Speaker Series: Lafayette’s Revolutionary Black Servants and Spies

Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, was born on September 6th 1757 in Chavaniac, Auvergne, France. After his father’s death at the Battle of Minden and his mother’s death from disease, the 12 year-old orphaned millionaire was raised by his aunts and educated at Paris’ prestigious Collège du Plessis and the Académie Militaire at Versailles. His marriage to Adrienne de Noailles in 1773 allowed him a position in his new father-in-law’s cavalry regiment, as well as increased visibility at the court of King Louis XVI, who was now a distant relation by marriage. Against the wishes of his family and the King, Lafayette set sail for America in 1777 in a boat he had chartered at personal expense, along with several others hoping to join George Washington’s army. The party landed near Charleston, South Carolina, and traveled overland to Philadelphia, where Congress—prompted no doubt by Lafayette’s insistence on serving without pay—granted the nineteen-year-old Lafayette the commission of Major General in the Continental Army of the United States. He struck up a strong personal connection with his new commander-in-chief, George Washington, and set about building the most meaningful and influential friendship in perhaps the life of either man.

About This Speaker:

Benjamin Goldman has portrayed Le Marquis de Lafayette since 2007. He has performed at Valley Forge and Independence National Historical Parks in Pennsylvania, for Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home in Virginia, and for presidents George W. Bush and Nicolas Sarkozy at the White House, among many other venues and audiences. He also worked for several years as a storyteller with Historic Philadelphia, Inc, where he wrote and sometimes translated interpretive stories into French. A graduate of Lower Merion High School, he received a B.A. in French and Dramatic Literature from New York University in 2008, and in 2011 received a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife Liz and their two children.

Host or Publisher Valley Forge Park Alliance