The Marquis de Lafayette served with the Continental Army during the American Revolution and became known as “the Hero of the Two Worlds.”
Born Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Lafayette was a French nobleman and military officer who volunteered for the American cause. Congress commissioned him a major general on July 31, 1777, when he was only 19 years old.
Lafayette developed a close relationship with George Washington and fought in several campaigns, including Brandywine and the Siege of Yorktown. He also returned to France during the war to lobby for additional French assistance, helping strengthen the alliance that was crucial to the American victory.
Lafayette is sometimes confused with Rochambeau, the French commander who led the expeditionary army, or de Grasse, the French admiral whose fleet helped seal off Yorktown. Lafayette was an American major general and political liaison, not the senior commander of all French forces.