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Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Fast Fredonia Frenzy

By Chris Carosa on May 7, 2024

The trot to Fredonia was anything but quick. The Buffalo and Erie Road turned out to be less “finished” than Joseph Ellicott had hoped. André-Nicolas Levasseur, one of Lafayette’s traveling party who would eventually publish an extensive journal of the General’s American Farewell Tour, went out of his way to point out the poor condition of the Main road between “Portland” (a.k.a. “Westfield”) and Fredonia.

“On leaving Portland,” wrote Levasseur, “yielding to the fatigue of the preceding days, we were sleeping in the carriage notwithstanding the violent jolting occasioned by the trunks of the trees forming the road over which we were rapidly passing.”¹

Ellicott had rather strict guidelines for those he hired to clear roads, especially when it Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Fast Fredonia Frenzy”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Abell Tavern, Andre-Nicolas Levasseur, Buffalo and Erie Road, Capt. Brown, Capt. Whitcomb, David Brown, David J. Matteson, Doctor Crosby, Dunkirk, Fredonia, John M. Edson, Joseph Ellicott, Lafayette, Main Road, Mosley Abell, Obed Edson, Olive Risley Seward, Portland, Sinclairville, Westfield

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Gaslighting The General

By Chris Carosa on May 7, 2024

Previous: Special Delivery To Westfield, A Fitting First

The first week of June in 1925 saw unusually warm temperatures across the northeast.¹ Nearby Jamestown had record-breaking highs in the low 90s.² You can imagine the temperature on Main Street in Fredonia at 2:45 in the afternoon on Thursday, June 4. Still, the crowds came. So many, in fact, that the village had to redirect traffic away from the primary road running through its downtown.³

The ceremony was spear-headed and organized by the Benjamin Prescott chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Citizens marched down the flag-decorated streets and assembled to see the unveiling of a new marker dedicated to memorializing two major events in this small rural community.⁴ One hundred years to the day earlier, General Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Gaslighting The General”

Posted in History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged A.J. Gardiner, Abell Tavern, Andre-Nicolas Levasseur, Arthur R. Maytum, Benjamin Prescott, Buffalo Bills, Canadaway creek, Clarence Cato, Claude R. Dye, DAR, Daughters of the American Revolution, Duck Soup, Edith Gardiner, first natural gas well, Fredonia, Fredonia Normal School, Freedonia, Groucho Marx, Harriet Ross, Howard G. Burdge, Lafayette, Mrs. Charles White Nash, natural gas, Walter A. Henricks, William A. Hart, William L. Hart

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Special Delivery To Westfield, A Fitting First

By Chris Carosa on April 30, 2024

Previous: The Making Of The Buffalo And Erie Road

Was Lafayette supposed to depart Erie by land or by sea? As late as May 31, 1825, organizers in Erie, Pennsylvania tried to arrange steamboat accommodations for the General. The ship was to convey the Nation’s Guest from Erie directly to Buffalo.¹

Confusion reigned over Lafayette’s exact itinerary. You see, he had promised to attend the dedication ceremonies for the Bunker Hill Monument on the anniversary date of that battle. That meant he had to be in Boston by June 17^th. Initial reports said he would not visit Western New York until after laying the cornerstone on the Bunker Hill Monument.² The newspaper corrected this misinformation the following week, just a day before Lafayette would cross the state line into Chautauqua County.³

What firmed Lafayette’s travel plans? Olive Risley Seward’s grandfather commanded the militia for the Lafayette reception in Fredonia. In addition, her then eleven-year-old father and nine-year-old mother also attended—and remembered—Lafayette’s 1825 visit to Fredonia. Based on the stories from her family, she wrote the following in 1904: “An Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Special Delivery To Westfield, A Fitting First”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Buffalo, Buffalo and Erie Road, Bunker Hill Monument, Chautauqua, Chautauqua County, Dunkirk, E.L. Tinker, E.P. Upham, Ellery, Erie, Fenn Demming, Fredonia, Henry Abell, John Dexter, Jonathan Cass, Joseph Farnsworth, Joshua R. Babcock, L. Averill, Lafayette, Main Road, Olive Risley Seward, Oliver Lee, Portland, Ripley, Samuel Shattuck, Silas Spencer, State Line, T.A. Osborne, Thomas B. Campbell, U.S. Route 20, Walter Smith, Westfield, William Peacock

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The Making Of The Buffalo And Erie Road

By Chris Carosa on April 30, 2024

Previous: Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The State Of Greater Western New York In 1825

At the turn of the 19^th century, a dense forest covered the southwest corner of New York State—what is now Chautauqua County. A rough trail that followed the Lake Erie shore represented the only visible evidence of human occupation. Except for what appeared to be remnants of a chimney right on the lake.¹ The trail was brutal. Settlers journeying to Connecticut’s lands in the future state of Ohio preferred to take the water route over Lake Erie from Black Rock, just off Buffalo Creek.²

That chimney might well have been the ruins of what Sir William Johnson described as a Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The Making Of The Buffalo And Erie Road”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Allegheny River, Barcelona, Black Rock, Buffalo, Buffalo and Erie Road, Buffalo Creek, Chautauqua County, Chautauqua Creek, Chautauqua Lake, Connecticut, Connecticut Fire Lands, Connecticut Land Company, Connecticut Reserve, Cross Roads, David Ellicott, Edward McHenry, Edward Paine, Ellicott Road, Erie, Erie Road, France, French and Indian War, Genesee County, George Washington, Holland Land Company, Holland Land Purchase, Iroquois Confederacy, James De Lancey, James McMahan, Joseph Badger, Joseph Ellicott, Lafayette, Lake Erie, Main Road, Marquis Duquesne, Mayville, New Connecticut, New England, New France, Niagara County, Ohio River, Old French Road, Ontario County, Paine's Road, Pittsburgh, Portage Escarpment, Portage Road, Portland, Presqu'isle, Route 18, Route 20, Route 5, Samuel Shattuck, Seneca, settlers, Sir William Johnson, Stephen Coffen, Western Reserve, Westfield

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The State Of Greater Western New York In 1825

By Chris Carosa on April 23, 2024

Previous: Lafayette Prepares To Enter The Greater Western New York Region

WNY portion of 1825 map published by H.S. Tanner, 177 Chestnut St. Philadelphia.

Remember how excited you were when you began a new school year, started a new job, or moved to a new place? Life fills you with promise and anticipation. You can’t wait to wake up and start the next day. Everything is sunshine and roses.

Then reality inevitably interrupts. Things get overwhelming. Despair and sometimes desperation set in. It seems as if you’re trapped. You can’t see a way out.

But, somehow, you find a way. You get over that hump. (Because, when you get over things, what once seemed like an overbearing mountain now appears as nothing more than a mere bothersome bump.)

Again, you look forward to tomorrow with an enthusiasm you thought you’d never again have.

Such was the state of Greater Western New York. It began as an enthusiastic rush into the Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: The State Of Greater Western New York In 1825”

Posted in History, Western New York State of Mind Tagged Aaron Miller, Batavia, Black Rock, Britain, Buffalo, Byron, Canada, Canandaigua, E.F. Warren, Erie Canal, Genesee Country, Geneva, Herkimer, Indonesia, Iroquois Confederacy, John Butler, Joseph Ellicott, Lafayette, lease, Lessees, Massachusetts, Mount Tambora, New York, New York Genesee Land Company, Niagara Falls, Niagara Genesee Land Company, Ontario, Orsamus Turner, Otsego, Phelps & Gorham, Phelps and Gorham, Preemption Line, Revolutionary War, Rochester, Seneca, Six Nations, Tioga, Treaty of Hartford, War of 1812, Warren

Lafayette On The Folly Of Tolerance

By Chris Carosa on April 9, 2024

James Madison served as the fourth President of the United States from 1809 to 1817, immediately preceding James Monroe. History textbooks refer to him as the “Father of the Constitution” as he acted as the driving force in drafting both the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

A short three years prior to that seminal event, Madison traveled from Baltimore to Fort Stanwix to negotiate with the Iroquois Confederacy. Accompanying him was a young French general and a protégé of George Washington. That would be the Marquis de Lafayette.

This chance meeting formed what would become a lifelong bond between the two men. Very early on, Madison recognized Lafayette’s affinity with the American Indians, as well as Continue Reading “Lafayette On The Folly Of Tolerance”

Posted in Gray Matter Musings, History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged André-Nicolas Lavassuer, commonality, Fort Stanwix, George Washington, Iroquois, Iroquois Confederacy, James Madison, James Monroe, Lafayette, liberty, Thomas Jefferson, tolerance

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Lafayette Prepares To Enter The Greater Western New York Region

By Chris Carosa on March 19, 2024

Previous: Overview Of His 1824-1825 American Visit (Part II)

The sun rose the morning of Friday, June 3, 1825, at 4:05am local time in Waterford, Pennsylvania.¹ Lafayette had two weeks—14 days—to travel 550 miles and visit almost two dozen towns and villages before the June 17^th dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston. He was determined to meet every community he promised to visit. Speed was of the essence.

But he couldn’t show it. At least not in a too obvious way.

Roughly three hours after the break of dawn, at about 7 o’clock, Lafayette’s party left Waterford for the seat of the County, Erie, Pennsylvania.² Though technically still in the Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Lafayette Prepares To Enter The Greater Western New York Region”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Andrew Ellicott, Battle of Lake Erie, Boston, Bunker Hill Monument, Captain Budd, cessation, cessions, Daniel Dobbins, Erie, Erie Triangle, French, General B. Wallace, Genesee Country, George Washington, Joseph Ellicott, Judah Colt, Lafayette, Lake Erie, Levasseur, Massachusetts, New York, Oliver Hazard Perry, Pennsyvalnia, Presqu' Isle, Revolutionary War, Rochester, War of 1812, Waterford

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Overview Of His 1824-1825 American Visit (Part II)

By Chris Carosa on March 12, 2024

Previous: Overview Of His 1824-1825 American Visit (Part I)

Marquis de Lafayette commemerative announcing, “The Nation’s Guest. In Commemoration of the Magnanimous and Illustrious Lafayette’s Visit to the United States of North America in the Forty-Ninth Year of Her Independence,” Perkins and Scheffer (1825). Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Once again, only this time with greater speed, Lafayette marched through Virginia. That did not mean Lafayette didn’t have spare time for the local folk. Levasseur provides the following anecdote from a few miles outside of Norfolk, Virginia. It expresses the feelings for the General shared by almost every American during his tour:

“We were sitting in our carriage when the landlord presented himself, asked to see the general, and eagerly pressed him to alight for a moment and come into his house. ‘If,’ said he, ‘you have only five minutes to stay, do not refuse them, since to me they will be so many minutes of happiness.’ The general yielded to his entreaty, and we followed him into a lower room, where we observed a plainness bordering on poverty, but a remarkable degree of cleanliness. Welcome Lafayette, was inscribed with charcoal upon the white wall, enwreathed with boughs from the fir trees of the neighbouring wood. Near the fire-place, where pine wood was crackling, stood a small table covered with a very clean Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Overview Of His 1824-1825 American Visit (Part II)”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Andrew Jackson, Baron de Kalb, Battle of Camden, boat sinking, Brandywine, George Washington, Grand Lodge of South Carolina, James Madison, Lafayette, mason, New Orleans, Pulaski, Revolutionary War, veterans, William Clark

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Overview Of His 1824-1825 American Visit (Part I)

By Chris Carosa on March 5, 2024

Previous: Why Lafayette?

“The spirits of the defenders of the American liberty are visiting him during his passage, the genu protectors of America drive away the storms,” Moreau and Dubouloz (1825). Source: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

When Lafayette arrived at the harbor in New York, he came with two traveling companions. They would remain with him for the entire journey. During this excursion, they would witness and experience the raw emotion of the reunion between old friends.

The most prominent of Lafayette’s party was his son, Georges Washington Louis Gilbert de La Fayette. Contemporary American newspaper accounts refer to him as “George Washington Lafayette.” This makes sense, given the patriotic zeal that enveloped the country.

Lafayette’s son was born on Christmas Eve 1779. This was the year Lafayette was Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Overview Of His 1824-1825 American Visit (Part I)”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Andre-Nicolas Levasseur, Ben Franklin, Bunker Hill Monument, French Revolution, George Washington, George Washington Lafayette, Harvard, James Madison, John Adams, John Jay, Lafayette, Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson, Yale, Yorktown

Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Why Lafayette?

By Chris Carosa on February 27, 2024

Previous: America Welcomes The Nation’s Guest

Lafayette (right) and Washington at Valley Forge. By John Ward Dunsmore (1907)

America stood poised on the cusp of celebrating the golden anniversary of its birth as a nation. With all the rising patriotism came a burst of nostalgia. America’s first and greatest generation—the heroes of the Revolutionary War—were fast leaving their mortal coil. The heirs of that founding cohort desperately wanted one last chance to hear the tales of that victory from those that were there.

Of all the people they might select to focus on, why choose a Frenchman born to the aristocracy?

Well, for one thing, his life story shows he had long ago shorn off the mantle of gentry. Indeed, he not only had the physical scars of Brandywine to prove it, he also had the Continue Reading “Lafayette’s Farewell Tour: Why Lafayette?”

Posted in History, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Brandywine, Colonel Marinus Willet, Continental Army, Cornwallis, French Revolution, George Washington, Lafayette, Monmouth, Olmutz, Revolutionary War, Virginia, von Steuben, Yorktown