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The Marquis de Lafayette, a major general during the Revolutionary War, was invited by Congress to visit the United States as the guest of the nation. His visit, during the years 1824 and 1825, remains an unparalleled American journey. Lafayette arrived in New York in August 1824 and over the next six months toured New England and the middle states, where the superior roads made for relatively easy travel. In February, when he took his “Triumphal Tour” to the South, Lafayette quickly became acquainted with the difficulties of travel and life on the frontier.
Lafayette’s first overnight stop in North Carolina was to be at Murfreesboro on February 26, 1825. Townspeople had gotten word of the honor just the day prior. Within sight of the town, the horses and carriage that carried the General became so mired in the mud that members of the party feared they would have to camp by the roadside overnight. At length freed from the mire, Lafayette’s entourage arrived in Murfreesboro in time to receive visitors and dine on a late supper at the Indian Queen Inn. On the morning of the 27th, Lafayette left the Indian Queen Inn about 11:00 A.M. and traveled about twenty miles to Northampton Court House (now the town of Jackson) where he was received by the official state welcoming committee. With fifty years having passed since the Revolution which brought him to America, Lafayette’s tour inspired the citizens of Murfreesboro, indeed the whole country, by reviving patriotic feelings that had begun to dissipate.
References:
E. J. Hale, “Monsieur Le Marquis De La Fayette,” North Carolina Booklet, vol. I, no. 8 (December 10, 1901)
Edgar Ewing Brandon, A Pilgrimage of Liberty (1944)
WPTF Radio Station, “Lafayette’s Visit to North Carolina,” Tar Heel Tales, number 6 (1945)
Auguste Levasseur, Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825: or, Journal of a Voyage to the United States (1829)
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