General Lafayette’s Last Visit

The Stories We Tell

By David Wright
Town Historian

The Marquis de Lafayette (General Lafayette) in 1780 crossed the river on the ferry to meet with General Washington in Stratford.  On his triumphal tour of the United States in 1824, bound for the dedication of the Bunker Hill Monument, he was escorted with ceremony across the Washington (Devon) bridge named after his old commander.

General Lafayette was a much-loved and revered person in the Town of Stratford.  When he first visited Stratford in 1780, he was escorted to Benjamin’s Tavern (which stood on the southeast corner of West Broad Street and Beardsley Avenue) by Alice Benjamin.  Alice was the daughter of the innkeeper Benjamin.

Alice, who lived to nearly 100 years of age, was only a child when Lafayette and George Washington met in Stratford, but it was the most outstanding memory of Alice’s long life.

“She related that she and some other children were picking berries on the bank of the Housatonic when they heard a cry that some soldiers were crossing the river.  They ran to see what was happening.  As the boat came to land, for there was no bridge across the river at the time, the ferryman called to Alice to escort General Lafayette to her father’s inn.

As she walked beside the General’s horse, she said, he told her of his own children in France and asked her if she would like’ to come to visit them.  When they reached the inn, they found that Washington was already there, having come overland from the west.  The pair of historic loaders decided to dine right there.

UNPREPARED for such an occasion, Mrs. Benjamin started to apologize for the lack of fine foods, but Washington waved her protestations aside.

“What’s good enough for your family is good enough for me,” Washington is quoted by Mrs. Thompson. 

Potatoes were a rarity in those times, but it happened that there, were a few in the Benjamin’s cellar, and these were duly prepared for the honored guests.  When it came time to serve this “fancy” dish, Alice was awarded the honor of bringing it to the table.

As she carried the platter to the humble table, she stepped between the two great men.  As her mother was about to reprove her, Washington stopped Alice and talked with her for a few minutes, ending by giving her his blessing.” (The Stratford News, February 19, 1959).  

When Lafayette returned to Stratford forty-four years later, he was greeted with a great deal of fan fare at Marshall’s Tavern (the site of today’s Pickle Barrel Deli).

On the morning of August 21^st, 1824, Lafayette was met and escorted to the Marshall Tavern, which stood on the southwest corner of Main Street and Stratford Avenue until it was burned in 1899, where he was received by the leading men of the town.  The late Mr. Asa S. Curtis who even at 83 was remarkably vigorous and active, took great delight in telling a group of young friends, on New Year’s Day, 1900, his recollections of the event which he had witnessed as a boy nearly three quarters of a century before.  Mr. Curtis says that the citizens fired a cannon on Academy Hill in honor of the event, and a number of men on horses rode to Bridgeport and accompanied the General to Stratford.

Miss Julia Pendleton, who was born in Stratford, August 3,1813, died at New Haven in 1912 in her 99th, year. Her memory remained active and clear up to the very end of her long life and she was very fond of recounting stories of her childhood days.  One of her most interesting reminiscences, and probably the greatest experience of her life, was meeting the Marquis de Lafayette, when the great Frenchman visited Stratford.  The story is best told in her own quaint style as she related it on the occasion of her 92nd, birthday to a reporter of The New Haven Register.

“It was in the summer of 1824, that I had the pleasure of meeting the Marquis De Lafayette.  He was then traveling from New York to New Haven by easy stages and was accompanied by escorts.  The citizens of each of the towns visited, provided an escort, which would accompany him to the next stopping place.

I remember it as well as if it was but yesterday.  It was the night before the Marquis was expected to arrive in Stratford that my father told my mother that if she would have the little girls ready in the morning he would take them to see the great Lafayette.  We children were overjoyed, though we did not in our wildest dreams expect to have the honor of grasping the great man by the hand or being noticed by him.

In the morning we were ready and accompanied our father to Marshall’s Tavern, where the Marquis’ party were stopping, and the reception to the citizens was to be held.  My father left us in the front yard with several of the neighbor’s children while he went in with the other men to meet the general.  He especially instructed us not to run away but to wait until he came out.

Our father had been gone but a short time when the front door opened and I heard Lafayette’s voice exclaim, “Bring forward those children.  Let them come in also.”  My father, a Mr. Judson and a Mr. Curtis took us children in, and I remember how Lafayette looked, just as well as though he were sitting there now.”

The Marquis appeared to me to be rather short and stout though this was probably caused by his son, George Washington Lafayette, being with him, for the son was over a head taller than his father.  I was introduced to the General as was my sister (Betsy).  He took me by the hand, shook it, and then placed his hand on my head and gave me his blessing saying, “God bless you, my little dear.”  (The Stratford News, February 19, 1959).