- LAFAYETTE PLAQUE
- Located near the Lafayette
Monument in the town square, LaGrange, Ga.
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- (text)
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- LAFAYETTE
Born at the Chateau de Chavaniac,
Auvergne, France, on September 6, 1757, Gilbert Motier de Lafayette
became at age 19 a major general on George Washington's staff.
He played a vital role in the defeat of General Charles Cornwallis
at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, ending the American Revolution.
Later in France Lafayette was commanding
general of the National Guard. Leader in the movement that gave
France a republican form of government, author of the Declaration
of the Rights of Man, and designer of the "Cocarde of Liberty"
which he holds in his hand.
LaGrange, Georgia, was named for
Lafayette's home, the Chateau de LaGrange, on motion of Julius
C. Alford, when this city was chartered on December 16, 1828,
honoring Lafayette, who crossed the Chattahoochee below LaGrange
on March 30, 1825.
This statue of Lafayette is an
exact copy of the original by Ernest-Eugene Hiolle (1834-1886)
that stands in Le Puy, Auvergne, France. It was cast by American
sculptor Harry Jackson at his Wyoming Foundry Studies, Camaiore,
Italy, in 1974.
Permission to cast the statue was
granted by May Célestin Quincieu and the City Council
of Le Puy. It is the property of LaGrange College, on permanent
loan to the city of LaGrange.
The statue and renovation of fountain
are gifts of Callaway Foundation, Inc.
1975
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