After the storming of the Bastille in July 1789, he was appointed commander-in-chief of France's National Guard and tried to steer a middle course through the years of the French Revolution.

The Bourbon constitutional monarchy had been restored in France for at least ten years, but King Louis XVIII was reliant on a wheelchair in the spring of 1824 and suffering from severe health issues that proved fatal by late summer.

While touring Yorktown, he recognized and embraced James Armistead Lafayette, a free man of color who adopted his last name to honor the Marquis (he was the first US double agent spy); the story of the event was reported by the Richmond Enquirer.

Lafayette left France on the American merchant vessel Cadmus, on July 13, 1824, and his tour began on August 15, 1824, when he arrived at Staten Island, New York.

He toured the Northern and Eastern United States in the fall of 1824, including stops at Monticello to visit Thomas Jefferson and Washington, D.C., where he was received at the White House by President James Monroe.

His grandson Randolph was present and witnessed the historic reunion: "As they approached each other, their uncertain gait quickened itself into a shuffling run, and exclaiming, 'Ah Jefferson!'

They were greeted and honored with speeches, then departed the hotel at noon and set out for a banquet at the University of Virginia which Jefferson was anxious for Lafayette to see; he had postponed the commencement of classes for the event.

President John Quincy Adams decided to have an American warship carry him back to Europe, and he chose a recently built 44-gun frigate named Susquehanna for this honor.

However, it was renamed USS Brandywine to commemorate the battle in which the Frenchman had shed his blood for American freedom and as a gesture of the nation's affection for Lafayette.

Brandywine was launched on June 16, 1825, and christened by Sailing Master Marmaduke Dove; she was commissioned on August 25, 1825, with Captain Charles Morris in command.

Lafayette enjoyed a last state dinner to celebrate his 68th birthday on the evening of September 6, and then embarked in the steamboat Mount Vernon on the 7th for the trip downriver to join Brandywine.

That same year, one translation appeared in German and two in English (New York City and Philadelphia), titled Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825: Journal of a Voyage to the United States.