Lafayette arrives in Boston aboard the French frigate Hermione.

Returning after a year in France to resume his service in the Colonial army, Lafayette lands at Hancock’s Wharf, where he greeted by state and town officials who call him the “warmest friend of independence.” After rejoining George Washington’s staff a few weeks later, he is sent to Virginia where he helps to contain the forces led by Gen. Cornwallis prior to the British surrender. After returning to France at the end of the of the Revolutionary War, he revisits Boston and the Colonies in 1824.*