Marquis de Lafayette

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Telling her wife back in France that "the happiness of all mankind is ultimately connected with the welfare of America," the 19-year-old Marquis de Lafayette rushed to fight for liberty in early 1777. He seized his moment of glory during the Yorktown campaign, cutting off General Cornwallis's escape route and earning a hero's praise. A grateful Virginia legislature commissioned a statue in his honor, and Lafayette is seen here proudly wearing the uniform of a major general in the Continental army, displaying the badge of the Order of the Cincinnati, a fraternal society that united Washington's officers under one banner.