A while back I ordered a book called Adopted Son: Lafayette, Washington, and the Friendship that Saved the Revolution. I’d seen excerpts from it quoted on tumblr, and it sounded like an adorable book. It was, and it made me cry. So I would definitely recommend it to others.
Since before Hamilton made it to Broadway, I’ve started becoming more interested in American revolutionary war-era history. I didn’t used to like American history at all, being more into European stuff. I can’t explain why the shift took place, but this is where I am now. The problem is, I have less access to books about American history now, as I don’t live in America. So my reading material has to be planned in advance.
I ordered Adopted Son and then forgot I had done so. When it arrived it felt like Christmas. Then my dad told me about the concerning circumstances surrounding the package it came in.
When we order things online, we have them shipped to my gandparents’ house, and every once in a while my grandparents ship us a package with everything in it. My book came in the same package as one my mom ordered, about the history of Cocaine. The UAE is very strict about drugs of any kind, and have sent someone to jail for having a marijuana seed on the bottom of their shoe.
So, when my dad was picking up the package and had to open it for the employee there to examine its contents, this guy could have made a fuss about the cocaine book. He picked it up first, glanced at it, and set it aside.
He picked up this book about George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, and had to examine it closely. According to my dad, he flipped through the whole thing, examined the pictures, and read random passages. I can’t even guess what could be so dangerous about Washington and Lafayette’s relationship, but I was excited to find out.
I wasn’t disappointed. Their relationship really was dangerous, at least to the British. Lafayette very quickly attached himself to America and became absolutely devoted to George Washington. Because of this, while he was back in France, he did every obnoxious thing possible to convince France to send America financial and military aid. It worked. If he hadn’t, the war might not have turned out the way it did. And this is to say nothing of the help he gave America through his military leadership. He wasn’t a very experienced military commander when he came over at 19, but he learned quickly, and by the end of the war was an important and trusted general.
The premise of the book is that Washington and Lafayette essentially adopted each other as father and son, being childless and fatherless, respectively. This isn’t much of a stretch, since they referred to each other as such in various correspondences. They obviously had a very strong relationship, and it was a joy to read about. I’m now very attached to Lafayette. He probably loved America more than I do, and was also a very staunch abolitionist. All in all he seems like he was a great guy.
The story of me crying isn’t actually that exciting, and is honestly kind of embarrassing. I knew what year Washington died in, so it wasn’t like I wasn’t expecting it. And the day before I’d read this article, a detailed account of the process of Washington’s death, and it was rough. But really, reading about George Washington dying in this book only made me tear up. I didn’t start actually crying until Lafayette’s wife’s death.
If I became endeared to Lafayette as I read this book, the same is true to almost the same degree for his wife. Adrienne fell in love with her husband immediately, and it took him some time to realize how wonderful and amazing she was. He didn’t deserve her. She handled a lot of his financial affairs and his property, and when he was imprisoned during the French Revolution, she worked tirelessly to have him freed. Despite this, her efforts didn’t amount to much, so eventually she petitioned to be allowed to join her husband in prison, along with her daughters. She willingly went to a notoriously terrible prison and spun it as the reuniting of two star-crossed lovers to drum up support for the Lafayette family.
It was apparent by December 25 that Adrienne was near death. The family assembled, and a priest delivered the last rites. Lafayette held her hand throughout the day. “What joy! How happy I am to belong to you!” she told him near the end. Then she breathed her last. “Je suis toute a vous” (I am entirely yours), she said, and then said no more.
Cue tears. Thanks, Mr. Clary.
I have a couple of questions for him, actually, so if I can find his contact information you might hear more on that. Otherwise, have a happy new year.
Daisy M. Hall 