Françoise de Noailles, marquise de Lafayette, 10 June 1807,” Founders Online, National Archives, [This is an Early Access document from The Papers of James Madison. It is not an authoritative final version.] (05/24/2023)

Georges had put himself in great danger during the Battle of Eylau and his courage was noted. Even beside that, Georges had done very well in the past and was respected by his superiors – the only problem; he was a La Fayette and Napoléon was petty. He and his brother-in-law (the husband of his younger sister Virginie) therefore quitted the military after the end of the military season in 1807 – to the infinite joy of his mother Adrienne.

She [Adrienne] bore with gentle fortitude the anxieties of which my brother and my husband were the object during the campaigns of 1805 and 1806. She heard with joy of George’s good fortune when he saved his general’s life at the battle of Eylau. The peace which followed brought on for her a period of unmingled happiness. I [Virginie] shall not attempt to describe it to you. I have scarcely dwelt upon those peaceful years we passed at Lagrange, although, during that whole period, I was my mother's daily companion. But I could only repeat to you that we were happy. At the end of the spring of 1807, it seemed that God had accomplished all my mother’s desires in this world. As for myself I cannot fancy it possible to be happier than I was during the period which elapsed from the peace and my eldest daughter’s birth up to the beginning of the fatal malady.

Mme de Lasteyrie, Life of Madame de Lafayette, L. Techener, London, 1872, pp. 391-392.

This is pure speculation on my part, but I could imagine that Georges’ leave from the military could also have been influenced by family reasons. In the above quoted letter to Madison, La Fayette mentioned that Georges’ little daughter of four weeks had just died and I could imagine that, just like Henriette’s death was a waking-call for a Fayette, Georges’ wanted to be closer to his wife, children and family.

Adrienne also was not the only one who was frequently anxious for Georges and Louis (Virginie’s husband). La Fayette wrote on October 16, 1805 to James Madison:

My Son Serves in the Grand Army as an Aid de Camp to General Grouchy—My Son in Law Louïs Lasteyrie Serves there also as an officer of dragoons—two Young Wives, a Sister, and Mother Are With Me at La Grange—and While I Consider their Anxiety and My Own for the Sake of our Young Soldiers, I am inclined to feel Less Regret, and I know You Will find More Cause to Approve me for Having Yelded to the Opinion of the Ambassadors and Mine Respecting the present obstacles to An immediate Voyage (…).

“To James Madison from Lafayette, 16 October 1805,” Founders Online, National Archives, . [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 10, 1 July 1805–31 December 1805, ed. Mary A. Hackett, J. C. A. Stagg, Mary Parke Johnson, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Katherine E. Harbury. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2014, pp. 434–436.] (05/24/2023)

I hope I could answer your question and I hope you have/had a wonderful day!

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