THE BOY GENERAL - The Story of Marquis de Lafayette

By Edward Cary

For any readers who have visited Union Square in New York, maybe you have seen a bronze statue standing among the trees of the park. It represents a tall young man, in the close-fitting uniform of an American General of the Revolution. He is erect and with his right hand he clasps a sword against his breast. His left hand is stretched out toward the statue of Washington.

His name was Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, better known as Marquis de Lafayette. The story of his whole life is one of the most interesting and pleasing that has ever been written. This short volume will give only the story of his services to the United States of America, and of his life during the few years in which those services were rendered. The statue was set up in honor of these great services.
If you ever embark upon reading the history of the USA, his name will forever be linked with that of General Washington. They were both brave, faithful, just, and generous, and both honored the name of American citizen—a name which Lafayette proudly claimed so long as he lived.
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KEYWORDS/TAGS: 73, 77, Boy General, action, adventure, admiration, America, André, army, Arnold, attack, Austria, battalion, battle, Boston, brave, British, campaign, Canada, cannon, capture, Carlisle, cause, character, Clinton, command, commander-in-chief, Commissioners, Congress, Cornwallis, Count, countrymen, courage, Deane, Declaration, d'Estaing, Emperor, enemy, England, English, expedition, fight, fleet, France, freedom, French, gallant, garrison, General, government, gratitude, hero, honor, honour, horseback, independence, injustice, Island, Jersey, King, Lafayette, Lee, liberty, Lord, Louis, love, Major-General, march, Marquis de Lafayette, Monmouth, Napoleon, Newport, northward, officers, oppressed, overthrow, Paris, Paul, Philadelphia, Philippe, prison, prisoner, quarters, reconnaissance, reconnoissance, revolution, Revolutionary, River, Rochambeau, services, seventy-seven, seventy-three, soldier, statesman, statue, Sullivan, surrounded, three-cornered, Union, United States, Valley Forge, veteran, victory, Virginia, war, Washington, wound, York, Yorktown, young adult, YA

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abela Publishing
• Release date: Nov 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9788829543625

Book preview

The Boy-General

The Story of Marquis de Lafayette

BY

Edward Cary

An extract from

Vol. II.—Nos. 53 through 57.

[1880]

Resurrected by

Abela Publishing, London

[2018]

The Boy General

Typographical arrangement of this edition

© Abela Publishing 2018

This book may not be reproduced in its current format in any manner in any media, or transmitted by any means whatsoever, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, or mechanical ( including photocopy, file or video recording, internet web sites, blogs, wikis, or any other information storage and retrieval system) except as permitted by law without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Abela Publishing,

London

United Kingdom

2018

ISBN-13: 978-X-XXXXXX-XX-X

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Abela Publishing

Acknowledgements

The Publisher acknowledges the contribution of

Edward Cary

and

Harper’s Young People

in writing and publishing this story

in a time well before electronic media was in use.

Chapter I

If any of my readers who live in the city of New York happen to be passing the lower end of Union Square some day, they will see, standing among the trees of the little park, a bronze statue. It is nearly opposite the corner of Broadway and Fourteenth Street, and is turned a little to one side, toward the noble statue of Washington on horseback, which is in the centre of the three-cornered space between the park, Fourteenth Street, and Union Square East. It represents a tall young man, in the close-fitting uniform of an American General of the time of the Revolution. With his right hand he clasps a sword against his breast. His left hand is stretched out toward Washington; his figure is erect, and inclined forward, as if about to spring from the prow of a boat, which the base of the statue is made to represent. This is a statue of the beloved and gallant Frenchman whom we commonly call Lafayette, whom the people of the Revolutionary days delighted to name the young Marquis, and whose real name was Marie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. The story of his whole life is one of the most interesting and pleasing that has ever been written; but for the present I am to give you only the story of his services to America, and of his life during the few years in which those services were rendered. The statue that I have spoken of was set up in honor of these great services, in order that the young Americans who live in the full enjoyment