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Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship that Saved the Revolution

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This new century of ours has been blessed in these early years with a sudden deluge of excellent books dealing with America's founding years and with the characters involved in creating what can only be described as the "world's greatest and -- so far -- most successful experiment in Constitutional Democratic Republicanism." A few come readily to mind: Stacy Schieff's impressive "A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America"; Darren Staloff's very illuminating "Hamilton, Adams, Jefferson: The Politics of Enlightenment and The American Founding"; Walter Isaacson's intimate portrayal of probably the most fascinating founding father, "Benjamin Franklin: An American Life"; and, of course, David McCullough's recent study of George Washington and the early revolutionary-war days in his stirring "1776."

Now we can add to this list of excellent works another one: David A. Clary's new book, "Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship That Saved the Revolution." Clary documents (and, does he ever document!) the surprisingly intimate relationship between the "father" of our country, the commanding general of the Revolutionary War, with a heritage firmly in the English tradition, and the very young Marquis de Lafayette, a nineteen-year-old wealthy French aristocrat who comes to America, becomes a major general in the Continental Army, and a national hero in both America and in France.

Washington had no sons and Lafayette was an orphan; the confluence of these two situations led to a bond between the two men unheard of in the annals of the American Revolution. Furthermore, this bond of friendship, although frequently interrupted by periods when they were apart in both space and time, continued throughout their lives. The story is essentially a biography of two heroes set within the context of a country's struggle for political independence against the background of a long, exhausting, and almost lost war which was both unconventional and unique. Thanks to the author's narrative style, the story is never dull and is, in my opinion, as close to a "thriller" as any work of nonfiction can become.

One of the engaging features of Clary's book is the publication of many of the personal letters exchanged between Washington and Lafayette, as well as correspondence and conversations between some of the other characters who played an important part in this American drama, such as John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton. Some of the language of these letters will likely raise the eyebrows of the contemporary reader. For instance: Laurens, Hamilton, and Lafayette, says the author, "wrote gushy letters to each other. Hamilton routinely addressed Laurens as 'my dear' and vowed his 'love'." Then Clary goes on to explain: "Such language was usual in their time, the age of 'Sentiment.' Letter writing was almost a sport and flowery talk was the norm, especially for young fellows burning with passions for war and politics." Much of the correspondence between Washington and Lafayette also expresses this type of language.

Moreover, Clary evidently feels compelled to explain this phenomenon further. In footnote 46, he states this regarding the "flowery" language of the various correspondents: "Taking such language out of context, modern minds think it homosexual, a term coined in the 1890s. It was not a burning issue in the eighteenth century, as it is today, and it is a fallacy to apply the attitudes of the present to the context of the past." Clary is quite correct about this. I don't know whether the concern here, however, is the fact that our spoken and written language has become increasingly banal and less colorful, or whether it is an emotional problem associated with our current concepts regarding "manliness" and "proper" male behavior. Feminists, though, might take note that it apparently wasn't impossible for "manly" heroes in the 18th century to express their innermost feelings toward their male comrades and do so in "flowery" language. Maybe there's a message here or, in the long run, maybe it doesn't matter at all.

There is no question that General George Washington was exactly the right man in the right place for a task that many thought impossible. I suggest that the teenage Marquis de Lafayette was exactly the right youth in the right place for the right leader fighting for America's independence from England. According to ordinary standards, I suspect, they may be judged unlikely friends and comrades; which may tell us something about how our ordinary standards so often fail us. But now the tale of these two historical personalities and the intimate relationship between them has finally been told. The psychological interplay between the two men, the trust they had in each other, the experiences they shared together, this is the stuff that makes great biography. And Clary pulls it off handily. Not a dull moment in the telling.

This is not a book to merely read and enjoy. It is also a valuable research tool for the student of American history. Clary is to be commended for providing a wide variety of resources outside of the main text, which itself includes a Prologue, fifteen chapters, an "Envoi" and an Afterward. There are fifty-seven illustrations, seven maps, a "Cast of Characters" (running six pages, each entry having a short description regarding his or her significance within the story), sixty-five pages of extremely helpful notes, a "Chronology of Washington and Lafayette" (eleven pages) which runs from 1732 to 1834, a bibliography (nineteen pages) which includes archival and museum collections, published original sources, books and reports, periodicals, and dissertations and, finally, a comprehensive index of both major topics, sub-topics and details. What more could the student researcher ask for?

I now submit that David Clary's "Adopted Son" is "must-reading" for those interested in American history, which should, of course, include all American citizens; but I am, alas, a realist and acknowledge the minority status of this position. That being said, I highly recommend this book to all readers, even those who don't think they're interested in reading American history. This is the book that may change any reader's mind.

This beautifully written book vies with the best novels of our time for the ability to engross a reader. It's one of the best examples of writing I've ever seen. Most authors are either good with style or good with the mechanics, but Clary is clearly a master of both.

The unusually high quality of the writing led me to think perhaps he was weak on fact. That's not the case, though, as you can see after reading through the nearly 20 pages of biography and nearly 100 pages of backnotes. The detailed chronology also shows the writer's devotion to getting his facts right.

And the facts he dug up are amazing. Far from a dry recitation of events, Clary's narrative delves deeply inside the minds of Lafayette and Washington. We see not just what made them great historical figures, but what made them human. Gone are the stereotypes and cardboard characters often presented in historical accounts. This book doesn't follow the "good guys vs. bad guys" formula. It shows the complex interaction of these men with each other and with others. It also shows their failings, insecurities, and weaknesses.

In an age where authors typically have a personal agenda and cherry pick facts to fit it, Clary's work stands out. His only agenda is to help us understand two great historical figures through an undistorted lens.

Clary's nimble use of excerpts from personal letters gives the kind of insight that historical texts should provide, but seldom do. He also provides explanation where needed. For example, letters of that time used saccharin language that we don't use today. It would be easy to misconstrue what's actually being conveyed, but Clary provides enough background so the reader doesn't get confused.

The riveting account of Lafayette's wife Adrienne's efforts in France during and after the French Revolution was nail-biting material in itself, but Clary wove that into the larger narrative. She profoundly changed Lafayette, and we see this not through a disinterested historical narrator but through Lafayette's own eyes.

Personally, I've always enjoyed the subject of history. Consequently, I consider myself knowledgeable in the subject. When I saw the cover of this book, I thought, "Well, yeah, I've heard of Lafayette. There are many American cities named after him and he did something in the American Revolution. But he was a friend of Washington's? Nah, that must be hyperbole." The idea of reading this book intrigued me, because I thought the author must be making some obscure connection and I wanted to see what his leap of logic was. As it turns out, my historical education was lacking. Especially about Washington and Lafayette.

I'm going to offer the excuse that the available information sources tend to frustrate the casual student of history. Figuring out what went on in a given period or with a given historical figure has often been a choice between suffering through boring academic tomes (with their passive voice and other distractions) and a decently-written book with errors of fact. Occasionally, I've come across a book that's readable and accurate, making it a good historical book . But this book is way beyond merely "good."

If we start seeing Adopted Son in our public schools, kids will want to know more about history instead of considering study of the subject on par with getting teeth pulled. But instead of memorizing dates of battles and events in the American Revolution, they'll understand two key people behind those battles and events. And maybe they'll want to study other historical periods. If this way of studying history catches on, we may yet have hope that we will learn from history instead of being doomed to repeat it.

In the same way James Michener taught us about Hawaii and Texas with his page turners, so Clary has given us a "can't put it down" way to learn about Washington, Lafayette, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution.

Clary has just raised the bar for today's nonfiction authors. If authors of history books rise to the challenge, they will unleash a new genre that will capture popular attention for generations to come.

In an age when we talk about 'freedom fries" as opposed to frech fries, one should read this book. You will get a true, concise picture of just how much we owe to the French during the Revolution!

The book is thoroughly researched and will keep your interest chapter to chapter. As a history teacher, I can honestly say that I actually learned inportant information from this book that will benefit the students in my classes.

A truly materfully written book that will not dissapoint the reader!!

As a practitioner of the craft of narrative history--that is, history for the lay reader that wins praise from academia--I can hardly add to the encomiums of the preceding reviewers. This book indeed captures both Lafayette and Washington, together with all their associates, in terms that make them real people rather than names on the page. Clary's skill at characterization is matched by his mastery of crisp, readable prose; of his characters and their interaction; of the dynamics and progress of the American Revolution; of the 18th-century French environment that shaped the young marquis; and of the manifold original sources and their balanced interpretation. I knew something of the Revolution, but I had no idea what a bond of affection, effusively poured out in frequent and very long letters, united the American commander and the youth of twenty whom he made a major general. This is history at its best, highly recommended to lay and academic readers. -- Robert M. Utley

As a political journalist, I usually grow disinterested in history books sent for my review long before I finish them. Adopted Son is different. David Clary's writing style is not that of a historian even though he provides more than the usual amount of tools for the historical researcher.

Clary's narrative reads more like a novel, full of action, love and passion. This is the first time I have seen George Washington humanized. I knew he must be more than the stern,old general, as he is typically portrayed. Adopted Son gave me the total Washington. Finally, I can connect with the Father of Our Country.

My wife was quite surprised when I recommended Adopted Son to her. She sticks mainly to light recreational reading. But she got into this one fast and was genuinely moved by it. She hopes Clary continues along the same line in future books.

I'm recommending this one far and wide.

September 6, 2007 is the 350th anniversary of the birth of the Marquis de Lafayette. It is certain to be celebrated in grand style in France. It is uncertain, however, whether the Marquis, a citizen of America, will get the recognition he so richly deserves from the country he helped liberate.

"It is impossible to imagine the American Revolution turning out the way it did without either Washington or Lafayette," writes author and historian David A. Clary. "Lafayette contributed the weight of his native country to Washington's struggle, along with his own fortune....He deserves the credit for the decision to send more money and supplies, an army and navy [from France] to America. The alliance was a difficult one...but it tipped the balance of the war."

Clary's "Adopted Son" is a detailed and insightful look into the life of Michel-Louis-Christophe-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. This amazing man, appointed a Major-General in the Continental Army, devoted himself fully to Washington and the American cause and was instrumental in the overthrow of the British in the colonies and his own king in France.

Clary's book is not only tremendously well written, but also richly illustrated. When describing the close relationship between George Washington and his "adopted son", the language is tender and moving.

When he was buried in France, soil from Bunker Hill was placed on Lafayette's grave so that America would always have a claim on him.

The friendship and professional military collaboration of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette is a commonplace of American historical scholarship. Most historians doubt that the disorganized and inexperienced Continental army could have won the war without the help of Lafayette and the aid that he coaxed from the French government.

David A. Clary, who teaches at Eastern New Mexico University, has set forth the whole story in engrossing detail in this book. His portrait of Washington does not stray far from the marble-statue heroic figure we have known all these years, but his Lafayette will surprise many. Driven by dreams of military glory from his childhood in the Auvergne region of France, orphaned early in life, married at 16 and prematurely wealthy, he arrived in America a young upstart with "more money than sense" and set out to learn the American way of war from Washington, his senior by 25 years.

It turned out that the learning flowed both ways. Lafayette's passionate hatred of slavery infected Washington fully as much as Washington's ideas about warfare influenced him.

Lafayette was a quick study. He learned from Washington that when you command a small, ill-trained, poorly equipped and undisciplined army against a powerful foe, you play a cat-and-mouse game, avoiding large-scale battles, chasing your foe around, nipping at his heels, wearing him down. Lafayette applied this lesson brilliantly, first against Lord Cornwallis in New Jersey, and triumphantly later against the same general in Virginia. It was Lafayette's mobile hit-and-run harassment that finally led Cornwallis into the fatal trap at Yorktown, effectively ending the war.

But military tactics are not the main thrust of Clary's story. He concentrates on his two main characters, perhaps even too much so, filling his book with page after page of the mushy letters that passed between them protesting their eternal admiration for each other in flowery prose. The French "boy general" must have been one of the most prolific letter-writers of all time; Clary says more than 30,000 of his letters are known. The acreage of them in his book can be a bit wearying.

Clary does bring a lively writing style and much thorough research to his task. We read of Lafayette "blowing his own horn," and having a "ringside seat" for battle, as well as being in "the royal doghouse" back home in France. There are also vastly entertaining physical descriptions and character sketches of an enormous supporting cast, American, French and British. His portrait of the German general Von Steuben, another Washington ally, stands out as a tiny gem. Knowing no English, Von Steuben was at pains to learn how to cuss at his troops in English. The first English word he learned was "goddam," and he would call upon aides to swear for him in English when the right oath was not at his tongue's tip. I'll bet you never learned that in high school history class.

With the war over, Clary follows Lafayette back to France just as his country was entering the horror chamber of the 1789 revolution. He was a national hero to the French people, but his sympathy for the despised royal family set the mob howling for his head and thrust him into prison. He was lucky to escape with his life. Clary concludes that even in maturity Lafayette acted with the impulsive rashness that Washington was never quite able to understand or control. He came back to America for a last reunion with his adored Washington, and on this side of the Atlantic he remains a venerated hero to this day, though he never made it onto our paper money.

--- Reviewed by Robert Finn [...]

The book is an engaging story about the historic friendship between Washington and a young Lafayette. Lafayette was a rich, 19 year old French aristocrat without military experience who lusting for glory came to America of his own accord and volunteered to be a General under Washington. Congress, in its desire to attract French support for the war, appointed Lafayette a major general in the American Army within 50 days of his arrival and without Washington's consent. Washington upon meeting Lafayette is so taken by his boyish charm and magnetic personality that his made him an aide-de-camp without a military command and serving without pay. Washington had no son and Lafayette had no father and they naturally gravitated toward one another. The book centers on the relationship between Washington and Lafayette, but provides pungent insights into the forlorn struggle for American independence. It is less insightful about Lafayette's true contribution to America's war for independence. What the book does give is an entirely different view of the war. About 20 percent of the colonists, called Tories, remained loyal to Britain and would not help the revolution. Approximately half the colonists tried to avoid involvement in the struggle. They would not sell food or give shelter. Patriots were hardly more supportive; they demanded hard money which Washington did not have. The U.S. Congress was not much better. It was a quarrelsome mob with the fractious state governments unwilling and unable to provide money while the troops were starving. Soldiers lack tents, blankets, shoes and clothing. Many solders did not even have guns; they had to wait for someone to die to get a gun. This was not just for one winter at Valley Forge (at Valley Forge 2,500 men (out of 10,000) died from hunger, disease, and exposure.). The suffering went on for 5 years. General Greene said of the situation, "A country overflowing with plenty are now suffering an army, employed for the defense of everything that is dear and valuable, to perish for want of food". "We were absolutely liberally starved;--I so solemnly declare that I did not put a single morsel of victuals into my mouth for four days." "The only reason the whole army did not desert was because the roads were buried in snow". He was not talking about Valley Forge, but the winters of 1776-7 and 1779-80.

Washington was not a great battlefield general. What he did was hang on for 5 long years until the French navy came into the war and blockaded British reinforcements and supplies and they were eventually forced to surrender. Washington's great contribution was to keep the army intact, suppress the Loyalists; and avoid defeat. Lafayette's great military accomplishment was to aid in bringing the French into the war, although major credit must go to Benjamin Franklin. Following the war, Lafayette was a national hero in France, but never lived up to his early promise since in maturity Lafayette continued to act with the impulsive rashness of his youth.

The major focus of this book is Lafayette and paints an intriguing picture of a brave young man longing for glory. By studying Washington, he learned to be a good general and contributed to several battles. I found the book interesting if for no other reason than to learn about Lafayette, who is so famous in America. If the book has a negative part it is too much focus on the numerous Lafayette letters.

Despite the over dramatic title, David A. Clary's ADOPTED SON: WASHINGTON, LAFAYETTE, AND THE FRIENDSHIP THAT SAVED THE REVOLUTION is an exceptional account of the father and son relationship between George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette during the most tumultuous periods in American and French history. It is a detailed transatlantic narrative that takes readers from the aristocratic tendons of France to the revolutionary battlefields of Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

Through letters and documents, Clary shows the roots and foundation of the United States. The narrative is rich with historical accounts and derivatives, Lafayette's family origins as well as the town in which he lived that is international and regional in nature; in particular, Clary's research delves into Virginia history, the battles at Brandywine and Yorktown where Washington and Lafayette developed and honed and complemented each leadership skills. In addition, Clary parallels the French Revolution and the events happening in France to the framework of the US Constitution, which ties in with Lafayette's adoption of political and diplomatic thought, which he experiences in the United States and utilized with great fecundity at an attempt to maintain law and order in his chaotic France. At times the book reads similarly like a novel because of the ornate language that is displayed in the letters that Lafayette and Washington exchanged to each other as well as the ones between Lafayette and his wife, Adrienne, but overall, the passages are engaging.

One of the highlights of the book is its layout. There are beautiful portraits of each notable participant that Washington and Lafayette encountered during this revolutionary period, such as several of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Adams, which was painted by one of the notable artists of the period, C.W. Peale. And the most impressive aspect about ADOPTED SON is the reference section of the book that cite the sources, notes, the bibliographical and archival information, and the chronology of historical events that relate to Washington and Lafayette.

After reading ADOPTED SON, readers may be enticed to learn more about Lafayette as well as view George Washington in a different light as a mentor and a father figure. The book draws along the lines as sentimental, but always reverent towards two of the monumental figures in history. Indeed, this is a book that reminds serious history readers how democracy affected the rest of the world.

This volume is beautifully researched history marred by a poor writing style that makes it difficult to read. While I appreciated, and in fact enjoyed the fact that the letters written by Washington, Lafayette and others are presented as they were originally written (and in the case of Lafayette's letters written in English having the misspellings and grammatical errors one would expect from one new to the language) the author's seemingly compulsive use of broken-up partial quotations hinders the book's general readability.
Also somewhat disconcerting and inconsistent with the beautiful, flowery and colorful 18th Century prose is the author's use of modern colloquialisms and idioms such as "As Lafayette heaved his guts over the gunwale, his family calmed down. Adrienne and her mother prevailed upon d'Ayen to cut the boy some slack" or "When a visitor had returned from Europe showed up at Mount Vernon in November, Washington grilled him about Lafayette and was told he was safe in Hamburg."
Referring to stories published or told about Lafayette's imprisonment at Olmutz, the author states that "Schmaltz flowed thick and sticky" and referring to Louis-Philippe's appointment of Lafayette to the National Guard Clary sarcastically writes "He made Lafayette the commander of the National Guard of the Realm, a symbolic role but one that justified a trip to the tailors for a custom uniform."
The factual content and the wonderful portraits contained in the book make this volume a worthy acquisition and read, but its readability and enjoyment are hurt by the writing style.