LAFAYETTE ARE HERE:

Early in the morning of June 28, 1825, between 3,000 and 4,000 Vermonters gathered in Windsor to greet a returning hero. They probably didn't mind the hour. Many of them were farmers from the surrounding area and were used to rising before dawn. Besides, since this visitor had come from so far to see them, getting up early was the least they could do. 

At about 7 a.m., they first caught sight of the elegant fringed carriage bearing their guest, Marie-Joseph Paul Roch Yves Gilbert du Motier, better known as the Marquis de Lafayette. 

In the 1820s, Lafayette was one of the Revolution's few surviving heroes. Washington, Franklin, Hamilton and others were dead. Jefferson and Adams were in their 80s and in frail health; indeed, they would die within the year.

In contrast, Lafayette was a comparatively young 67. Born into a wealthy French family and orphaned at 13, he had followed his father's path into the military. Despite his privileged background, Lafayette had ardently embraced the colonies' fight for liberty. At the age of 19, he sailed to North America and persuaded Congress to commission him a general in the Continental Army. Though he proved himself a competent, if not entirely gifted, officer, Lafayette was vital to the colonies' efforts.  His loyalty to the cause and his connections in the French government proved instrumental in winning crucial French support that helped turn the tide of the war. Americans loved him.

Lafayette had returned to France, where he led troops in the fight for liberty during his own country's revolution. But he always vowed he would return and do a tour of the country he had helped create.

Now, nearly a half century after leaving, Lafayette was back. While in Massachusetts, he had been complimented on his impeccable English, which he only started to learn as a teenager sailing to North America. Explaining his fluency, he said, "I am an American citizen who has been absent for a time."

If possible, Lafayette's absence had only made American hearts grow fonder. As his carriage rolled into Windsor escorted by Revolutionary War veterans and troops from New Hampshire, people crowded the streets to see him. 

Lafayette addressed the crowd from the balcony of John Pettes' Coffee House, then sat down to breakfast. He was either ravenous from the trip or too polite to mention that he had already eaten breakfast before departing New Hampshire a little more than an hour earlier.

He had no time to linger in Windsor. Over the next day and a half he had appointments to keep across Vermont. He and his entourage, which now included Vermont veterans and troops, had to move at breakneck speed. 

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