Printed and Manuscript Americana

Washington, August 27, 1825. One-page autograph letter on bifolium, signed by the Marquis de Lafayette to William Patterson of Baltimore: "I am returned from my visit to my old friends the Virginia ex presidents and cannot leave the Country before I have been at Mount Vernon. it Brings me to next Wenesday (sic) and thursday I must dine at Commodore Morris's. on the 6th there is a farewell dinner for me at the president's of the U.S. and the next morning I leave the Seat of Governement (sic) to embark for France. When I can place my visit to Baltimore I do not know. Yet I would be very unhappy to leave this Blessed land before I have once more seen my Baltimorian friends. This letter will be delivered by Captain Allyn of the Cadmus, my dear and trusty friend. Permit me to refer you to him about the means safety to convey to la grange your Highly Valuable and Highly valued present...". With a manuscript response by Patterson at bottom, and continuing onto second page, expressing his regret that Lafayette cannot visit and detailing the aforementioned present of cattle for Lafayette's "celebrated fields of La Grange". Addressed on verso of integral leaf, with mailing stamp; docketed on same, with manuscript below. Creasing from when folded, small repairs along same. 10 x 8 in. (254 x 203 mm). In mat with an engraved portrait of Lafayette, and in frame, 13 1/4 x 18 1/2 in. (336 x 470 mm).

During the final days of his triumphant return and tour of America, the Marquis de Lafayette writes to William Patterson of Baltimore (1752-1835), informing him of his recent stops and expressing his hope that he'll see him and his Baltimore friends one final time before leaving this "Blessed land". As Lafayette indicates, he had just traveled through Virginia, where he visited "the Virginia ex presidents"--James Madison at Montpelier, James Monroe at Oak Hill, and Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. As Lafayette notably continues, he writes that he "cannot leave the Country before I have been at Mount Vernon," which he would visit for a final time on September 8, the day before his departure.

Two days prior to this letter, on the 25th, Lafayette dined at the White House with President John Quincy Adams, George Washington Parke "Washy" Custis (George Washington's step-grandson), and Captain Francis Allyn, Lafayette's friend who had brought him to America from France a year prior on the ship Cadmus. The following day, Lafayette met with Captain Charles Morris of the ship Brandywine, who would transport him back to France beginning on September 9. During Lafayette's final week he visited several friends in the Washington area, as well as surviving members of the Custis family. On September 6, Lafayette's 68th birthday, a grand dinner was held at the White House, where President Adams toasted, "To the 22nd of February and 6th of September, birthdays of Washington and Lafayette,” and to which Lafayette responded, "To the fourth of July, the birthday of liberty in both hemispheres."

The following day, President Adams would again make a speech in Lafayette's honor, exclaiming his meaning to the young republic, saying, "we, too, and our children, in life and after death, shall claim you for our own. You are ours by that more than patriotic self-devotion with which you flew to the aid of our fathers at the crisis of their fate. Ours by that long series of years in which you have cherished us in your regard. Ours by that unshaken sentiment of gratitude for your services which is a precious portion of our inheritance. Ours by that tie of love, stronger than death, which has linked your name, for the endless ages of time, with the name of Washington."

William Patterson (1752-1835) was an Irish-born Maryland businessman. During the American Revolution he trafficked in gunpowder and other munitions for the Continental Army, sailing to France and trading at St. Eustatius and Martinique. In July 1778, he settled in Baltimore and made a fortune in real estate and trade, while providing supplies for the Yorktown campaign, where he also served in the 1st Baltimore Cavalry. During his later years he became one of the wealthiest merchants in Baltimore, was a founder of the Merchant's Exchange, Bank of Maryland, Canton Company, and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. His daughter was socialite Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, first wife of Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon's youngest brother.